Well done - and thanks to you all

Some fantastic news in today's Bury Free Press:

The Bury Free Press Beat It! appeal sailed through its £55,000 target this week – thanks to our generous readers.

On Tuesday, the St Edmund’s Wheel fund-raising group’s three wise men, trustees Ian Turner, Brian Hurrell and Steve Laycock, presented £10,000 to take us beyond the £55,000 minimum we hoped to raise for a prostate cancer probe for West Suffolk Hospital.

Steve said: “Having the opportunity to exceed the target we thought would be a great way to end the year.”

With more still coming in – the total now stands at £58,000 – any extra cash will fund further enhancements to the equipment.

Editor Barry Peters said: “This was always going to be a huge sum to raise in a year, but the community took Beat It! to its heart. I want to thank everyone who donated.”

Yes, our Beat It! appeal has overtaken its £55,000 target.

It seemed a huge amount when we decided at the beginning of the year to raise the money to buy West Suffolk Hospital a prostate cancer probe but readers and local organisations took the appeal to heart.

St Edmund’s Wheel gave us an amazing £10,000 donation. But do not give up if you have money raised for the appeal because it is still welcome. There are additional costs which the hospital would have had to cover had we only raised £55,000.

Dave Gooderham, fund-raising manager for the hospital, said: “The astounding generosity shown by the public in raising even more than £55,000 allows us to further enhance the care and services we can offer to patients living with prostate cancer.”

The new machine will give higher resolution scans than the current equipment, enabling staff to better target biopsies to treat the cancer.

Each year, 40,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer, which kills about one an hour. But Beat It! has not only raised money,  it has raised awareness.

Urology nurse practitioner Kay Trabucchi said: “I do the rapid access clinics and guys have come along recently who have been encouraged to do so by the campaign .”

For many donating to Beat It!, prostate cancer was more than statistics.  Just two weeks after the appeal began, Barrow Bowls Club gave £900 and treasurer Valerie Wyatt said: “Quite a few of our members have been affected by prostate cancer in some way.”

Sadly, several donations came from funeral collections.

But there was a fun side to fund-raising, too. The Woolpit Drama Club’s naked ambition in staging Calendar Girls raised £2,500.

In April, St Edmund’s Wheel held its first fund-raiser, with round-Bury rides of 15 to 100 miles. Later it held an off-road ride in King’s Forest.

In July, West Suffolk Hospital, St Edmunds Round Table and West Suffolk Hospital held a highly successful Bury It’s a Knockout competition.

That was typical of fund-raisers’ inventiveness. The hospital’s IT team cycled the equivalent of London to Le Mans in 24 hours on machines in the staff restaurant. On Saturday, 30 walkers, runners and joggers completed the 10km for 10 days challenge — they have raised between £1,500 and £2,000.

We even had racing pigs when the new Bury St Edmunds Lions Club held an electronic pig racing night.

Beat It! was also part of the Hospital Charity event in the arc last Saturday with the chance to have your picture taken in a Jordan Formula One car. Between the arc and a bucket collection at Bury Rugby Club, we raised £850. Saturday’s event also raised money for the Breast Cancer Campaign and Operation Jordan, a fund for a £50,000 operation for Bury boy Jordan Chaplin, who has cerebral palsy.

You can still donate to Beat It! at www.justgiving.com/BFP-Beat-It or by using your green token in Bury Waitrose’s Community Matters charities box.

A week to go...

Little did I imagine back in January that I'd be sitting here today a slimmer soul.

Inches have melted from my waist and precious pressure has eased from my veins. Heck, I've even bought some clothing without an 'X' anywhere on its label.

Ok, this time next week (barring a trip to the chippie) I'll be more than £100 worse off but I would have happily coughed up that amount back in January (you may recall I pledged £2 for every lb I lost...that equates to about 56lb so £112 as of today).

Yesterday, I received the draft from the nice people at Abbeycroft of my poster campaign: yes, I'm one of the new cover stars for their Inspire campaign. So when you see my ugly mug imploring you to exercise, don't just dismiss it. If I can do it, anyone can...and that means you.

Eat less, exercise more and reshape your life. That's what Smiling Assassin Helen Bye told me back in January. She was smiling then and I don't think she thought I could do it. But thanks to her, the lovely team at Abbeycroft and all of you who have sponsored me for our Beat It! appeal, I've pretty much got where I wanted for 2013. That's Helen, below, posing for the camera in full make-up.

