06 April 2012

Charities

I had intended to raise funds for 3 charities through this venture. I approached each one to inform them of my intentions (admittedly at fairly short notice), as of yet I have had no reply from 2 and from the 3rd (the RNLI) I received the following reply:

"Dear John,

Thank you very much for your enquiry, and thank you for thinking of supporting the RNLI with a fundraising event.

Unfortunately, from your description, this isn't an activity which the RNLI feels it could condone, support, or encourage. As you say, this is a huge challenge, and in our view, potentially a very dangerous one. The RNLI could not encourage undertaking these types of challenges, solo without visual contact with others or a safety boat.

As I am sure you are aware, the sea can be an extremely dangerous place. The cost of a rescue should you find yourself in difficulties, is high, and of course any adverse publicity to the RNLI would negate the efforts you would be making to raise awareness.

I'm very sorry, as you've obviously given a lot of thought and planning to this, but under the circumstances we really can't support your idea.

If you would like to discuss this further, do please feel free to contact me. If you would like to join in with an RNLI organised event, please visit our website: http://www.rnli.org.uk/how_to_support_us/events

With very many thanks for your interest and support for the RNLI.

Kindest regards,"

For the moment the charity fundraising page has been put on hold.

1 comment:

Jim (Taran) said...

Good luck John!
I dropped by the factory on my way home on Friday but the guys seemed busy so I went to find Summit to Sea instead, which is where I first heard rumour you were going.

Don't worry too much about the RNLI, I got a similar response at one point regarding raising money for them in a kite buggy event. In the end I convinced them that the event was properly organised and was going to go ahead in front of one of their stations anyway (we coordinate with the crew since we would need to clear an area of the beach so they can launch). If you can set something up after you get back I'll happily make a donation for RNLI.

Jim