A big thank you

The NDCS Challenges Team would like to say a big Thank You to all of you who recently took part in one of our challenges: The London Marathon, North Pole Expedition and Trek Vietnam in April; Cycle Peru, Trek the Inca Trail and the London 10k in May; and the 24 Peaks and 3 Peaks Challenges in June.

London to Paris

These events have so far raised an amazing total of £294,843, and more money is coming in! This is a fantastic amount and will go a long way to make a difference to the lives of deaf children and their families all over the UK. Thank you to all of you for taking on the challenge, and to all your supporters who helped you reach your fundraising target!

“I’m proud and exhilarated at completing this fantastic challenge. Peru is such a beautiful country and even though there are the inevitable ups (Machu Picchu, Abra la Raya pass, Lake Titicaca) and downs (Ayaviri blockade and the challenge having to end), pushing your mind and body to the limit earns the sponsorship received from all the good folks who donated. As a parent of two deaf children I cannot underestimate the value of NDCS challenges. Thanks NDCS.”
Andrew Biddiscombe, Cycle Peru participant

Our Mission onto MySpace

As part of the Digital Avenger work we have been doing we decided to look at trying to attract people to one of our UK Challenge Events, Three Peaks .

We set up a page which can be seen at http://www.MySpace.com/deafchildren

The aim was to attract friends who had an interest in walking, hiking or outdoor events.

Ultimately we would then send them to a landing page where they can then enquire about the event.

As we have been using members of staff for the project I thought it better to have them tell it how it was from their perspective, with a few prompting questions from me. Thanks to Kathy for her Co-operation…

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Ross: Have you used MySpace before?

Kathy: No, only Facebook and Bebo

Ross: How easy was it to set up?

Kathy: With help at the beginning it was pretty easy to set up. The basic page was a bit dull so it took a bit of time to add the extras like the video and images.

Ross: So you learnt some new skills then?

Kathy: To make the pages more interesting it was useful to have some basic html, which with Madhava and Kevin’s help and some digging online I was able to do.

Ross: How many Friends do you have?

Kathy: At last count 411

Ross: That’s good! Isn’t it?

Kathy: Oh no, its now 410 (as she looks at the MySpace page!)

Ross: Will have to look into that and see how good 411 oh 410 is. How did you get those friends?

Kathy: We used a program to collect friends. It is called Stealth Friend Bomber .

Ross: What did you do?

Kathy: We would search on Google and MySpace Groups to look for people interested in walking, hiking and outdoor pursuits. Then send them a request to check out our profile and sign on as a friend.

Ross: Were there any problems?

Kathy: Yes, I would manually have to go through my ‘Friends’ and find the UK profiles before sending out event invitations, as a number of them were American or European.

Ross: What would you like to do moving forward?

Kathy: It would be great to get a few of the people who did the event this year to either join the group or perhaps give us a quote that we can use. Also I would like to have more contact with the marketing team and get information to send out to our 410 people signed up.

Ross: Thanks

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Success/Learning

NDCS staff have learnt to create, manage and populate an MySpace organisational profile

In less than two weeks of promotion, over 300 MySpace users have accepted friend requests from NDCS, self selecting their interest in our Challenge events.

Some interesting questions that came out of this…

Is 410 good? Please let us know…

What should we be doing to a) keep these people interested and b) look at new avenues to collect more friends from MySpace?

Fundraising in your area throughout July

NDCS will be fundraising in the following areas throughout July

Northern Ireland

Claidy
Londonderry
Maydown
Foyle
Rosemount
Waterside Eglinton

England
Bristol
Nottingham
Northampton
Derby
Stoke
Carlisle

Wales

Swansea

We will also be doing door-to-door fundraising for Deaf Child Worldwide in the following areas

Navan
Tallaght, Dublin
Lucan
Swords
Louth
Dublin
Kilkenny
Offaly
Carlow
Naas
Ardfinnan Ballina Ballinderry
Thurles
Tipperary Town
Nenagh
Cashel
Carrick-on-Suir
Cahir
Clonmel
Dromineer Dundrum Fethard
Summerhill, Templemore Terryglass
Kilsheelan Newport, Roscrea
Bansha Birdhill Borrisokane
Holycross Killenaule Kilross
Clogheen Glen of Aherlow
WEXFORD:
Enniscorthy
Ferns
New Ross
Wexford Town
Rosslare
Gorey
Bunclody
Courttown Campile
Boolavogue Ballyhack
Duncannon Curracloe

A big thank you!