I've huffed and puffed. I've sweated and looked very silly doing things at the gym which a man of 48 just shouldn't do. I'd like to apologise, too, to all the proper gym-goers for my lack of fitness back in January and for leaving so much sweat everywhere.

My defining moments have been numerous.

- Dropping one trouser size was great - but falling a shocking 12 inches to fit in 36 Next jeans was a dream come true.

- Running. Yes, running. Just a few weeks ago, I felt like running, so I did. Just for 30 seconds, but I ran. And I smiled so much afterwards I strained my facial muscles. I now run for 8 mins or so on the treadmill and am building that up gradually.

- My old mum. For years, she'd been chuffing on about how large I'd got. Now she says I shouldn't lose any more. Well, you can't win 'em all!

My one remaining aim this year is to see the Beat It! appeal reach that magical £55,000 mark. We've hit the £50k mark so there's a little push to go and we may just get there. That would make the whole year seem so worthwhile so please back the final few bits of fund-raising across the town this week.

For 2014, I'll be a paying member of the gym. I've said I want to lose a further 2 stones and will need to keep going to maintain where I've got to and push on further. Abbeycroft have been so supportive this year with their support in financing my year that I owe it to them as much as anyone to keep training.

So, sorry gym-bunnies, you ain't seen the last of me waving my butt around the mats or teetering on the edge of collapse on the treadmill. But you love me really...don't you?

Ride on time

Great spread of pictures in the Bury Free Press today about the St Edmunds Wheel bike ride last Sunday.

As promised, I did the 15-mile ride (which, thanks organisers, was actually about 17 miles!). More than 700 took part and my favourite sight was that of the family of four on one bike. Amazing!

Smiling Assassin and Son No2 pushed and pushed me and even pointed me in the right direction when I took a wrong turn in Hessett. 17 miles is plenty without adding distance after all.

I was helped on the route by the nice Claire Robinson, from the T-shirt shop Tee-s in Langton Place, Bury ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/TEEsCoUk ) who produced this stunning appeal shirt for me to wear. Thanks for your support, Claire!

For those who took part, thanks very much. The weather was cool and breezy - ideal for cycling.

Thanks, too, to Steve, Ian and Brian - the organisers and founders of St Edmunds Wheel. This year will have seen them smash through the £200,000 barrier of fund-raising. If ever a local trio deserved an honour, it's these guys for the months of hard work they put in each year to raise cash for good causes. This year, a portion of the money raised will go to our Beat It appeal.

Plug me in and watch me go

This was the scene...before Smiling Assassin (aka Helen Bye) came away beaming.

"But you're normal!" she shrieked.

It's taken a few months, much sweat, humiliation, early mornings, more sweat. But finally, there's a chink showing there.

"Great," I said - now can you unhook me from the power grid?

As part of Abbeycroft Leisure's commitment to me for 2013's Bury Free Press Beat It appeal (you can find details of my fund-raising at justgiving.com/BfpEditor ), I'm getting the services of a fitness instructor and their lovely Western Way gym for free.

Part of that offer though is the Bodystat - a series of tests to determine how much lean mass I have, my peak flow (!), my body make-up and the like. You have little sticky pads stuck in places no-one should see but your mother and close friends and a current is passed through your limbs. I now know what a piece of chicken must feel like on a George Foreman grill.

Anyhow, suffice to say I haven't grown over the past four and half months. Boo.But I have taken 10% off my body fat and lost more than 20kgs.

The success Smiling Assassin was celebrating was my blood pressure. Abbeycroft are meticulous in checking everyone who starts exercising with regards to BP to ensure they are fit to exercise. I was on the borderline so went back to my GP and carried out home tests before being allowed to train. My readings in January were high. The result of the training and weight loss is that my BP is now in normal ranges, which is good news.

The flip of this came in the sucker punch from Ms Bye.

"Now we can get you ripped on the free weights. You wanna be ripped dontcha?"

Mmm. Let's see. There's ripped and ripped.

I don't mind Brad Pitt in Fight Club, but Arnie and Sly? No thanks. So I'm going to have to be careful and not let her get too carried away. I'm not doing steroids and I'm not doing protein shakes. Beyond that, I'll lift a few of those teeny weeny weights with all my might.

Oh - and my peak flow. Don't worry - it's nothing to do with my pee output thankfully. It's a measure of lung power and mine are firing on all cylinders. You simply blow into a contraption similar to an empty toilet roll and a slider moves to indicate your power. I cracked this one very early on - simply have a magnet with you and at the critical point, hold it at the end of the tube.

You'll get maximum points each time...kerching!

Another milestone

Here's my problem...

