Down but definitely not out.

So we've received a little blow to our campaign to raise money for H4H.  Babcock have decided to drop out of our fundraiser, so the van fund will have to come from somewhere else.  However like Mick said yesterday, our wounded servicemen and women have hurdled well past most obstacles put in front of them.  This is a mere hurdle and we aim to carry on even stronger.  Rough with the smooth and all that.  I dare say as the time nears we will have hurdled many more obstacles.  Businesses that donate will now feature on the website sponsors tab.

Mick Jewitt being the fundraising genius he is, has come up with a blinder.  AGAIN! So following on from his idea to create a Help for Heroes bike, he's imagining an image on the van, with names of local businesses (supportive businesses of Help for Heroes) together depicting Wales.  Similar to what's found left, obviously not in the form of Brazil.  Once the bike is ready, we'll go canvassing for sponsor cash so watch out Holyhead businesses! Your name could be in the map for as little as a tenner. Come to think of it I'll have to open up a sponsors tab on the homepage.

So here it begins!  Never done a blog before, so hopefully I can appeal to the masses that is the worldwide web!  On the 27th of May this year, myself, Mick Jewitt (Anglesey H4H Co-ordinator) and a small team from 22 Squadron Search and Rescue at RAF Valley will be embarking on the "Lon Las Cymru" route from Cardiff to Holyhead.  We will be doing this in aid of Help for Heroes and we hope to raise £5000.

As you all probably know Help for heroes has been instrumental in providing support and services for those wounded in service of our country and RAF Valley Search and Rescue has been instrumental in providing services to the public both local and nationwide.

We hope to have around 8 of us on the bike ride with a support team of 2 mechanics accompanying us in a hire van.  This will be conditional on our employer Babcock International sponsoring the hire of the support vehicle through hertz.  Fingers crossed that they come good in such tough financial times.

 We hope that we might be joined along the way by various “Band of brothers” members.  These are ex armed forces members who are being supported by Help for Heroes.We have already received some interest.

We have been given a Felt mountain bike by “Evolution bikes” of Bangor  (thanks Matt for sorting that out).  I stripped off all the bike parts and the frame has been given the full Help for Heroes spray treatment by the Aircraft Painters of RAF Valley. Appreciations galore to Gaz at the paint shop and his team, a HUGE thanks! I rebuilt the bike after the paint job and is now back with the painters for Help for Heroes stickers, or should that be "decals", professional speak, for a professional job, by professional paint technicians.  Mick an I are getting excited now to see the bike in all its H4H glory.

We will soon be using the H4H Bike for local public relations such as local press photographs, media footage and for this Trip Blog.  Once the trip is over the bike will be handed over to Help for Heroes so that they may use it for future challenges or PR work.  Keep following the blog for before and after pics of the bike.