Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

A Brand New Adventure

In 2015, I am going to do something a bit different.  Iwill travel to Africa and coach cricket to children in local schools.

Why am I doing this?

There are22.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.  There were almost 2 million HIV/AIDS-relateddeaths in the region in 2009 alone and 14.8 million children have lost at leastone parent to AIDS/HIV since this epidemic began.  It is easy to feel helpless contemplating numberssuch as these.  How can we possibly do anythingto help? 

Then one day Icame across Cricket Without Boundaries, a cricket development and AIDSawareness charity.  They provided me withthe numbers you have read above but also showed that in a small but significantway, it is possible to make a difference.... and better still to do it byteaching kids cricket! I have always wanted to go to sub-Saharan Africa.  And so, wonderfully, all three good things cametogether and I found I could not refuse a wonderful opportunity.

So what will I be doing?

Every yearsince 2005, CWB have been sending project teams to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda,Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia.  Itspeople have coached cricket to tens of thousands of children from among thepoorest communities in the world as well as training up thousands of localcoaches.  While doing so, they spreadawareness of HIV/AIDS prevention by incorporating these messages into theircoaching sessions.

If you wantto know more about them, go here:

http://www.cricketwithoutboundaries.com/

In October orNovember, I will join a project team for 2 weeks, being sent somewhere (I donot know where yet!) to do my bit.  Willmy UKCC2 qualification and coaching skills be enough to prepare me for severalhundred kids turning up to play cricket on a rough playing field in the middleof Africa?  It will be very differentfrom running sessions in a large and well-equipped North Devon sports hall.  I have read lively accounts of previous projectsand I know it is going to be challenging but also mind-expanding and a lot offun.

Would you like to help me and support the project?

Every coachis asked to raise a minimum of £975 for the charity to cover the project costsincluding transport, accommodation and most important of all, the equipmentthat is left in the country and helps to ensure the maximum impact from ourtrip. In addition, each coach pays for their own flights and other relatedtravel costs.

CWB believethat through our fund-raising, we should spread awareness of the project amongour families, friends and local communities. However, I am going to disappoint those of you who were hoping I wouldundertake public humiliation or death-defying stunts in search of funds.  I have a simple plan for my mainfund-raiser.  I plan to walk from my own club Chulmleigh on a round trip to all theclubs with Youth sections affiliated to the North Devon Cricket YouthAssociation between 25^th and 31^st May.  This will take me to Filleigh, Barnstaple,Braunton, North Devon, Bideford, Newton Tracey, Hatherleigh and back again toChulmleigh, an estimated distance of at least 150 miles taking into accountwrong turns and diversions and more than enough for my dodgy 52 year old knees. I hope to camp overnight on a fewgrounds, leave a memento of my visit and meet people for a chat along theway.  This trip will be embellishedfurther as I give it more thought in the coming weeks and your thoughts arewelcome (but no I am not going to carry a pig all the way or anything like that).  I am also planning other smaller fund-raisingevents before I go and will keep you up to date as these develop.

Now, if everyone of you were prepared to support me with just £5 each, that would mean Ineed the backing of just 195 people to raise my funds.  It is easy to donate at this very page.

What will you get in return?

Well firstly,a fiver is not a bad investment for watching me stumble around North Devon fora few days?  More importantly, it willmean you can play your own part in the project. And I promise I will give every one of my supporters a full and uneditedaccount of my trip and tell you of the impact your donation has made to thesecommunities, providing you, I hope, with some entertainment along the way.

I do hope youdo not think this is the most crazy idea I have ever had and that you willsupport this noble cause.