The Monster Challenge

Deputy blogger reporting.

You may have heard us mention on previous blogs about the Maggies Cntre which is in the grounds of the hospital in Edinburgh and provides practical and emotional support to people with cancer and their families, friends and carers. Gerry and I have both used the centre several times and have found them to be really helpful and supportive and a great resource for information about the disease and all the emotional fallout and baggage that goes along with it.

The Maggies Centres are run as an independent charity and were inspired by Maggie Keswick Jenks who died from cancer in 1995. She trained as an architect and was married to architectural writer and historian Charles Jenks. Architecture is an important concept of the centres as they are a reaction to the institutional environment of the hospital. Maggie wanted to create buildings that would comfort and sooth people with the right balance of light, space and colour; a friendly and more domestic atmosphere where people can drop in for a cup of Tea and make use of the fantastic library, chat to staff and trained councellors and join into Tai Chi, meditation, Art and group therapy classes.

Maggie was born in Scotland in 1941 and her family traded in the Far East so she travelled between Dumfrieshire, Shanghai and HongKong which left her with a real love of China. Following her diagnosis with cancer she felt very strongly the need for a place that would concentrate on an individuals needs as a person and not just as a cancer patient. She worked together with her medical team here at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh and friends and family to discuss the concept of such a centre and together they created the first Maggies centre in Edinburgh in 1996 a year after Maggie died. Since then there are now several centres in Scotland and the rest of the UK.

A quote from Maggie was: "Above all, what matters is not to lose the joy of living in the fear of dying".

Gerry and I have had a lot of support from the Maggies Centre here in Edinburgh and I was interested to give something back. Hence the title of this evenings Blog: The Monster Challenge!
This is a team fundraising challenge event to take place in the Highlands of Scotland on the 5-6th of May this year. The challenge is for the team to take part in a 24hour monster bike and hike which will take you from Fort William along the Great Glen and up the side of Loch Ness past the Monster and into Inverness. The first 30 miles are cross country on mountain bikes then the last 40 miles are hiking. The idea is to get sponsorship and fund raise for the Centre.

We already have some volunteers for the team which we have registered as "Gerry's Blog team" comprising, deputy blogger, Jim and Lorna. Ian has agreed to help with team training and sorting out the logistics of the support team to help us at checkpoints during the challenge. Ian has run the West Highland Way several times (yes all 96 miles of it!) so we are in the hands of a madman. Lorna is checking out some gorgeous hotels for team R&R and we are planning a big party in Inverness after the event to which all bloggers are invited of course.

So please let us know if any of you would like to join the team to take up the challenge, or to help in the support team or of course to help with fund raising and sponsor us to help raise money for maggies centres. We will keep you updated on team training and fundraising progress on the blog. For more info on this go to www.maggiescentres.org and look for the monster bike and hike.

Have a good weekend.

Lee (alias Deputy blogger)

PS: G has safely got the Aston back in his clutches after taking Ians advice and not giving into the ransom demands of the kidnappers!