Pain

Urgh! What's with the chest hair!?

Well, dear reader, these chest hairs are the subject of my next fundraising event. With a fundraising target of £300, I will get this manly carpet of hair epilated. Yes, you read that correctly - epilated.

For the gentlemen reading who may not be familiar with epilation, this article should give you an idea of what it's about.

I've been epilated before "for a laugh". I assure you there was no laughing on my part. I know how much it hurts, hence the high fundraising target. Here's a picture representative of the last occasion.

I'll be looking to do it in a pub, because I'm probably going to need a drink.

I clearly hate myself. Very much.

So donations can be made to my JustGiving page. Think of how funny the video of my epilation will be - the howls of agony, the tears of pain, the... well, you get the idea. It's definitely worth at least a tenner? Right?

So, in other donation news, I have a winner for my raptor-naming competition. Winner will be announced on here with a lovely cheesy photo of me handing over their prize money and shaking their hand.

I've been up to my eyes in an assignment for my course, so I haven't had the chance to start recording the tracks requested of me. The assignment is due at the end of August, so I'm looking to get them done during September.

Outside of fundraising, I've finally saved enough money to book my flight. I'll be doing that in the next couple of days. Eek! I've also been chatting with the Finance Officer for the expedition on the Facebook group set up for us Volunteer Managers. Engaging with somebody I'm going to be on expedition with has made the whole thing a bit more "real", if that makes sense?

No doubt I'll be keeping you all updated on stuff!

Frequently Asked Questions

I keep getting asked a lot of the same questions about my expedition with Raleigh International, and about my fundraising. I'll put together some of the more common ones.

Where are you going?
Costa Rica, with a short stint in Nicaragua.

When are you going?
January 2014.

How long are you going for?
Three months.

What will you be doing?
I'm going to be a Volunteer Manager, with the specific role of Communications Officer. I'll be there to document the organisation's activities in the country, from blogging to sorting out expedition t-shirts, from finding content for the expedition magazine to passing on messages from home.

At the heart of Raleigh International's activity in a country is field base. This is where I'll be most of the time, but I will have the opportunity to go out in the field. How can I document activities without seeing them for myself?

Raleigh International recruits volunteers, aged 17 to 24. These are the Venturers, and these are the people who work on the various projects. The Volunteer Managers are aged 25 to 74 are there to make sure the projects run smoothly.

There are three projects going on at any one time. The Venturers work on these projects for a few weeks, with a different group working on each project. At the end of the project, they return to be mixed up into different groups, and head off on another project.

Are you getting paid for it?
No. "Volunteering" means you don't get paid. I have to pay Raleigh International because they're a charity.

How much do you have to pay?
I have to give £1950 to Raleigh International. This will cover accommodation, food and any materials I need for the duration of the expedition.

Does that cover flights?
No, I've to pay for my flights on top of that. They are a charity. I also have to pay for my vaccinations, and make sure there's enough money in my account to cover the cost of my bills and stuff for the three months that I'm away.

Why are you doing this? What brought it on?
I think a lot of people were taken by surprise when I announced I was doing this. I have lots of reasons to do it.

• My current job. I'm a 30 year old admin assistant. It's not even a permanent contract. I'll just leave that one there.
• Adventure. I need adventure and excitement and something that's not just going into an office everyday doing stuff because you need to pay rent and bills, without any real sense of achievement.
• Travel. The nature of my current job makes it incredibly difficult to do any decent travelling. I went to Peru a couple of years ago and could only go for a week. I caught up with a great friend and saw Aerosmith, but Peru is still a long way to go for just a week. From that I saw that to get any worthwhile travel done, I'd need to quit my job and make a proper adventure of it.
• Employability. I want to be a Communications Officer, but it's pretty much impossible to have an application taken seriously if the first thing employers see is "Administrative Assistant". Even if I do tick all the boxes in the person specification. I needed to get "Communications Officer" onto my CV, and this was my opportunity to do so, and resolve the frustrations of my previous points at the same time, therefore killing several birds with one epic stone. I also felt that working as a Communications Officer on an adventure would help a job application stand out a bit more.
• The greater good. I want to contribute to helping people who need help, and who will appreciate the help long term, and feel like I was actually contributing something to the world besides sitting at a desk.

Is your girlfriend going with you?

No. Some people are shocked by this.

• The first thing Raleigh International do with couples is separate them, because couples will isolate themselves from the group, which completely defeats the purpose of going on an adventure with the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.
• She doesn't need to. She has a permanent job with a good salary and a mortgage and is generally well set up. Her work allows her to travel for decent periods of time.
• She'd have something to lose. I don't.
• It's only three months.

Will your employers keep your job for you?

This is a tricky one, and one which I haven't discussed with my employers. I'm sure I'll get to it.

Several people have suggested that I ask for leave of absence for the three months I'll be gone. I do see their point. It would be super-sensible and easy and lovely to have a job to come back to.

But, I can't help but think that defeats the purpose of signing up for this adventure (see my previous point about employability, in the bit about why I'm doing this)?

The more I think about it, the more I feel like it would detract from this being an experience for me to build on, and reduce it to being a holiday. I'd be as well off going to Torquay for a week (nothing against Torquay - I was there once and had a great time. Rosie's Fish and Chip Shop is immense!).

Somebody also suggested that it would detract from my expedition experience if I always had returning to my job in the back of my mind, and I do think they're probably right.

You'll be renting out your house while you're gone?

No. Again, some people are shocked by this.

• My landlords have said that for the sake of three months, it's not worth it. The house would have to be cleaned thoroughly before renting it out to tenants, then again when they leave. They also live abroad, so don't want to rent out a house to people they don't know when they're not on hand to deal with any issues. It would generally work out costing them. If I was going for a year, they probably would, but for three months, it's just not worth it.
• I'd like to spend the couple of weeks before I leave enjoying time with my friends, not moving stuff into storage for the sake of three months.

How much is a pint out there?

I don't know, it doesn't matter. You're not allowed to drink on expedition.

What? How will you survive?

Just fine. It's only three months and I'm not an alcoholic. It's not a big deal, it's part of the experience, and it won't do me any harm. And a nice pint of Guinness will taste all the better after it!

Are you letting your hair grow back?

I'm going to let it grow for the winter, because I'll be cold, but I'll shave it again before I go, because I'll have better things for doing over there than fussing over my locks.

Hopefully that answers a lot of the stuff people are wondering. Here's Lenny Kravitz, because with all this information, are you gonna go my way?

Halfway there.

Alas, there are no prizes for guessing what this post is about.

After hair loss, virtual birthday celebrations, interesting covers requests and 12 blog posts, I've reached the halfway mark of my fundraising. Look! 50%! This puts my fundraising exactly where I wanted it to be by the end of July. Phew!

I have been overwhelmed by my donors' generosity. Your support, both financially and in your words of encouragement and best wishes, is a wonderful reassurance to a major commitment, which I initially felt left people kind of surprised and confused. Not that I ever doubted that this commitment was crazy, but to have the backing of your friends and family really is a whole other thing.

I can only thank you, and yet that thanks doesn't seem enough, but being as every spare penny is going towards the cost of my flight, spending money, and my bills here in the UK while I'm away, I'm afraid it's all I've got for now.

Here's a tune from Soundgarden:

I recently watched a TED speech online, given by the musician, Amanda Palmer. I only watched it because the link description said something about an eight foot musician. Even when it was obvious that Amanda Palmer is not eight foot, I continued to watch her because she was enthusiastic and engaging. I didn't remember being that inspired by something that wasn't a record, well, ever! It really changed my approach and outlook in doing things, both in my fundraising for Raleigh International and my music. I won't say any more about it. Here it is for you to watch. Make of it what you will.



And thanks to my good friend, Iris, I'm going to see Amanda Palmer live tomorrow night. Excited!

Under cover of darkness.

I'm blogging about my fundraising much less frequently than when I originally started.

Am I losing interest? Nope, can't afford to do that! I guess when I first started blogging about my fundraising, it was mostly about planning, and there was a lot of ambition and excitement around it. Now, I'm just getting on with it, and trying to juggle it with my day job, band and course, and still find a little time for some gaming and a little time for my friends.

So, in my last blog, I outlined my next fundraising challenge, which was to cover ten songs, as requested by friends, in exchange for a £10 donation. Here's what I've been challenged to:

1. Rockin' in the Free World (originally performed by Neil Young, requested by Ma and Da Fitzgerald)
2. Enter Sandman (originally performed by Metallica, requested by Steven David)
3. Even Flow (originally performed by Pearl Jam, requested by Stacey Sheppard)
4. Friday (originally performed by Rebecca Black and AutoTune, requested by Chas Brickland)
5. Slow Ride (originally performed by Foghat, requested by Dee James)
6. Firestarter (originally performed by The Prodigy, requested by Jon Kelway)
7. Two Little Boys (originally performed by Rolf Harris, requested by LJ Davies)
8. Jerry Was a Race Car Driver (originally performed by Primus, requested by Phil Cooper)
9. Stay (I Missed You) (originally performed by Lisa Loeb, requested by Pamela Pinski)
10. I'm Not That Kind of Boy (originally performed by Anal Cunt, requested by Francisco Mac Dowell Innecco).

