Together forever in spirit with an amazing little girl
I am delighted that we have just passed the £20K fundraising point and we’re still going strong 😀. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d raise so much (and be able to help a number of charities too), so a massive thank you to all those who have supported us! With the challenges that COVID has brought, charities need our support now more than ever.
It’s great to see that the Team Jess website has inspired the birth of another website! Really proud of Jess’ big brother for launching www.mrweaver.co.uk. Amongst his preteen blogging, (and dabble with website coding!) he hopes to raise awareness of childhood cancer and his fundraising ventures too. Go Oli! 😀
So today was the original date for the Team Jess Sheffield 10k to raise money for Children with Cancer UK. Sadly, ‘corona chaos’ means that the event has been postponed until next year. Whilst we will patiently wait and run as planned next year, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to mark the original date with a run too. It might not have been the 10k we had planned, or even the reworked plan that we had planned (another strike from corona chaos!), but it was a mighty fine work around with independent runs happening across the north and coming together via zoom afterwards. Thanks to this lovely bunch for doing a virtual 10k event with me….. and a special shout out to Sandy for completing your first ever 10k. Jess would have loved that we managed to find a way to run in spite of the challenges. Thanks to all those who sponsored us…… It seems that with us running two races, the 2 for 1 concept is infiltrating even the sporting world these days 😂. As for all events these days, I’ve marked the event with a poem. Click here to take a look.
For anyone wanting to see some live video evidence, here you are! We’ve even added the trusty Team Jess Anthem to recreate the running experience!
A massive well done to Jack, school friend of Jess and son of one of the Team Jess runners. Not only has Jack been running each week to help his mum train for the Team Jess runs, but he’s also managed to find time to complete a sponsored swim too! Jack jumped into the water with his friend Euan to raise funds for Marie Curie and Cancer Research UK, swimming 1500 metres (a phenomenal 60 lengths!) in memory of friends and family affected by cancer and Team Jess. That will make a massive splash as it jumps into the fundraising pots of both charities. Well done Jack and thank you for being a super fundraiser… with a swim and lots of runs under your belt, maybe your next venture should be a triathlon….. 😉
Today I stumbled across a nifty little app called Ziffit, which allows you to sell the stuff you don’t want online (they even collect) and donate the proceeds to a nominated charity. Clearing out the garage of old books whilst donating to Children with Cancer UK has been a very worthwhile way to pass a few hours and I’m loving the fact we’ve reclaimed a whole host of space! If you would like to donate too check out http://vmgiving.co/wbdc
It has been an absolute honour today to receive a delivery from Dame Jess Ennis Hill! I feel so privileged and I know Jess Weaver would have been so incredibly excited. It’s fair to say Jess and I watched a lot of the 2012 olympics together (well I did as she was a baby!) and seeing another Sheffield girl run so well gave me the inspiration I needed to get back to exercise…. never did I think only 8 years later I’d receive a gift from her in the post. From one Yorkshire Jess in memory of another. What an honour.
Now for the challenge of raising as much money as we can via auction for Children with Cancer UK.
The Team Jess running vests have arrived and I’ve given mine its debut….even in this heat! Thanks Children with Cancer UK. Nice that we’ve got them for the Team Jess warm up run in September as well as the rescheduled Sheffield 10k 😀
Jess had a loving big brother, Oli, who misses Jess greatly. Nonetheless, he’s getting into the spirit of Team Jess fundraising and has created his very own Team Jess ringtone based on the Team Jess running anthem (can even be sent to you if requested!). Hats off to his creative, technological endeavours and it’s lovely to hear the Team Jess tune every time my phone rings! But that’s not all he’s done; Jess loved to game with her big brother, and so what better way for Oli to remember Jess than a 12 hour gaming event! The event will take place on the 14th November, when together with his friends, Oli will play on his xbox for 12 hours straight to remember Jess. If you would like to support him, you can visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jill-weaver2
A huge thank you to Pomfretian for their kind donation to the Team Jess fundraising and for publishing a centre page spread about the Team Jess campaign in this month’s edition too. Jess has been in two publications now and they say things comes in threes. I wonder who could be next 🤔. To read the article visit the Pomfretian website.
https://www.runforall.com/community/news/
So today we got the news that COVID 19 has hampered our Sheffield 10k plans for this year 😒. Whilst this comes as a disappointment, the good news is we’ve all been given the opportunity to be reregistered for the same event in September next year. But as that seems soooo far away, we’re hoping to run our own (socially distant) race on the original race date this year (as long as the guidance allows that is!). With only a handful of us, I’m sure we’ll easily be able to run and be COVID compliant too. So that’s two races we’re doing – the Team Jess 10k and the official Sheffield 10k next year too. Now if that’s not value for sponsorship (keeping us all training for the next 14 months) then I don’t know what is!