O/T completely off topic

Col said:

Hi, i hope you do not mind me 'advertising' on here. I am doing a trek to
Peru in September to raise funds for the Autistic Society. Please support me
at:

www.justgiving.com/ColsTrek

I do hope this has not offended anybody!

col xx

I'm hoping to have a holiday in Canada in the summer. Could anyone
wishing to support me please email me their bank account details. I
promise to donate anything that is left over to some charity or other.

Thanks

Simon

--
Stop ID cards and the Database State
http://www.no2id.net/

Simon Caldwell said:

Col said:

Hi, i hope you do not mind me 'advertising' on here. I am doing a trek to
Peru in September to raise funds for the Autistic Society. Please support me
at:

www.justgiving.com/ColsTrek

I do hope this has not offended anybody!

col xx

I'm hoping to have a holiday in Canada in the summer. Could anyone
wishing to support me please email me their bank account details. I
promise to donate anything that is left over to some charity or other.

Thanks

Simon

It's supposed to be Nigeria!

As it happens, I have to go to Nigeria for the entire summer to look
after the dying head tribesman of Okaboola, who made me promise to
give his tribe $40000 before September....

--

R
o
o
n
e
y

hmmmmm !!

--
col xx
www.justgiving.com/ColsTrek

"Rooney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Simon Caldwell said:

Col said:

Hi, i hope you do not mind me 'advertising' on here. I am doing a trek to
Peru in September to raise funds for the Autistic Society. Please support
me
at:

www.justgiving.com/ColsTrek

I do hope this has not offended anybody!

col xx

I'm hoping to have a holiday in Canada in the summer. Could anyone
wishing to support me please email me their bank account details. I
promise to donate anything that is left over to some charity or other.

Thanks

Simon

It's supposed to be Nigeria!

As it happens, I have to go to Nigeria for the entire summer to look
after the dying head tribesman of Okaboola, who made me promise to
give his tribe $40000 before September....

--

R
o
o
n
e
y

Col said:

hmmmmm !!

Ha ha! You must expect to get skitted, Col!
But sure - I'll sponsor you. Remind me after pay day. Funds are
depleted after the various annual binges and sprees (and more are in
the offing!)

--

R
o
o
n
e
y

Following up to Simon Caldwell

Quoted message said:

I'm hoping to have a holiday in Canada in the summer. Could anyone
wishing to support me please email me their bank account details.

what would you do with them? Put them on a paying in slip? If so,
i'll send :-)
--
Mike Reid
Wasdale-Thames path-London-photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Eat-walk-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap

In article <[email hidden]>, Col
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Hi, i hope you do not mind me 'advertising' on here. I am doing a trek to
Peru in September to raise funds for the Autistic Society. Please support me
at:

www.justgiving.com/ColsTrek

I do hope this has not offended anybody!

col xx

Hi Col,

Although raising money for charities is laudable some people find this
sort of organised fund raising inappropriate. In the case of this trek
~£1350 of the sponsor money goes to paying for your trek. Although it is
undoubtedly good for the charity some would feel that the sponsors are
being misled unless they are told that £1100 of their money is being
used to fund the trek (I understand the you have to pay a £250
registration fee).

Were you to sponsor yourself that amount (i.e. pay for the trek as
others doing a trek might do for a holiday) all of the money people
donate would go to the NAS.

I have sometimes contemplated doing some of the "challenge" events in
aid of charity and have found them the same - part of the money raised
goes to the cost of the event. I would not be comfortable personally
benefiting from the money people sponsor me.

Therefore I prefer to organise my own event(s) and pay all the costs
involved so that all of the sponsor money goes to the cause. Indeed I
also add 10% (up to £100) as a personal contribution to the cause to
encourage people to contribute.

Although my two fund raising efforts over the last two years have been
relatively modest affairs I have raised more for my chosen charity than
you will if you only raise the minimum sponsorship.

I hope the above gives you some insight into why some people may not
want to support such an event. I also wish you well with your
fund-raising efforts and hope you have a good trip.

