First corporate sponsor confirmed as Wesco Aircraft pledge an extremely generous amount to the cause.
First media interest in the event as we feature in the Ayr Advertiser of 19/09/2006 and, in the same week, we make the national press as well when we get a mention in Brian Swanson's column in the Sunday Express of 24/09/2006.
OCTOBER 2006
More publicity for the event as the Ayrshire Post does feature on us in their issue of 06/10/2006.
As mentioned on the history page, Anne Morrison's daughter has been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. The team wouldlike to show their support towards the family by making a substantial donation to The Cardiomyopathy Association from our funds at the conclusion of the challenge.
Massive thanks to our ward's Music Facillitator, John Fortune, who has written a song for the Pedalo Challenge. It will be recorded soon and copies will be available to purchase at a reasonably exorbitant price.
The publicity machine rolls on!
27/10/06: John Fortune is a quiz contestant on BBC Radio 2's Ken Bruce Show and gives us a massive plug on air. Ken can't quite believe what we're up to! The story is then picked up by BBC Radio Scotland's Newsdrive programme and they feature the project including a live (nerve-wracking) interview with Project Manager Stewart Main.
NOVEMBER 2006
Plans under way for a massive fundraising ceilidh to be held early in the new year, full details later.
DECEMBER 2006/JANUARY 2007
Not a lot of activity as the festive season gets in the way. we did, however, receive a very generous donation from the Morrison Foundation in December which was an early Christmas present and we also were featured in that month's edition of Scottish Nurse magazine, more valuable publicity.
FEBRUARY 2007
As promised, we present "the mother of all ceilidhs" on the 16th March 2007. This will take place in the Princess Royal Suite at Ayr Racecourse from 7.30pm. We have been extremely fortunate to obtain the services of "Coila", one of Scotland's top ceilidh bands to provide the music for the evening and a massive thanks to them for that! For information on the band and a sneak preview of how good these guys are, check out their website at www.coila.com. The latest news is that we will also be joined on the evening by the fabulous "Clann An Drumma" who have kindly agreed to come along and play a set during the ceilidh. You can check out these guys at http://www.myspace.com/clannandrumma. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at the Cash Office, Ailsa Hospital, Ayr, from any team member, or by using any of the methods on the "contact us" page of this website.
We must make mention of the support which we have been receiving from our colleagues within Ayrshire and Arran Health Board. In particular, the Communications Department for assistance with publicity, the ladies of the Cash Office at Ailsa Hospital for agreeing to help with ceilidh ticket sales, and not forgetting the wonderful Betty Holtzer at Eglinton House who has been a wee star of the printing machines!
MARCH 2007
On the 16th of the month our fundraising ceilidh took place at Ayr Racecourse. It was a tremendous success raising well over £2000 towards our target. We would like to thank everybody who came along and gave so generously. We would also like to thank the management and staff of the Princess Royal Suite for all their hard work on the evening and for giving us such a lovely setting. The guys of Coila were awesome, everybody has raved about the standard of the music since the evening. They certainly justify the title of Scotland's top ceilidh band! Check out some photos of the night on the Ceilidh Gallery page of this site.
On the nautical front, work on the boat conversion has started and we hope to have the launch and sea trials soon.
JUNE 2007
Been a quiet couple of months while we waited on the conversion of the boat, but the guys at Fairlie have come up trumps and we now have something exceeding our wildest expectations. We've had a shot on it at Fairlie and are delighted, see the photos on the gallery page.
We've decided to set the date for the challenge as the 30th June 2007. This is obviously subject to weather and sea conditions being right for the attempt. The crew and the rest of the team are looking forward to getting underway.
THE BOYS DONE GOOD
Well folks, on Saturday 30th june 2007 the lads decided there was no alternative but to go for it. We had managed to get all the crew together for that date and there was little possibility of this being the case again for the forseeable future. Unfortunately, this was when things started to go a bit "Pete Tong"! The safety boat we had intended using was unavailable and the search for a replacement proved fruitless. However, oor wee Nadine made a couple of phone calls and Gerry Lapsley of Westin Turnberry Resort came to the rescue, providing us with his 36ft 5star luxury cabin cruiser "Seabiscuit". This new arrangement certainly suited one of the Project Managers!
Then the weather intervened! On Friday afternoon we were told that the forecast sea conditions would make the original route to Ireland much too dangerous. We were offered an alternative though, Girvan to Arran worked out to about the same distance. After consulting the pedallers, we decided we had little choice.
On Saturday morning at 0728hrs we cast off and set sail for Arran, Derek and Chris taking the first spell. It amazed all on board the speed with which the boat managed to cut through the water. True testament to the fantastic job the guys at Chattan Ltd and Fairlie Quay Marina had done building her.
The sea conditions were certainly less than ideal, very choppy and big swells. The pedalo handled these better than the rest of us, and within a couple of hours our lack of "sea legs" became apparent, a greener faced bunch you've never seen! The contents of a few stomachs made an unwelcome appearance but the prize for the "best performance in a seasick adventure" must go to Gerry from Pedals cycle shop. As he lay in a heap, we thought we'd killed him!
The boys carried on though and after 8 hours of constant pedalling, only interrupted by extremely difficult crew changes, we made it to the south end of Whiting Bay, Arran.
It was only on the way home that utter disaster struck, the tow rope attached to the pedalo for the return journey sliced into one of her hulls and she slipped slowly beneath the waves accompanied by massed salutes and Rambo on his version of the trumpet. A fitting end? We don't think she'd have wanted it any other way.
So we did it. 20 miles across the open sea. We apologise for the change of route but felt we had no alternative under the circumstances. We've been overwhelmed with the support we've had from so many people over the last year and the total raised to date reflects the amount of very hard work put in by all the team. Keep the money coming though, it's a very worthy cause.
Now, we hear you ask, what about the next challenge? Derek is obviously distraught that the loss of our gallant vessel scuppers his plans to set the pedalo world land speed record, but all we can say is:
