Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

For some reason I have recently found myself looking a complete ninny standing next to a woman dressed up as a recycling bank, or much to my amazement (and quite a few others I suspect), next to a conservative councillor promoting  a textile bank, or wallowing about in heaps of old clothes, shoes, bedding etc chucked out by students at the end of the academic year (nice!), or considering which of my favourite bras to send off to Africa.

Why I hear you ask!

Well you all know I work 'in' Waste and Recycling ..... Reducing the amount of stuff taken to landfill makes tax payers (that's you and me) happy in a roundabout sort of way, and lets face it - if we keep stuffing rubbish into holes in the ground, the world will go pop one day!

We've teamed up with a company called Bag It Up at work, who raise funds through recycling for Air Ambulances across the country.  They come up with ideas on how to raise money through your old clothes, and we're only too happy to support them.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance was launched in July 2007 and relies on donations of over £85000 a month to stay airborne.  Thankfully I've never had the unfortunate experience of using their services, but I have sat in miles of grid locked traffic on the A31 due to an accident and watched the service in action.  Hey - you ever driven across the New Forest on a Friday afternoon in the summer?  Yes?  Then you know the chances of an emergency vehicle reaching someone in time through miles of cars, lorries and caravans is pretty remote.

Our friends at Bag It Up have suggested that it would be an awfully good idea if us in 'Waste & Recycling' put together a team to cycle in the Recycle the Island 2009 event to be held on the Isle of Wight on 27th September. The event will raise additional funds for the Hants & IOW Air Ambulance.  For some reason I thought this was a spendid idea, and the rest they say, is history (well it was that or they were going to get me to dress up as a recycling bank).

It would be really great if you could sponsor me for the event and help keep the air ambulance airborne. It's only a 15 mile circuit, but we have got to cycle 7 miles each way to and from the ferry, so really it's 29 miles!  If I've got the energy afterwards, I'll post some pictures and you can see if I cycled in costume or not!

You can find out more about the air ambulance at http://www.hampshireandiowairambulance.org.uk/index.html

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Thanks

C