"Celebrity Week" with Aspire...

Hi All,

Firstly - apologies for the lack of recent blog updates. Judging by the number of people who have asked how things are going "because the blog hasn't been updated", I guess there are people out there still reading...thank you!

Those watching closely will have noticed that one of the links on this blog is to 'Aspire' - a charity who work with people with spinal injury, to create opportunity, choice and independence.

I first became aware of Aspire in 2001, through the story of Paula Craig. Paula was (still is!) a triathlete who was knocked off of her bike in May 2001 and paralyzed. Less than a year later she became the first person to both run the London Marathon (which she did in under 3 hours in 2001, just prior to her accident), and push in the wheelchair event. 2 years later she had finished 2nd, twice won the World Triathlon Championships for Athletes with a Disability (AWAD) and beaten Dame Tanni Grey in the Great North Run. Oh, and promoted twice to Detective Inspector in the Murder Squad, and awarded the MBE...yes, Paula makes what I'm going through very small! I've since got to know Paula quite well, and great company she is too.

On Monday night (24th April) I was invited to Aspire's largest fund-raising event: a charity sports quiz dinner at Lord's cricket ground. This was a thank you for, in conjunction with everyone at Barclays Treasury, organising a charity event last September which raised over £27,000. There were plenty of 'names' in attendance (as well as around 600 paying customers!) including Sir Matthew Pinsent, Sir Clive Woodward, Sir Trevor Brooking, Luther Blisset, Gavin Peacock, Claire Balding, Roger Uttley and host for the evening was John Inverdale (who just so happened to be sitting next to me on the Apsire table!).

Now, being something of a sports fan, I figured our table should do pretty well in a sports quiz. Well, at one point we were 57th. Out of 57! Infact, we were so bad that John Inverdale poached Angus Loughran (better known as "statto" from Fantasy Football) from the leading team to our table. Not long after that....we were still 57th! Anyway, Angus departed and eventually we managed some respectability by finishing a magnificent 42nd...

Still, good fun and a great meal was had by all, and most importantly, something of the order of £120,000 was raised for ASPIRE. It's a great evening for a wonderful charity, and sells out months in advance - make a note of it for 2007.

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The Thursday after this (27th April) I was at Tottenham Hotspur football ground for another dinner (again, it was lovely), this time for the Barclays South East Region 'Chairmans Awards'. I'd been shortlisted, on behalf of Barclays Treasury, for an award to recognise the success of our 'Treasury Ironman' Charity Event. This time, we had the pleasure of former Tottenham, Arsenal and Northern Ireland Goal-keeping legend Pat Jennings on our table. A couple of things I noticed about Pat: 1) he stills looks the same as he always did, and 2) he has ENORMOUS hands! Seriously, it's no shock that he was a great 'keeper.

Well, we didn't quite manage to win the top award but I did receive a 'highly commended' certificate, which will be kept on the 'charity wall' in the Treasury Office at Canary Wharf. My theory that having Cancer would guarantee the sympathy vote didn't quite work out! The success of the event really was down to a lot of very committed people at Barclays Treasury, and of course all of our generous sponsors, and so well done to all the Barclays guys out there who made it happen.

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You'll have seen no mention of chemo above - yes, I did have session 4 (25th April) and it was just as dull as all of the others, hence I'm not going to repeat what I've already posted previously! Session 5 (of a scheduled 12) is this Tuesday (9th May).

Have to say that there has been a distinct increase in the hair loss rate over the past couple of weeks, and it's now starting to feel rather thin in places...might just manage one last 'proper' haircut before the whole lot goes! I'm sure I'll be posting a picture of 'Kojak John' here soon...!

All the best, and Livestrong.
John