For others interested information on the trek in question is here:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=484&a=5745

--

Dominic Sexton

"Simon Caldwell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Col said:

Hi, i hope you do not mind me 'advertising' on here. I am doing a
trek to
Peru in September to raise funds for the Autistic Society. Please
support me
at:

www.justgiving.com/ColsTrek

I do hope this has not offended anybody!

col xx

I'm hoping to have a holiday in Canada in the summer. Could anyone
wishing to support me please email me their bank account details. I
promise to donate anything that is left over to some charity or
other.

Thanks

Simon

Well, aren't you an unpleasant lot on here?
Let's hope you never have anyone in your own families who is autistic.

Onlooker

Onlooker said:

"Simon Caldwell" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Col said:

Hi, i hope you do not mind me 'advertising' on here. I am doing a
trek to
Peru in September to raise funds for the Autistic Society. Please
support me
at:
www.justgiving.com/ColsTrek

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm hoping to have a holiday in Canada in the summer. Could anyone
wishing to support me please email me their bank account details. I
promise to donate anything that is left over to some charity or
other.

Quoted message said:

Well, aren't you an unpleasant lot on here?

All we are saying is that this bloke is getting to go on a great
walking holiday and we are expected to pay for it. Let's face it if
you were to give to charity and about one third of the money was going
into the collectors pocket you'd be upset too.

Quoted message said:

Let's hope you never have anyone in your own families who is autistic.

I think we all know of somebody who has a disease for which there is a
charity trying to raise funds.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Onlooker" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Well, aren't you an unpleasant lot on here?
Let's hope you never have anyone in your own families who is autistic.

WTF has that got to do with getting a cheap holiday by conning the
generous into paying for most of it rather than contributing direct to
the charity of their choice.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 17 summits
New - 11 (Marilyns 0, Sweats 1, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 6 (Marilyns 1, Sweats 2, Wainwrights 6, Outlying Fells 0)

In article <[email hidden]>, Onlooker
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

"Simon Caldwell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Col said:

Hi, i hope you do not mind me 'advertising' on here. I am doing a
trek to
Peru in September to raise funds for the Autistic Society. Please
support me
at:

www.justgiving.com/ColsTrek

I do hope this has not offended anybody!

col xx

I'm hoping to have a holiday in Canada in the summer. Could anyone
wishing to support me please email me their bank account details. I
promise to donate anything that is left over to some charity or
other.

Thanks

Simon

Well, aren't you an unpleasant lot on here?

No.

Quoted message said:

Let's hope you never have anyone in your own families who is autistic.

Nobody has criticised the NAS nor spoken out against raising funds for
the NAS so that is of no relevance. The NAS is only relevant to the
discussion in this particular case but the argument is relevant to all
charities that use similar fund-raising schemes.

People, myself included, have raised the valid concern that many
charities are now using this type of fund-raising scheme where the
participant effectively gets an enjoyable experience which is funded by
the sponsor money.

The charities are happy because they make a reasonable profit by setting
minimum sponsorship levels. The participant is happy because they get to
do something that they want without having to organise pay full price
for it (unless they personally sponsor themselves to the tune of the
trip cost). Unfortunately the generous people sponsoring the participant
rarely realise that a hefty proportion (44% in this case) of their
donation is being used to fund the trip.

Have you ever seen a sponsor form or other request that openly states
"£xx / xx% of the sponsor money will be used to fund the event"? I have
never seen such an open admission and feel that the schemes are thinly
veiled deception.

Onlooker, do you honestly think that it is right that sponsors should
donate £2500 for the charity to get £1400? I don't.

I firmly believe that continued use of such schemes by charities to
raise funds will undermine the public's generosity and would advise
against people entering such schemes unless they are willing to pay the
cost of the event and inform their sponsors that they have done so.

--

Dominic Sexton

To all those who accused me of being fraudulent:

Anyone with half a brain would realise that this was not a way of raising
money for a holiday but a means of being able to raise a significant amount
of money for a specific charity whilst raising awareness of Autistic
Spectrum Disorders.

Are all these charities wrong?:

http://www.machu-picchu.me.uk/

http://www.trek4charity.com/

http://www.bhf.org.uk/events/index.asp?secID=12&secondlevel=90&thirdlevel=872&artID=4030

http://www.the-childrens-society.org.uk/participate/SG_Feature/7541/29/

http://www.ndcs.org.uk/treks_challenges/overseas_challenges/challenges/amazon_adventure/index.html

A lot of organised fraudsters out there, wouldn't you say?

