The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Good

We had 4 letters over the past 2 days, the first was from Salisbury City who inform us that they have a home game that day and we are welcome to go on the pitch from 6pm and they're lending us a shirt for the photos. Next up was Bolton Wanderers. I wasn't expecting positive responses from Premier League clubs due the huge amount of charity work they already do. Their letter surprised me, as they said they would be "delighted to supply us with a shirt". Cardiff City phoned up too and said that the groundsman is around on the Sunday afternoon and we will be allowed on the pitch and will be borrowing a Bluebirds shirt for the photos. Preston North End also phoned to inform us that they too can accomodate us and lend us a shirt for the promotional shots.

The Bad

Aston Villa "regret" they cannot support us due to the overwhelming number of requests. The next one is a cracker, I couldn't help but laugh at this one. The letter from Halifax Town reads as follows: "...we do not the stadium and our rent only covers us for admittance on match days." How bizarre. And finally Sheffield Wednesday replied with a letter which said they've suffered severe damage to the flooding. We do have permission to take photos outside their reception though. Tough situation for them.

The Ugly




We were also asked to do some promotional shots for the Herts Advertiser, these will be also be useful for the other media sources that are wanting to cover us. Thanks to Sophie for her expert photography skills here.

Yorkshire Replies.

Leeds United, the club in massive problems up north, have said they can't help and listed about 30 charities they already support. Doncaster Rovers have responded positively, so much so that we've said we'll delay our arrival by 45 minutes in order to meet people there and wear one of their shirts. Nice fellas up north!

Taf, Matt and Pete met up for the first time since deciding to do this and the meeting went well. Over a pint of Guinness we discussed how excited we were and tried to sort out accomodation, 3 nights of which are already sorted. We do still need housing (and sponsorship of course) so please check the facebook group for details.

Watford, Bradford and Leicester - out of hours ggrrrrr!

All 3 clubs responded positively, but unfortunately we're visiting both out of hours so they can't help us. Ah well. It's frustrating but there's no way we can change the plan so that each club is visited in office hours. If we did then it take at least 2 weeks.

Millwall respond positively

Millwall phoned me at lunch time to say that they'll be delighted to help. We can go on the pitch and do our skiiiiiiills and have a look around the ground too. I've been to Millwall's ground before and it's a good setting for us!!

First Club Donation!

Wolverhampton Wanderers have been wonderful! Even after a phone call in which my phone died (not ideal!) they still wanted to talk to me. We're going to be at their club at 1:30am in the morning and they have said that we're going to be allowed in to wear a shirt and do our kick-ups. They are ALSO donating a shirt to us to do with as we want. We're still not decided about we'll do with the shirts that are being donated. They sounded very enthusiastic about the project.

More responses...

Stoke City responded with the classic "unfortunately we cannot help you". All of which I was expecting from most clubs anyway. Other people thought "oh yeah clubs will donate you shirts" - but it doesn't work like that, hence why we've gone for individual sponsorship rather than relying on clubs donating shirts etc.

Wolves phoned me up this morning. We're going to them at about 1:30am so when they phoned me I expected them to say "good luck, but we can't help", but in fact they said that they have security on duty 24/7 so they're more than willing to help. They shall leave a shirt out for us to borrow and let us do our tricks in front of the main sign. So good on you Wolves!!!

We now have 12 people sponsored £10 each, so we're 1/10th of the way there. It is definately possible.

4 more clubs respond!

Got 2 more letters through door today and they're both from Premier League clubs. Sunderland and West Ham United both responded informing me that theyre passing the letter onto someone who deals with the enquiry more accurately. The letter to me wasn't needed to tell me that but it's very nice of them. Darlington (in their lush new stadium) phoned me up and said they would have had us on the pitch in shirts doing our kick-ups but they can't accomodate us as we're scheduled there at 9:30pm. Big shame we can't change the route THAT much. Rushden & Diamonds also phoned to ask for more info about the charity etc. It seems that the majority of letters got there today/yesterday. I expect next week to a busy week of liasing with clubs and sponsors. We've reached the £100 mark already (and that excludes the tax return!). So keep sponsoring us people! We need to reach £1,160 BEFORE we leave.

Leyton Orient respond

Leyton Orient have responded and it's not exactly the best letter ever. They've responded with the whole "we support lots of charity, but cant help in this case". That's fine though, because it isn't about the clubs being generous, but I don't see why they couldn't say "yes, we'll be in the offices then anyway, so come in and say hello". But there we go. We got four more sponsors yesterday, so that was good.

The First Media Feature!

We have made it in the first media feature of this adventure! I have no idea what the headline is about, but here is the story. They got most the facts right, apart me actually living in Luton, but hey! there we go! I'm getting photographed tomorrow for the Hertfordshire Mercury. That will probably make next week's edition.

New Recruit!

Today the 116 Challenge Team has expanded. Negotiations have been taking place internationally and we can now reveal that the third member of the team, joining Pete Miller and Dave Guard, will be: MATT HOWELL. Although currently on a missions trip, Matt has snapped up the opportunity to join us for the seven days stating "this sounds awesome, I'm looking forward to seeing the 23 grounds where luton will win away this year!".

The first Club has replied!

I sent the first 30 letters out last night in time for the last post, they were only sent 2nd class (to save money of course) and yet it appears theyve already reached the clubs! I got a phone call just now from AFC Bournemouth. In the letter to AFC Bournemouth I said that their club was the only one at which we were hoping to watch a game. The lady on the phone said it seemed good what we were doing and we're to meet her before the game for free tickets and to meet people! What a good result!! So for August 18th 2007 I shall be an AFC Bournemouth fan for the day! They're playing against Huddersfield Town that day!

News Flash!

Got woken up this morning by the reporter from Luton Herald & Post. She wanted some more info about we're doing and told me that we're going to be in the paper tomorrow. When I did the Tube Challenge I appeared in the paper and then the local radio stations read it and it spread from there. This may well happen this time, and we're scheduled to be in 4 papers, Luton Herald & Post, Hertfordshire Mercury, St Albans & Harpenden Observer, and the Herts Advertiser.

So go out and buy the Herald & Post tomorrow!

The route has been finalised now and we're picking up momentum!

The Letters are sent!

So this is it! The beginning of the fundraising. The letters to each of the clubs are being printed and posted as we speak. The first 30 (AFC Bournemouth to Crawley Town) went out 2nd class tonight and the rest will hopefully be posted out tomorrow. The letters basically outline to the Chairmen of the club what we're doing and how they can help, which hopefully will be by promoting us and giving us a shirt to wear for the photos and videos. We still really need a third suitable person to come with us for the week as it's tough with just two of us. The sponsorship site is now up and running and the facebook has started an hour ago. Keep posted for more info as it happens.