Here's a playlist of the tunes:



Now I just have to find time to record them! I'm going to put them on CD and offer them to people in exchange for a £5 donation to my fundraising.

I'm still not any closer to getting any gigs organised, which I've been banging on about since day one. My annual Royal Barbecue is also looking like it will be knocked on the head, again, because I couldn't find a suitable venue. I may just scale it right down and have it at my house, as usual. It'll be like the rent gig in Wayne's World where Cassandra's band had a gig at her apartment to pay the rent, except I look nothing like Tia Carrere and it'll be going towards Raleigh International. Being as the Royal Baby is due to drop in the next couple of weeks, I really should get on that! Maybe just get a load of food and beer and ask people to make donations?

I'd feel much worse about not carrying out those original planned events if I wasn't making up for the funds I would have made at them elsewhere. My raptor-naming competition is nearly over, and I've had a couple of generous personal donations made. I'm still totally confident of reaching my fundraising target, so that's all cool and the gang.

Lazing on a sunny afternoon.

Hey there, fundraising friends!

I haven't blogged in almost a month. Remember when I said I'd be spreading out my fundraising so I don't have to be pestering people continuously because they'd get sick of it? That.

Also, I was in bed ill for a week, which has delayed me in getting started on this month's fundraising event. Hopefully it will all work out though.

So, what is this latest fundraising effort? Well, it's a cover song project type of thing, where for £10 people can request a song for me to record a cover of. I'm aiming to raise £100 for this challenge, so that's ten covers.

You might not understand how, as a musician, this is a challenge. I've had a good old rant about why it's a challenge further down. You should read it if you care, or if you're really bored.

As the video of my headshave currently has 908 views, I've made one to go with this fundraiser. Check it!



Here's the donation link.

Here's a rant about covers to explain why this is a challenge:

The covers rant
As far as I'm concerned, if you're calling yourself a "musician", it means you're creative, therefore, you should create things, not copy things, which is what covers are. Obviously, everybody who starts to play a musical instrument does so by learning the songs of their heroes, but if you're an actual musician, shouldn't that progress to writing your own?

I've repeatedly heard the argument "Would you not play covers for the money?" and the like. Well, I have a job for money. If I want more money, I apply for better paid jobs. If I started playing covers for money, well, isn't that just going to do another job outside of my job that I already have? One job is enough for me, thank you very much. Also, when you split the money a covers band gets paid, after petrol and  a couple of pints, there's not much left. For me, not enough to make it worth the hassle.

If young bands have it drummed into their heads that the only reason to play music is to make a few quid in their local pub, well, that's crap. Where's the encouragement and incentive to write their own stuff so they can go me megastars? Why is nobody pointing out that the people who wrote the songs they play are not playing covers and are making a hell of a lot more money by doing so?

It bothers me that bar managers will pay bands to come in and play other peoples songs, when musicians who write their own stuff can fudge right off. "They play songs people know, and people want to hear songs they know on a night out", is the general argument. So, why not put on CDs of said songs people know? It'll be better quality and cheaper.

Think of it this way: would an art gallery pay somebody to come in and copy the Mona Lisa with a packet of Crayolas and a refill pad? No, they really wouldn't. Why should music be different?

Covers bands might get a few quid from playing other people's songs, but, personally, I love the feeling of somebody paying for a CD of my songs. To know that somebody valued the songs you wrote at the end of your bed enough to part with their hard earned cash for it? That's a whole lot of warm and fuzzy inside right there. To log on to your iTunes sales report to see that somebody in Australia bought just one of your tracks? That's a feeling the few quid you'd make from playing covers really just can not buy.

I've also had people argue that some of my favourite bands have played covers. There's a difference between a band playing the occasional covers as a nod to their influences. Oasis played I Am The Walrus, but it was hardly their bread and butter. If anything, it's opened me up to more music. There's also a difference between covers and reinterpretations, a la Nouvelle Vague, or Mark Ronson's Version album.

Rant over.

Here's one of my favourite covers:



And here's one my favourite reinterpretations:

The changingman.

Well, friends, I haven't blogged in quite a while! It turns out that juggling a day job, fundraising, studying for a digital marketing qualification, and job hunting, is really, really time-consuming!