It's bad enough to be accused on the newsgroup but to also receive emails
into my personal inbox stating I am a fraud was not necessary. You know who
you are!!

"Roger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Onlooker" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Well, aren't you an unpleasant lot on here?
Let's hope you never have anyone in your own families who is autistic.

WTF has that got to do with getting a cheap holiday by conning the
generous into paying for most of it rather than contributing direct to
the charity of their choice.

--
Roger Chapman so far this year 17 summits
New - 11 (Marilyns 0, Sweats 1, Outlying Fells 10)
Repeats - 6 (Marilyns 1, Sweats 2, Wainwrights 6, Outlying Fells 0)

[email hidden] said...

Quoted message said:

Well, aren't you an unpleasant lot on here?
Let's hope you never have anyone in your own families who is autistic.

Onlooker

Thank you, but I already have. Two of my sons have autistic
spectrum disorders. That doesn't mean that I will
automatically sponsor everyone aiming to raise money for the
NAS though - I've got quite enough calls on my finances as it
is.
--
If you can keep your head when all around are losing theirs...
then you've failed to grasp some important aspect of the
situation.

I noticed that Message-ID: <[email hidden]> from
Dominic Sexton contained the following:

Quoted message said:

Were you to sponsor yourself that amount (i.e. pay for the trek as
others doing a trek might do for a holiday) all of the money people
donate would go to the NAS.

I put myself down for the Ben Nevis trip. I'm told the college where
I work usually stump up for the diesel and supply the minibus.
Everything else we pay for ourselves. All sponsorship money goes
directly to the charity (Doug MacMillan).

Any support gratefully received. :-)

--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/

''The NAS is only relevant to the discussion in this particular case but the
argument is relevant to all
charities that use similar fund-raising schemes............

People, myself included, have raised the valid concern that many charities
are now using this type of fund-raising scheme where the participant
effectively gets an enjoyable experience which is funded by the sponsor
money''
***************************
Whilst I understand Dominic that you werent having a personal 'go' at me,
(unlike some of your other colleagues on the newsgroup emailing me
personally), I suggest that, if you feel so strongly about issues such as
these, you take your concerns up with the charities concerned. Yes, I am
hoping it will be an enjoyable experience both for myself and the people I
am travelling with but it also be an arduous one and one which I will have
trained hard for.
Good luck to you all in the future!

"Dominic Sexton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Onlooker
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

"Simon Caldwell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 13:30:38 +0000 (UTC), "Col"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

>Hi, i hope you do not mind me 'advertising' on here. I am doing a trek
>to
>Peru in September to raise funds for the Autistic Society. Please
>support me
>at:
>
>www.justgiving.com/ColsTrek
>
>I do hope this has not offended anybody!
>
>col xx
>

I'm hoping to have a holiday in Canada in the summer. Could anyone
wishing to support me please email me their bank account details. I
promise to donate anything that is left over to some charity or other.

Thanks

Simon

Well, aren't you an unpleasant lot on here?

No.

Quoted message said:

Let's hope you never have anyone in your own families who is autistic.

Nobody has criticised the NAS nor spoken out against raising funds for the
NAS so that is of no relevance. The NAS is only relevant to the discussion
in this particular case but the argument is relevant to all charities that
use similar fund-raising schemes.

People, myself included, have raised the valid concern that many charities
are now using this type of fund-raising scheme where the participant
effectively gets an enjoyable experience which is funded by the sponsor
money.

The charities are happy because they make a reasonable profit by setting
minimum sponsorship levels. The participant is happy because they get to
do something that they want without having to organise pay full price for
it (unless they personally sponsor themselves to the tune of the trip
cost). Unfortunately the generous people sponsoring the participant rarely
realise that a hefty proportion (44% in this case) of their donation is
being used to fund the trip.

Have you ever seen a sponsor form or other request that openly states "£xx
/ xx% of the sponsor money will be used to fund the event"? I have never
seen such an open admission and feel that the schemes are thinly veiled
deception.

Onlooker, do you honestly think that it is right that sponsors should
donate £2500 for the charity to get £1400? I don't.