The reason you've had no progress for the past month or so is because of guilt.

I thought a trip to the States would derail all my progress...I thought I would have to come back to you a broken man...I thought I'd be under the Smiling Assassin for years after a trip to Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co.

I thought wrong, I'm pleased to say.

The Bury Free Press Beat It appeal is at least £84 to the good from my pocket alone ... not only did I lose another half a stone in the US, but another half fell off somewhere else in the past month to take me sailing past the three stones mark.

Smiling Assassin thought I'd blob out while across the 'Pond' and I think it was as much as to prove her wrong as anything else.

So on we go - halfway to my 6 stone target.

It's back to the gym this week and I should check out their rather natty machines to see if they play movies (sorry, films).

While at Bubba Gump's, I had the rip taken out of somewhat mercilessly.

It transpires I'm not very well versed in the world of film. You see Bubba Gump is from the Forrest Gump film reference, which stars Tom Hanks, apparently. And I haven't seen the film. Cue laughter.

Neither have I seen any of the Star Wars films, Pulp Fiction, Mary Poppins or Schindler's List.

I'm up to date with my Rocky and my Die Hard. And James Bond could be my specialist subject on Mastermind. But I may need to get along to Orange Wednesdays more often to hit the classics.

Life's like a box of chocolates, as they say.

And that was that...

January 28, 2013. I stood atop those pesky scales in Abbeycroft's gym.

Smiling Assassin took a look and gave me one of those knowing stares.

But here we are, 84 days later and TWO STONES LIGHTER!

Yes...high fives in the gym today for all of five seconds.

The Smiling Assassin turned to me and said: "Right, Monday, body statistics again and then we'll set you a new set of goals for the rest of the year. Peak flow; waist; body make-up."

I trudged off to the showers (minus the Smiling Assassin).

This next few months could be interesting. I've been coasting up to now and sweating just to make it look like I'm really trying hard. Now, I suspect, the training's going to start to hurt.

On the plus side, at £2 for every pound shed, that's a sweet £56 I'll pop into the Beat It! campaign and we're well on our way to £10k.

Preparations are well under way for our great May raffle to win a Vauxhall Corsa, so keep your eyes peeled for the car and raffle tickets across town.

I'm off for a big packet of crisps...

Getting active

Abbeycroft Leisure - those nice people who run the gym at Bury Leisure Centre - are supporting me on this fitness challenge and the Beat It! appeal.

It was back in June that Abbeycroft launched a borough-wide campaign to promote the benefits of physical activity on wellbeing and quality of life called Active St Eds. At the time, I could not have imagined I would be part of that...

Now that campaign has been extended to patients and visitors at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

Posters and the new ‘Active St Eds Inspire Me’ magazine will now go on display in staff areas, the Time Out restaurant, occupational health and outpatients area.

Michelle Banfield-Curran, Abbeycroft’s Partnership Manager, said: “We want to thank West Suffolk Hospital for its support of this very important campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of physical activity, not only on fitness but on people’s general well being.

“It is our hope that a lasting legacy from last year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games will be that more people in St Edmundsbury take up some form of activity and that the poster campaign, featuring real life stories from our community will inspire people and show them how their friends, neighbours and colleagues did it.”

To help measure the success of the campaign, a new ‘Active Points’ scheme was introduced at Abbeycroft Leisure where people can collect points every time they take part in an activity at Abbeycroft’s Centres in Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill or at one of their many events and activities held in the community, which can be redeemed against 400 retailers online. 

The campaign ‘Active St Eds’ web portal www.acleisure.com/active-st-eds features real life stories of people from St Edmundsbury whose lives have been improved by physical activity, tips, articles written by local healthcare experts, and details of how to sign up for Active Points.

Claire Webb, Health and Wellbeing Coordinator at West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust, said: “We are delighted to support the Active St Eds Campaign, we take the health and wellbeing of our staff very seriously at West Suffolk Hospital and we’re actively encouraging them to sign up. It is so important to maintain a healthy lifestyle and to keep fit and active; hopefully Active St Eds will encourage more local people to increase the amount of exercise they do each week.”

Abbeycroft manages both Haverhill and Bury St Edmunds Leisure Centres in partnership with St Edmundsbury Borough Council and delivers much of the Sports Development and outreach work in the Borough.

Did you know, too, that Abbeycroft Leisure opened its first budget gym in the heart of Ipswich in Suffolk in January 2011, offering state-of-the-art workout stations for just £12.99. Abbeycroft is one of a handful of leisure trusts in the UK to branch out and develop this affordable fitness model.