I've been told that my contract at work won't be renewed when it runs out at the end of July because I can't commit to the full twelve-month contract, because of going off to try and make a difference in the world in January. It also somewhat jeopardises being able to save enough money to get to Costa Rica. I'm sure it'll work out fine, but if anybody knows of any jobs going that can keep me in rent, bills, food, and £200 a month in savings towards my expedition, let me know. Any kind of marketing or communications role would be great, anything with digital marketing would be perfect, but anything at all with an income will be fine. Here's my LinkedIn profile.

My actual fundraising, however, has been going fantastically!

On 2 May, I noted that the YouTube video of my headshave had 359 views. After a post of said video on Facebook, stating how the number of views did not reflect the funds raised, super-generous friends donated £80 within an hour of the post. The video currently has 664 views, which raises a number of questions:

• Is it viral yet?
• Will it make me the new PSY?
• How come my band's music videos don't get as many views with their insanely catchy choruses?
• Does anybody know anybody with a job for somebody who has made a popular YouTube video?

I've started my raptor-naming competition. This one is going slowly. I'm only inviting people to take part if the conversation has gone towards my fundraising. I'm not going around pestering people. There's no need, just take it nice and easy.

I recently had a very big and old birthday. I never make a big deal of my birthday, because so many people are born in May, and there's two bank holidays in May, I don't have the heart to inflict yet another expensive night out on people. It's just not fair on them. So, this year, I decided to make an exception to not making a big deal of my birthday, and turn it into a fundraising opportunity.  I created an event on Facebook called Ronan's 30th Birthday Session, invited all my friends, and asked them to donate the price of the pint they would buy someone on their birthday to my fundraising.

It's been SOOOO successful!

So far I've raised £201.98 from this little stunt. I did notice that some people bought me some incredibly expensive pints. They should look for somewhere else to drink, because they're totally getting ripped off. I've been overwhelmed by the response. I wonder if it's because people are grateful that I wasn't asking for their time for a night out, or if they're just making sure they'll be rid of me for three months?

So, all that money was raised just from Facebook, so if you know anybody who might have a job for somebody who has demonstrable experience of a successful social media campaign, you should definitely tell them about me.

After my headshave and my birthday session, I've raised £413.48, which is 23% of my fundraising total. Based on this blog post, I was expecting to have made £300 by the end of May, so I'm well ahead of target. If I could get to 25% by the end of May, well, that would be super! I'm currently £25 or so away from that. 

Still haven't managed to sort out any gigs though, which is kind of funny because when I first thought of the fundraising I'd have to do, that was my first thought. I think I'm going to work a different angle on it, and essentially hire out my music promotions expertise to potential venues e.g. a venue donates £50 to my fundraising in exchange for me providing live music for them for the night. I wouldn't have to get tickets printed and it would be a sure, fixed amount of money, as opposed to relying on bands selling tickets, and hoping to break even after paying for venue hire and tickets. I'd be looking to start something late-June at this stage.

So that's where I'm at with fundraising. On a more reflective note, I've started to realise how much I'm getting out of the Raleigh International experience, without having even booked flights for going on expedition yet! From what I learned about myself at the assessment weekend, to planning and organising my fundraising, which is going exceptionally well, to getting back into blogging, which will keep my writing skills sharp, to my use of social media as a key element of my exceptional fundraising. It's made me realise that when I get back from Costa Rica, I'll have so much more to talk to potential employers about than the three months in the field. I'd definitely employ me in a digital communications role.

That was heavy, and this has been a very long and wordy post. It's definitely time for a tune. As I've got the post-birthday session hangover, here's a song I love about a hangover.

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

Well friends, following yesterday's concerns about not hitting my fundraising target, I actually made £131.50 - £31.50 over my target of £100.  Very pleased, even if my head is a bit chilly!

As promised, here's the video of how it went down:



Super-special thanks to Hannah, who videoed it all!
Thanks to Ramesh and Pam for shaving it.
Thanks to Dawn and the rest of the staff at The Sacks Of Potatoes.

Thanks to the musicians who played at such short notice - you should go check out their pages:
Jimmy Eff
Jason Kennedy
Phil Cooper

Thanks to Sam and Michelle for their support.

I'm feeling really squiffy today, barely slept last night, and spent £20 on medicine, but I'm so pleased  with how this turned out in the end.  I'm feeling a lot more confident about my fundraising.  My next fundraising event will take place over the course of two weeks and will blow your mind, I think, as long as it all goes according to plan.  More about that again.

Still need a venue for gigs though.

Tonight's the night.

In a few short hours, my glorious mop of brown hair will be no more.