I firmly believe that continued use of such schemes by charities to raise
funds will undermine the public's generosity and would advise against
people entering such schemes unless they are willing to pay the cost of
the event and inform their sponsors that they have done so.

--

Dominic Sexton

Col said:

To all those who accused me ofbeing fraudulent:

Anyone with half a brain wouldrealise that this was not a way of
raising
money for a holiday but a means ofbeing able to raise a
significantamount
of money for a specific charitywhilst raising awareness of Autistic
Spectrum Disorders.

I must say, that the readers andposters of this group would have been better either ignoring your post orreplying to you personally in a positive manner if they wished to helpyou.

I think it was a fair point forsomeone to explain out how the funds raised are distributed.

However emailing you in themanner you allege, is plainly wrong and uncalled for, and while we can allsuffer from "charity fatigue" from time to time most of us can appreciatewhat charities, volunteers and fund raisers do to help people in a lesscapable position than our own.

Witty comments can beunintentionally hurtful, but are harmless.

Mean spirited comments are justplain rude.

Regards Jeff.

www.astrecks.co.uk

If it works..............DON'T fix it
No Virus Checker? try this free one from AVG it is very good:- grisoft.comus dwnl free.phpOpen ↗
For a new experience in e-mail clients try:- http://www.pocomail.com/ &nbsp;
Kill SPAM forever! Protect your family with Spamjab from:- spamjab.comspamjab.comOpen ↗

Jeff C said:

<html>

Stop messing about with that Pocomail. Go back to the newsreader you
were using before.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Phil Cook said:

Jeff C wrote: > Stop messing about with that Pocomail. Go back to
the newsreader you were using before. -- Phil Cook looking north
over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

LOL, it was ok until one person said it wasn't, so I tweaked it and it
went all wrong again. But seriously, let me know if this posting is
ok.

Are all my postings the wrong format or just one or two?

Regards Jeff.

www.astrecks.co.uk

If it works..............DON'T fix it
No Virus Checker? try this free one from AVG it is very good:-http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php
For a new experience in e-mail clients try:- http://www.pocomail.com/ 
Kill SPAM forever! Protect your family with Spamjab from:-http://www.spamjab.com/

The message <[email hidden]>
from "Col" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

It's bad enough to be accused on the newsgroup but to also receive emails
into my personal inbox stating I am a fraud was not necessary. You know who
you are!!

And it wasn't me but seeing you replied to my post I will take this
opportunity to repeat that I do think what you are doing is con
motivated as much by the lure of a cheap holiday as by any genuine
concern for the charities.

All that bogus justification about have to train hard for your walk
won't wash either. But then top posters are not noted either for their
honesty or their intellect.

"Jeff C" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:2005230551.988445@jeff...

Col said:

To all those who accused me of being fraudulent:

Anyone with half a brain would realise that this was not a way of
raising
money for a holiday but a means of being able to raise a
significant amount
of money for a specific charity whilst raising awareness of Autistic
Spectrum Disorders.

I must say, that the readers and posters of this group would have been
better either ignoring your post or replying to you personally in a
positive manner if they wished to help you.

I think it was a fair point for someone to explain out how the funds
raised are distributed.

However emailing you in the manner you allege, is plainly wrong and
uncalled for, and while we can all suffer from "charity fatigue" from
time to time most of us can appreciate what charities, volunteers and
fund raisers do to help people in a less capable position than our
own.

Witty comments can be unintentionally hurtful, but are harmless.

Mean spirited comments are just plain rude.

Regards Jeff.

It never ceases to amaze me the ignorant way some people "talk" to
total strangers in newsgroups! I wonder if they would walk up to a
complete stranger in the street or in a pub and speak the same way -
perhaps they would?

I agree with you, the original post could have been either ignored or
replied to in a positive, polite manner. To send personal abusive
emails is totally out of order.

I happen to know that Col is doing this trek with the very best
intentions, and with a deep personal interest. If she doesn't do it,
then she would only be able to give the charity a very small amount -
this way they will get a rather more significant donation - the end
justifies the means. As the chosen charity is advertising this itself,
then it can be taken that they approve of the method.

Lastly, if one of you walkers falls down and breaks a leg in a remote
area - do remember to ask the rescue team how they were funded - and
if you don't like the answer - tell them you'll stay where you are!

Onlooker