Sam takes Great Strides for the CF Trust

Well done to 11 year old Sam Haythornthwaite and family who took part in a sponsored walk at Itchen Valley Country Park in Hampshire to raise money for us.

Sam said: "I arrived on a beautiful day at the park with my Mum, Dad, sister and my dog Charlie. After bickering about where we were on the map, we set off to do the 5 kilometres through the country park. The walk took us through various trails past huge totem poles and thick forests. As we were the only family on the walk we were in no rush and eventually finished in 1 hour 40 minutes."

"We were amazed when we found out that altogether we had raised a total of £505 for the CF Trust. I'm very proud of raising this much. It means a lot to me because I have CF and it feels good because I know I've played a small part in helping to find a cure."

Thank you Sam and well done!

Hair today gone tomorrow! (sorry)

A big thank you and well done to Andy Kenny from the West Midlands who cut off all his hair to raise money for us! He's still counting his sponsorship money but it looks as though he's raised around £250 which is great. Well done Andy!

Celebs on Twitter support CF awareness

Fundraiser and mum of two boys with CF Lorraine Barnes has been working hard to raise awareness of CF through her special 'Get it off your chest' T-shirts. She's been tweeting lots of celebs to ask them to wear her t-shirts and the results have been great - Simon Pegg, Ben Shephard, Ali Bastian, Duncan Bannatyne and Mark Hamill aka Luke Skywalker have all lent their support.

Actress Kathryn Drysdale has also backed the campaign by taking the T-shirt with her to celeb parties and last night got Frank Lampard and Boris Becker to pose for her!

Special thanks to mum and fundraiser Alison Dillon who has also been recruiting celebs to wear t-shirts.

You can view the celebs who've sported the t-shirt so far on our facebook gallery and you can also follow Lorraine and the CF Trust on Twitter.

Close to the Edge

Yorkshire man Jonathan Skinner will be raising vital funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust this August by motorcycling 4,000 miles around the entire coastline of the British Isles.

27 year old Jonathan embarks on his amazing challenge on August 1st from Harrogate and will be riding 400 miles a day for two weeks camping overnight at stops along the route. He heads north from Harrogate with his first spot in Fife.

Jonathan has chosen to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust because his aunt has Cystic Fibrosis (CF). He said: “I wanted to do something to raise money for my aunt and I love motorbikes so this seemed like the perfect challenge. I was inspired by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman who motorcycled round the world. Although I’m not covering as much ground as them it’s still going to be a tough challenge, and has only been completed by a handful of riders.”

Jonathan has already raised nearly £6,000 for the CF Trust. To find out more and donate go to www.closetotheedgetour.co.uk

Making a difference

Last year we came into contact with some people called See The Difference. They had recently set themselves up as a charity that helps other charities through video fundraising. The idea is simple – you watch video appeals on their website and donate to any causes that you like. The twist is, you then get feedback from the people you helped, so you can see the difference you’ve made.

We decided to ask for money for start-up grants, so we can help more people with CF make a home for themselves and gain independence. A young man called Alex who had received a start-up grant kindly agreed to be filmed, so we made a video about him and his fridge. The website has now been launched and our appeal is, at the time of writing, one of the most viewed. You can watch it – and, of course, donate to it – on the See the Difference website

Go Michael!

We're pretty amazed by 12 year old Michael Turner from Winchester who is planning a 115 mile sponsored walk this May half term and has already raised £17,500 in sponsorship money for the CF Trust. Wow!

Michael, who goes to The Pilgrims’ School in Winchester, is doing the walk because his 4 year old cousin Maddie was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) 18 months ago.

It will take Michael 7 days to complete the walk, leaving Farnham railway station on Friday 28 May and finishing at Canterbury Cathedral on Thursday 3 June. His father, grandfathers and uncle will join him for a day or two along the route, which is the modern incarnation of the old Pilgrims’ Way.

The Pilgrims' Way was the historic route taken by pilgrims from Winchester to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. Much of the traditional route of the Pilgrims’ Way is now part of the modern road network and walkers wishing to follow it to use the North Downs Way as an alternative.

You can sponsor Michael here http://bit.ly/mjt_ndw - what an inspirational young man.

London Marathon 2011!

Do you want to do something amazing for the CF Trust?

Entries for ballot places in the 2011 London Marathon are now open - they'll close when 125,000 applications are received which took just 4 days last year.

If you want to apply do it today at the link below and if you're lucky enough to get a place you can use it to run with us in our biggest fundraising event of the year!

Good luck!

http://www.virginlondonmarathon.com/marathon-centre/enter-virgin-london-marathon/