I'm disappointed that I'm still £40 short of my £100 target for this event.  Hopefully I'll make up a few quid in the pub and when people actually see the shaved head.  Even if I don't meet my £100 target, I can't let it get me down for future fundraising events.  I'll need to look at what I've done and what lessons can be learned from it.  Straight away, I know that getting tonight's event together in a week was a challenge that did not work in my favour.

That's enough self-analysis.  Here's more fundraising ideas!

As the expedition I'm going on is in Costa Rica, I've been making lots of dinosaurs references.  You might have noticed the banner image in this very blog.  That's because Jurassic Park is off the coast of Costa Rica. I'm a bit of a fan.  Anyway, ahead of my headshave event, I created this image:

That's right.  It's a picture of me, riding a raptor, because I'm a badass, and if there were velociraptors around, it's most definitely what I'd do.  Unfortunately, my raptor doesn't have a name, so I'm going to run a competition to name my raptor.

People will pick a name from a set list of 50 names, give me their name, email address and £2.  The winner will get £50 - half of the collected money.

I realised that getting my head shaved completely, having not even had it short since 2003, a lot of the people I know will open conversations about it.  This will lead to me telling them about my intentions, and a perfect way to pick up some donations, so I needed something that's quick, easy and cheap for people to get in on.  Ideally, I would have got somebody to sponsor a prize, but as I only thought of it a couple of days ago, I haven't had time.  There will be a lot of conversations about my head and my fundraising tomorrow, so I needed to come up with something quickly to capitalise on it.

So, that's the plan.  OK, must go get ready to get baldified.  Keep an eye out for the video of it, here on this very blog!  You can also still donate at my JustGiving page.

I got a devil's haircut in my mind.

Well friends, fundraising has been going alright!  I'm £60 towards my fundraising total of £100 for getting my head shaved.

I think lots of little events is the way to go for this.  Once I hit my fundraising target for each event, I'll stop harassing people, both in person and online, so they'll get a bit of a break, rather than spending the next six months begging people for one giant sum.  I seem to be struggling with the last £40 for my headshave, but I've got a couple of days to go!

To help with fundraising, I figured I'd need to give people at my events a better idea of why the event was happening, so the Costa Rica and Nicaragua Support Co-ordinator, David, kindly sent me some posters and flyers and magazines and stuff.  It turns out that if my postman has a parcel that doesn't fit through the letterbox, it's OK to rip open the envelope and shove it through the letterbox in bits:

No jokes!

My pack also included a sexy Raleigh International t-shirt.  I was feeling retro, so I took a Myspace pic to show it off:

Oh em jee!  That is so 2006!

Anyway, apart from the sexy t-shirt, you can see my hair, which brings me back to why I'm writing this blog in the first place.  Said hair is getting all shave off for sponsorship for my fundraising.  Please, show your support by donating a couple of pounds at my JustGiving page.

You should also hit up the Raleigh International website to find out more about what I'm fundraising for, and what I'll be doing.

Dude shaved me bare.

I finally have a fundraising event planned!

On Saturday 20th April 2013, at the Sacks of Potatoes pub in Birmingham, I will be getting my head shaved.   My fundraising target for the event is £100.  I would have liked to have set it higher, but it's been put together at such short notice.  Massive thanks to the manager of the Sacks, Dawn, for letting me hold the event.  I promise every strand of my hair will be cleaned off the floor!

Let us know you're coming at the Facebook event here.  If you'd like to donate pounds, you can either see me in person, or I've set up a JustGiving page should you want to donate via the interwebs.  Either way, your donation will be eligible for the Gift Aid scheme.

My fundraising planning hasn't been going as smoothly as I'd hoped: my barber doesn't do communication so well; the venue where I usually hold gigs decided they no longer allow free use for charity events; the alternative place I wanted to hold an event haven't replied to my emails and I haven't had time to phone.  If I don't get a venue in the next week, it's looking like I won't get a gig for May either. This is a pain because I was relying on gigs as the spine of my fundraising efforts, because it's the thing that I do best in the world.  In saying that, I do it best mostly because of my tendency to work through issues, so I know that ultimately it will be fine, but I'm just at that moment of frustration before the light bulb goes off over my head.  Happens all the time!

Before you all go rushing to suggest venues for my gigs, I need three things from any potentials:
1.  It's got to be free, or at least really, really cheap.  Places offering venue hire with a £300 deposit, returnable if that amount is take behind the bar, because their drinks prices are generally too expensive for anybody to want to buy any, therefore eliminating the chance of getting the deposit back.
2.  It's got to be able to cater for a ticketed event.  The money will be raised from tickets sold.  Recommending a pub for live music in a corner and shaking a bucket at people will not raise as much funds as the bands selling tickets, taking their cut from selling a certain amount, and the rest goes towards event costs and my fundraising.  I need the assurance of tickets being sold.
3.  It's got to be in Birmingham city centre, or at least really easy to get to from town.  Have you ever tried explaining to people how to get to a gig in a pub in the backstreets of Digbeth?  It's not easy.

