Your Fundraising efforts

13 November 2011

On Sunday November 13^th Essex communications operator Angela Mack organised a Christmas Fayre at Essex Police HQ sports club in aid of COPS.  She invited several local businesses to come along and have a stall including Body Shop and Phoenix Cards.  The stall holders each paid £10 and had to donate a raffle prize.  Essex survivor Sue Bishop manned a COPS stall and assisted Angela selling raffle tickets and raising awareness of COPS among the many officers who turned up on the day.  A total of £580 was raised on the day.  Thanks Angela.

Great Edinburgh Run -10K

04 October 2011

Last year I did Movember!!! Well this year in line with a new year resolution to run a 10k, myself and 2 of my friends (Yeap we all madly agreed to this - I think I may have been a little hungover, possibly even still tipsy from New Year celebrations) decided to run the Great Scottish Run in Glasgow.   Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances I had to go to the USA for a family funeral, which meant I missed the Glasgow 10k.  On my return I decided to do the Edinburgh Run 10k in Edinburgh on the 2nd October 2011 in its place.

Whilst thinking of charities to raise money for there was one in particular that stood out for a couple of reasons and that Charity was COPS.  Providing support for those who have lost loved ones who were in the Police Force, whilst doing their job and keeping us all safe is to me surely a very worthwhile cause.

So on Sunday the 2nd October I put on my grey running shorts and an illuminous yellow t-shirt which couldn’t have been missed from outer space.  Unfortunately I hadn’t mastered how to run with an umbrella (as is typical for Scottish weather it was grey, overcast and you guessed it raining!!!) so I started off a little wet – but to be honest was thankful as it cooled me down somewhat.

It was all going well and at the 6.5km mark I had a little wobble, but was spurred on by a supporter who shouted at me that it was only another 3.5km.  Then I thought of the all the money that people had already donated and why I was running it in the first place at which point another 3.5km seemed nothing. And it was the fastest 3.5km that I think I’ve ran and certainly kept my pace up.  There was nothing like the marker flags for the 400m and then the 200m which spurred me on to the final sprint across the finishing line in a time of 1 hour, 13 minutes and 22 seconds.  Being my first 10k I was well impressed with myself.

So just want to say a huge shout out and THANKS to all those who donated for COPS and for all those who gave me the support for to actually prepare, train and encouragement to be able to successfully finish my first (of what now may be many) 10k, half marathons – and maybe even a Marathon in a couple of years…

Time: 01:13:22

Amount Raised: £225

Chris Sloan. 

Assault Course Challenge

20 August 2011

On Saturday 20th August a group of hardy folks, aged 18 to 50 odds,  joined me at Barry Buddon Camp to raise funds for COPS in Memory of my husband Malcolm who died on duty on the 16th August 2007. Eighteen of us tried our best to get over, through and along 5 obstacles as individuals then as 2 teams.

Many  managed the course but a few of us ended up in the water, myself included. We were then divided up into 3 teams and were given 3 command tasks to complete in 15 mins for each task. No cheating was allowed however someone did have a wee peak at another challenge so ended up being blindfolded!! All teams managed to complete the tasks one way or another.The day passed very quickly and the weather stayed dry. The Army personnel  were so patient and kind and didn’t laugh too much at us!! The spectators cheered us on and everyone seemed to have a great time. Hopefully once all the money is in we will have raised over £1000. A great big THANK YOU to all who tried and completed the Challenge.
Georgine Whigham Fundraising coordinator for Care of Police Survivors

View Pictures of this event in the COPS Gallery.

National Three Peaks Challenge

29 July 2011

On the 29th July 2011 a team of Police Officers from Thames Valley Police participated in the National Three Peaks Challenge on behalf of COPS.  As part of this  mountain-endurance challenge the team attempted to climb the highest peaks of each of the island`s three countries in under 24 hours.
 
The mountains climbed, in order were, Ben Nevis in Scotland, (4,409 ft), Scafell Pike in England, (3,209 ft) and Snowdon in Wales (3,560 ft). The challenge involved approximately 26 miles of ascent and descent, with an estimated driving distance to complete the challenge of approximately 475 miles.  The challenge commenced at 17.00 hours on the Friday afternoon. The team consisted of a number of area Staff Personal Safety instructors (SPSI’s) PC’s Paul Devlin, Rueben Hill and Russ Clark and a Public Order Instructor PC Martin Waite.   The team was supported by a Neighbourhood Specialist Officer PC Dean Kingham who played the essential role as  the team driver, logistics manager and general cook…. 

