The Little Trekkers on Daybreak 18/2/2011

We only got confirmation the day before...the next day we were to go onto the Daybreak sofa to talk about the girls' adventure!!! Our car was coming at 5.30am....

We had pre recorded a short piece with the Daybreak team a week or so previously...here's some pics of that day:

 

Friday 18th February...5.30am and our car came to get us...three VERY excited girls who had only managed  5 hours sleep the night before were now on the way to the big smoke....passing Big Ben and Buckingham Palace....6.20am we arrived and were taken to the green room (lots of pasteries awaited)

The whole team at Daybreak were so lovely and made us feel so welcome and Jason Manford was there too, he wore a Help for Heroes wristband for us and he was such a giggle!

Make up and hair done we had a chat with the producer as we went through how our section would take shape, mics on, a coffee and some fruit and we were ready to go...into the studio we went!

Christine and Dan couldn't have been more accommodating and so sensitive and interested to our situations and what we were doing and why...much appreciated in the circumstances...we all felt so at ease :-)

Check out the piece here:  http://www.itv.com/daybreak/lifestyle/familiesandparenting/mydadsasoldier/

We went back on the sofa at the end of the programme and we even managed a photo in the green room with the FA Cup and of course the lovely Christine and Dan.

A fantastic day for the girls' and the trek and  it all helps to open peoples eyes to our world a little bit...the life of a forces child isn't always easy but each and every one is a strong, independant proud child.

Check out http://www.homefrontforces.org/ and if you saw they piece and wanted to donate to the trek you can do so here http://www.bmycharity.com/mydaddyisasoldiertrek

The Little Trekkers and lots of trek fun!!! Channel 5 News

What a week was had for The Little Trekkers....Daybreak (which we will cover later) Channel 5 News and cbbc Newsround,the word about the trek is really getting round and this has helped donations in such a positive way...at the time of writing they have raised £2677.18 for Help for Heroes which is amazing!

Do see below the Channel 5 News piece...apologies for recording but this isn't available online!

More media for The Little Trekkers

The girlies are getting quiet a bit of media coverage, they love it and its had such a positive impact on what they are doing and why... the donations are up to £2,148 so far!!!

ITV1 London ran a lovely news piece http://www.itv.com/london/homefront-forces92155/ the girls had great fun filming this and the reporter was so lovely...HomeFront Forces also had people contact them about their site after the piece went out so all round...GOOD JOB DONE!

 

On the same day a local paper also came to take some pictures of the The Trekkers, the were very good at being told what to do!!! :-)

 4 weeks to go and counting, we really want to make £3,000.........

Trek T-Shirts

Thank you so much to all at Splash Logo http://www.splashlogo.co.uk/ for the amazing T-shirts they have provided for all the children and adults!!!

And thank you to a Little Trekker for modelling the t-shirt so well!!!!

BBC South Today

BBC South Today filmed two of the girls last week when they visited Help for Heroes HQ in Wiltshire, they had a great day and the piece was show on Sunday night on South Today, see below (fast foward to 0.35)

Kit additions

The girls almost have all the kit they need for their Snowdon trek in a few weeks with much of the gear already having been tested on the practice trek last weekend. They are still in need of fleeces.....

We have been blown away and have some massive thank you's to make..it really wouldn't have been possible without all the donations:

 

 

Julian at My Holiday Partner http://www.myholidaypartner.com/hiking_equipment thank you so much for the day sacks for the girls they are perfect!!

Jenny and Ian at Junior Pursuits

http://www.juniorpursuits.com/ Thank you so much for all you sent the girls, gloves and thermal tops all fantastic and a great fit for all! A really touching letter was also included with the gear, I have quoted from this letter below:

'The men and women in the armed forces do such an important job and are very brave, what you are doing helps make sure we all remember how important they are and how proud we are of them'

Fantastic hats and gloves were sent for the girls from Andrew at Catstycam the outdoor shop
http://www.catstycam.com/

The hats and gloves were featured on the girls BBC South piece




Andrew said 'we really do believe in the work done by Help for Heroes so it is a pleasure to be able to help out'

Last shout out to http://www.waterproofworld.co.uk/  who sent through some fantastic base layers for the girlies!

Thank you once again for your kind donations. Lots of love from the girls xxx

Moel Siabod - Practice Trek Photos

Some photos from the practice trek - 5th February 2011...a VERY hard challenge but these girls' are are made of strong stuff!



 Some of the team

and still they wear a smile :-) xx

Practice Trek - 5th February - Moel Siabod

We set off for North Wales after a busy day for the little trekkers, it was about a 5 hour journey but the excitement got them through it! We arrived at our home for the weekend http://glanaberhotel.co.uk/  can I take this moment to thank all at Glan Aber for making us so welcome and looking after us so well...if you are ever in this area do stay here...the breakfast alone is worth it!!!

Saturday we were all up bright and early in good spirits with the girls in all their donated walking gear and raring to go! Trek Leader Mark had the route and GPS at the ready...off we go!

The weather was horrendous as we set off but this was what we were here to do and we knew we had to get this under the girls belt so they would be ok for the real thing in 5 weeks knowing what to expect....nothing could have prepared us for what was to come....

The weather got worse but we carried on getting higher and the wind and rain getting worse, writing this blog my tummy did a flip remembering quite how bad it was! The girls all reached their mental brick wall...at different times thank goodness and we had tears from all three but we tried to motivate and remind why we doing this and they carried on, can I say at this point that you will NEVER comprehend how proud I am of all three of those girls and how they handled Saturdays trek.

The weather continued to get worse but we were at the point where we had to get to the top and drop down as retracing our steps would take longer....the rocks were slippery now and visability was bad with the rain feeling like needles in your cheeks. Our kit was really struggling and the girls had wet feet, cold, numb hands and red raw cheeks from the wind and rain...but still they carried on. As we were reaching the top dispair started to creep in 'are we anywhere close?!' 'should we really have attempted this?' silence because none of us could speak for concentrating and making sure the girls were ok. Victorias mummy pulled a muscle so was slightly behind but we all stayed tight and kept going...

Painc then set in, the wind at the top was so strong it was close to lifting the girls off their feet...I will admit now that I was scared it was like nothing I had experienced before and I served for 5 years in the British Army seeing active service!!! holding onto a fence we kept low and scrambled into a ring shelter, the girls were frightened now this was so far out their comfort zone, the spare kit was wet and all the kit we were wearing was sodden...the only way was down.

The first third of the desent was tough, the wind and rain didn't ease at all and I fell into a bog to waist height...the ice cold water took my breath away! My only focus was getting down...it was steep, wet, rocky, boggy and we had all seperated somewhat as we got tired but after an hour or so we reached a woods. This provided some respite from the wind and we could grab some chocolate for energy and continue down the mountain.

Finally after 6 hours...7 adults, 3 amazing 7 year old girls and a dog reached the bottom...wet, tired, emotional, sore but what an achievement WE DID IT!

Moel Siabod is a mountain in Snowdonia, North Wales, which sits isolated above the villages of Betws-y-Coed and Capel Curig. At 872m it is the highest peak in the Moelwynion mountain range. From the top of the mountain, it is reputedly possible to see 13 of the 14 highest peaks in Wales on a clear day without turning one's head. The words Moel Siabod translate from Welsh as Scabby Hill