The only place that's been any help have been my ticket printers, which would be of more help if I could actually get a venue.  So anyway, super-massive thanks to Performance Ticket Printers for their very generous offer of a discount on my ticket printing for my events.  I promise I'll get something booked!

So that's where I'm at.  I'll leave you with the song from which the title of this post came.  It's a tune.

Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

Well, my fundraising-following friends!  I've had my welcome pack from Raleigh, which included some general information about fundraising, information on getting publicity for fundraising events, and other more expedition focussed stuff, like the vaccinations I need to get and the kit I'll need to bring.

I haven't actually started my fundraising yet.  I've decided that I'm going to organise a series of fundraising events, and plan them properly, as opposed to just doing a series of badly organised events on the fly.  I also think it'll be better for publicity if I can show from the outset the amount of work I'm putting into my fundraising, which is easier if there is a schedule of ten events or whatever.  Plus, if I get all the planning done now, it'll be relatively plain sailing after that.

The general plan is to have a gig every month from May, and also have a different non-gig fundraising event, so that's two fundraising event per month.  If I can get £200 per month from those, plus saving like mad, I should be OK.

Here's a current rough outline of how this is going to go down.

April
Sponsored head shave: Free to put on and easy to do; not an awful lot to plan; trying to get the barber I frequent to get involved so I can make a small, in store event based around the shave, but they haven't responded - invite people who have donated to come and watch, their staff perform the shave, they get to try and sell attendees things, have a raffle with gift vouchers as prizes to get people back.  Everyone is a winner!
Gig: No intention of putting on a gig this soon - not enough time to get tickets printed and sent out to bands, or for the bands to drum up enough interest to get their fans to actually come.

May
Birthday drinks: My birthday is in May, so, for a week around my birthday I'll carry a jar around, with a copy of ID that proves my date of birth, and ask people to put the price of a pint in the jar, instead of buying me an actual pint.  I'll also have a JustGiving page set up, for people to donate online.  I'll have an actual price list from an actual pub with it, so people can decide what they want to buy me, like if they want to buy me a pint or a shot, or if it's during the day they should just get me a soft drink or something.  I never do anything for my birthday, because I get invited to so many birthday things, I assume other people are the same, and I don't have the heart to inflict another one on people.  This is a better idea all round, because people don't have to spend time on a night out, or spend the money that actual birthday drinks normally costs, like clubs and taxis, and they won't have a hangover the next day.  Everyone is a winner!
Gig: This will be my first fundraising gig.  The venue where I normally put on gigs offer free room hire for charity events, but because I want to put on so many, I've been told they might not be able to do that.  If they can't give it to me for free, hopefully they'll at least give me a decent discount.  I've contacted my usual ticket printers, to see if they can give me a discount for charity events.  Still waiting to hear back from them.

June
Charity album: I've recently invested in some gear so I could record my band's tracks at home, to save the expense of going to record in a studio.  The only thing we'd have to pay for would be studio time for recording drums, because recording drums in my little terraced house would be far from practical.  So, apart from our own music for our own albums and whatever, it means I can record a bunch of songs that other people want us to play.  The idea is that people pick a song they'd like us to play, and for a donation of £10, we'll record that track.  We can then bring the album to gigs, and get people to donate £5 or something for a copy of the album.  It's definitely a donation, and not selling, because if we were selling our covers of other people's music, we'd have to pay them, but as it's going to charity, it's OK.  As far as I understand it anyway.  On previous fundraising adventures I've been on, I've covered Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, and Now That's What I Call Music 75.  Now 75 was particularly painful.  Hopefully, wherever I record the drums will give me a decent rate, because of it being for charity and all.
Gig: As in May.