We left Thames Valley area at roughly 07.00 hours on the 29th and drove straight to Scotland arriving roughly an hour and a half before the challenge started.  We hit the ground running in Scotland and the weather was absolutely amazing with blue sky and clear views for 360 degrees and was brilliant.  Mentally and physically the shortest climb Sca Fell Pike was by far the harded, we started in darkness after a five and a half hour drive from Scotland and included nightime navigation over difficult terrain.  This was followed by over a four hour drive to Wales trying to catch some rest before the last climb.
 
Ascent time for Snowdon included a 35 minute stop as an injured climber was airlifted from the route.

The stop for 35 minutes really didn’t help on the last climb and one of the team was slowed down because of this and as his legs started to stiffen up, this coupled with some big blisters he picked up on Nevis ment he made it to roughly 300 feet from the top but had to stop and turn back.  Really gutting but as a team effort a great overall achievement. 

At this moment in time the team has collected £610.00 in sponsorship and this is climbing as more sponsorship comes in with £140.00 added for gift aid.

We completed the challenge in uniform and all wore our force SPSI T Shirts on Mount Snowdon.  The support for our challenge from the general public was really good and definitely boosted our energy levels on the last mountain.  Additionally we promoted the work of cops as we climbed.
 
Paul Devlin

A Rhino For Ryan

01 June 2011

Survivor Steph Bradley, a Detective Sergeant in West Midlands Police, recently organised a raffle to raise money for COPS. She used her persuasive skills to obtain donations of all sorts of prizes. The raffle was drawn by Chris Sims, Chief Constable, West Midlands Police (and a Trustee of COPS) and raised a staggering £3,700.
Steph`s brother, PC Ryan Hunt died after being hit by a skip lorry while on an under cover operation in Doncaster in May 2006.
She sold over 3,200 tickets, and she personally bought some. One of her tickets was drawn by the Chief Constable, number 0951, which was Ryan`s collar number. The prize she won was a family pass to West Midlands Safari Park.
Steph said, ``Out of 3,200 tickets it was quite odd to draw out one of mine - and even stranger that it was Ryan`s collar number. I saw it as a sign, so in Ryan`s memory I decided to adopt a rhino at the Safari Park as when he played rugby at work he was nicknamed ‘Rhino’ by his colleagues and I`m sure Ryan would have loved the idea``.
The Safari Park agreed for her to adopt Sophie, a 6 year old Indian rhino and although Sophie will be looked after by the park, Steph can visit whenever she wants. The park decided they would like to do something in Ryan`s memory and have given the first 12 months of the adoption free.
Mr Sims said that Steph was to be congratulated for all her hard work in raising £3,700 for the COPS charity. The adoption of a rhino at West Midlands Safari Park was a fitting tribute to Ryan.

Memorial Golf Event

22 May 2011

A recent golf day held in memory of Warrington PC, Robert Graham who was killed whilst returning home from duty 10 years ago, raised over £1,000 for COPS.
The event, organised by Survivor, Janet Graham, was held at Portal Golf Club, Tarporley, was well attended, including  teams from both Cheshire and Merseyside Police Federations,  (Manchester Police Federation were unable to field a team but gave the charity a generous £100 donation).   Despite an extremely wet start, the sun struggled out and some excellent scores were returned.
The winning team,  consisting  of Pam and Barry Jameson of Haydock Park Golf Club and Jim and Lynn Fagan of Hindley Hall Golf Club,  came in with the winning  score of 88 points.    The prizes were presented by Mr David Whatton, Chief Constable of Cheshire, who kindly gave up his evening to attend the event.  The prizes for first place were generously sponsored by local businessman, Rob Neill who specialises in real wood and laminate floors.  Our thanks also go to Survivor, Debbie Leach, who  kindly donated a long weekend in her brand new log cabin in the Lake District.  (Anyone wishing to book the cabin should contact Debbie on 01925 828537)

Janet Graham.