This weekend four teams took part in the Three Peaks Challenge , climbing the highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales, raising money for NDCS .

We’d just like to thank them for their hard work and hope their are aching limbs are not too sore!

The teams taking part were:

Barclays Bank Plc
J Coffey Construction Ltd
Nokia
Structural Systems Uk Ltd

If you are interested in taking part in our Three Peaks Challenge, visit our website for more information.

Fundraising in your area throughout June

NDCS will be fundraising in the following areas throughout June

Northern Ireland

Belfast
Carrickfergus
Seapark
Whitehead
Dromara
Dunmurry
Hillsborough
Moira
Sprucefield
Castlerock
Garvagh
Kilrea
Portrush
Portstewart
Claidy
Londonderry
Maydown
Rosemount
Waterside Eglinton
Bellaghy
Castledawson
Draperstown
Maghera
Beragh
Carrickmore
Dromore
Omagh
Craigavon
Lurgan
Mahon Road in Portadown
Portadown
Coagh Moneymore
Pomeroy
Stewartstown

England

Carlisle
Derby
Stoke
Bristol
Northampton

Wales

Swansea

We will also be doing door-to-door fundraising for Deaf Child Worldwide in the following areas

Meath
Louth
Clondalkin
Tallaght
Lucan
Dublin
Kilkenny
Cork
Waterford

A gig in aid of NDCS

Free this weekend and in London why not come along to the following gig and help support NDCS?

If you are unable to make it maybe you can give a small donation to her Justgiving page.

Niamh is taking part in one of our Challenges, for more information on the treks, cycle trips, marathons and team building activities you can go on visit www.ndcschallenges.org.uk

Fergie signs up with NDCS

Well to our Deaf Friendly Football Pledge anyway!

The Deaf Friendly Football Club Project is designed to give all deaf children the chance to play football in a safe, supportive and fun environment, either in mainstream football clubs or deaf football clubs.

Here is one example of how the generous donations of our supporters have helped deaf children.

Fundraising for NDCS?

If you are fundraising for NDCS, firstly thank you very much! We are lucky to have some very committed supporters who raise a vast sum of money.

Next week is Deaf Awareness Week . This is an opportunity for you to perhaps use this as a means of raising awareness about the charity and raising funds for NDCS.

Possibly you could think about how deaf aware your shcool, office or home is:

Do:

Speak clearly and naturally. Try to use an expressive face.

Get a deaf person’s attention before speaking. Try waving, knocking a table or tapping their shoulder lightly.

Face a deaf person when you are talking.

Use visual cues.

Stand with your face to the light.

Ask a deaf person to repeat what you’ve said, if you are not sure if they understood.

Don’t

Speak too slowly or shout – this will distort your lip patterns.

Move your head or walk around while you’re talking. Speech movements can easily be missed.

Stand with your back to a window – this can turn your face into a shadow and make it harder to lipread.

If you are thinking about raising money and how to pay, you can set up a JustGiving page very easily.

They made it to the Pole!!!

Pole position…

As our explorers reach the North Pole, see our live diary for more information, I’ve been thinking what it must be like out there on the ice. Other than chartering your own exploration out to the North Pole a possible way of gaining some understanding might be to following in the footsteps of polar explorers through books.

Fiona Thornewill, explorer and wife of our exploration leader Mike Thornewill, gives some suggestions:

Catherine Hartley – South Without a Beard
Mind Over Matter – Ranulph Fiennes
Captain Scott – Ranulph Fiennes
A Life of Aspley Cherry – Garrard
Shadows on the Wasteland – Mike Stroud

I’ve also searched amazon under the search Polar exploration…

Of course you might fancy more of an adventure and if so Mike and Fiona’s company Polar Challenge International are more than equipped to take you to both the North and South Pole.