July
Royal Barbecue: Two years ago I had my first Royal Barbecue, so named because we got a free day off thanks to some hot girl marrying some prince.  Last year was the second Royal Barbecue, when we got a free day off thanks to some old dear wearing hats and waving at people for an awfully long time.  This year, the hot girl from the first Royal Barbecue is now up the Damien Duff, and according to Google and all of its reliability, is due on 17 July.  Unfortunately, this is a Wednesday.  Nobody will announce our free day off until she's actually popped it out, so I'm just going to have to pick a Saturday, probably the Saturday after the 17th.  Previous Royal Barbecues were a few people at my house, but I need to turn this into a proper fundraiser.  I'm not sure if I should ticket it, or ask people to make a donation, or both.  If I ticket it, I might need to have it elsewhere.  If you know a piece of walled off, open air property in Birmingham where I could ticket such a thing, please let me know.  I also plan on making some home brew beer.  I've been intrigued by the idea for a while, it seems cheap enough to do, and I should have my recipe and technique nailed by July.  More scope for more donations there.
Gig: As in June.

August
Chest epilation:  I once had my chest waxed for charity.  It was really easy, and I didn't even flinch.  A girl who was present was very impressed by this.  I'm not sure if my lack of flinching was relative to the amount of snakebite I had consumed.  I kept a baldy chest after that, because I could write things on it, and I had a tendency to play shirtless at gigs.  When my parents were meeting my girlfriend for the first time, for some reason, it was decided that said girlfriend would epilate my chest.  As I recall, it was for no other reason than "a laugh".  I assure you, there was no laughing on my part.  My girlfriend and parents found it hilarious.  Anyway, I know how much it hurts, and for charity, I will relive that agony, in public, for the amusement of others.
Gig: As in July.

September
Song auction:  I've seen this done for another charity before.  I think it's a fun idea.  Essentially, I'll be placing a listing on eBay for people to bid on me writing a songs for them.  I won't just write a song - I'll offer a full consultation on the song's theme and style, and also record it for the winner.  I think this might be the riskiest fundraising idea.  I've no idea how much I might make.
Gig: As in August.

That's where I'm currently at.  The £1950 donation to Raleigh International will be due in November, so I'm only really two months short of a full programme of events. Hopefully, I'll get confirmation on what I need to get the gigs booked next week.  That'll be the spine of my fundraising effort.  Then, all going well, I'll get the stuff I need for the other events the week after, so I can finalise my programme of events, and start publicising it.

Do I have to come right flat out and tell you everything?

Having confirmed my place on the expedition with Raleigh International, I'm now awaiting a pack which will include fundraising ideas, an equipment list, and a vaccination list.

The main thing on my mind is fundraising.  I need to donate £1950 to Raleigh, eight weeks before the expedition begins, or I won't be allowed to go.  My current job isn't very well paid, so it really will be a big fundraising effort for me to get that.  That's also just to be allowed go on expedition - I'll have to pay for my flight to Costa Rica on top of that, as well as make sure I have enough in my account to cover my bills whilst I'm away.  This means that the actual amount I have to  raise is £4000.  If I can save half and fundraise half, that will be fine.

In terms of fundraising, I have a few ideas.  I've done fundraising for charity before, but this is something else.  I instinctively go towards music-related fundraising activities.  I've run plenty of gigs before, I know plenty of musicians and venues, and I know some venues will let you have the place cheap/free if it's for charity.

Another fundraising idea that I've previously seen is auctioning songwriting on eBay.  I'm in a band, and I'm a pretty good songwriter, if I may say so myself!  I can auction writing a song, working with the winning bidder to have it in the style they like, with the themes they want included, as well as arrange for recording the song.

My birthday is in May.  Instead of having birthday drinks like everybody else does, I'm thinking of asking people to donate the price of the pint they'd normally buy somebody for their birthday to my fundraising.  This helps me by raising money, and helps them by not having to give up their time or health for yet another birthday drinking session.

I'll probably also put on a pub quiz.  I think they're pretty reliable fundraisers.  I'll include raffles at the quiz, and also at the gigs, to help bump up the fundraising a little bit more.

I'm awaiting my pack from Raleigh with information about the fundraising, so I'll have their guidance on branding and key messages for advertising fundraising events.  I don't want to do anything that might upset their marketing people.

I've worked out that I need to raise £194 per month between now and November to be able to pay Raleigh International for the expedition.  I'll also need to save £181 per month to cover the cost of flights and bills while I'm gone.

I haven't even factored in spending money for Costa Rica.  I may just have to give my credit card a good thrashing, and hope to get a job to pay it back when I return.

It's just as well I enjoy a challenge!

Also, in case anybody is wondering about the title of this post, it comes from a Spinal Tap song called Gimme Some Money.

Let's get it started.

So, my friends.  My Raleigh International journey continued on Tuesday 5 March, with a phone call from Clare at Raleigh, to say that they were happy with my application, and that I'd made a good impression over the weekend.  The facilitators who had been guiding my team spoke highly of my energy and enthusiasm and positivity.  This all meant that they were happy for me to go on expedition with them.

There was, however, a small snag.  The position of Communications Officer for the September Costa Rica expedition was already filled.  She was able to offer me some other positions in other countries, or I could take the Communications Officer role for the January 2014 expedition.  I asked if I could have a couple of days to think about it, and she said I could have until the end of the week.  We ended the call.

I considered the options, and it didn't take me long to conclude that I may not get to do this again, so I might as well take the role I want, in the country I want, and going in January would allow me a more comfortable time frame to fundraise.

I phoned Clare back to let her know.  I received my offer letter and some fundraising information in an email the following day.  I was also informed that I would need to pay an initial donation of £200 to confirm my place on the expedition, within two weeks.  Out with the credit card, and that was that done.

One of my favourite things about phoning up to pay by credit card, was, believe it or not, being put on hold.  Why?  Because their hold music was Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz!  Few things can make you happier about committing to a volunteering organisation than Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz being their hold music.

I'm going to Costa Rica, baby!  Woo, yeah!

To the next level.

I got pretty excited once I read the information and equipment list I had been sent for the assessment weekend.  It seemed to me like a big old Scout camp, which was fine with me.  It was even taking place at a Scout campsite.

The assessment weekend was taking place in a place called East Grinstead on 2 and 3 March.  No, I'd never heard of it either.  Google Maps told me it was down south.

It was starting at 9am on a Saturday, and because I'm a public transport monkey, it meant having to go down the evening before and get a B&B for the Friday night.  Every single train I got on was delayed - Birmingham to Euston by over half an hour, Euston to Victoria by ten minutes, and Victoria to East Grinstead delayed for about 20 minutes at Hurst Green, and eventually cancelled completely.  So there I was, hanging around this train station, in the middle of nowhere, with a replacement train unable to arrive because the broken train couldn't move from the platform, no taxis outside the station, no numbers for taxis on display anywhere, no internet on the phone I was using to Google "taxi hurst green", so pretty much generally stranded.  Then some total hero said he could bring two to East Grinstead - his wife had come to collect him.  Oddly enough, I was the only person who went with them.  They dropped me right outside the B&B.  A good ending, and it was obvious that the adventure had already begun.

In the B&B, I met a girl who was also there for the Raleigh International assessment weekend.  She already had a taxi booked, so I said I'd be happy to split the cost with her.  The following morning at breakfast, we met another man who was also attending the weekend.

We got to the campsite, filled in a bunch of forms, and got split into teams.  We played a few games getting to know each other's names, and then it was straight into some activities focussed on us working together as a team.

It was nice to meet total strangers who turned out to be an outstanding bunch of people and to bond so quickly with them and to share the experience with them.  It was fun to regress into being a teenage Scout again, trudging about in the muck and in the dark, and eating from a Trangia, and playing silly games.

I came home feeling so reinvigorated and alive like I haven't felt in years.  All I could think was that should Raleigh not want me, I'd be looking to get back involved with Scouting.  I remembered that stopping Scouting was never a conscious decision, it just dwindled where I grew up because so few people wanted to move up to Venturers.

Regardless of what else what might happen, I learned a hell of a lot about myself, giving me food for thought about what I'm doing and where I'm going.  Which was needed.  Badly.

I'm going back to the start.

Hi there,

A couple of months ago, I decided to look for something amazing to do.  My day job is OK, but one day I wasn't really feeling it, and my contract expires in July.  I hit the internet, looking for something different, something exciting, something random.

On Guardian Jobs, I found an advert for a Communications Officer role with an organisation called Raleigh International.  It was a voluntary role in Borneo, starting in June.  I knew it would cost many pounds, and I would have to miss seeing Neil Young live and my best friend's wedding, but the more I read it, the more exciting it sounded.  Long term, Communications Officering is what I want to do - I figured that if a company already sees "Communications Officer" on my CV, it will be more attractive to them than "Marketing Administrative Assistant", and when they look to see what makes me stand out from other people who have already been Communications Officers, having done it voluntarily for a charity would make it stand out pretty well.  I sent in my CV and covering letter on 24 January, and on 29 January, I received an email inviting me to their assessment weekend.

I found out that the assessment weekend was a general thing, and that I hadn't in fact specifically applied to be Communications Officer in Borneo in June.  This was cool and the gang with me, because I then discovered that they also ran schemes in Costa Rica at other times of year.  As a bit of a Jurassic Park fan, my interest in Raleigh International then became all about becoming Communications Officer in Costa Rica in September.

I thought, in the words of Wayne Campbell: "It will be mine.  Oh yes.  It will be mine."