Children Today - For A Brighter Tomorrow

After months of planning and anticipation the group of adventurers who volunteered for the Children Today PFA South Africa Challenge 2009 have returned from this amazing event!

 

21 intrepid trevellers were led in to the mountainous regions of the Golden Gate National Park and the Spionkop region by four ex-premiership football players, Bob Bolder, Glenn Keeley, David Oldfield and Peter Nicholson. Each player captained a team of volunteers over eight days where they took on the ultimate challenge!

 

Day One

After 16 hours of travelling to reach their South African destination, the team rested up before the challenge began.

 

Day Two

Everyone was ready for some action! A 60k cycle ride through Golden Gate National Park along a rough stone trail with many difficult ascents but happy to report everyone survived!

 

Day Three

This was an early start and saw everyone take part in a 7k hike where stunning panoramic views could be seen for miles.

 

Day Four

A very busy day for Team Children Today! Everyone travelled to Spionkop Activity Centre where the challenges included mountain boarding, quad biking, archery and a 300m zip wire! After all that excitement an enjoyable 5k hike took place, where along the way zebras and giraffes were spotted! In the evening the team were treated to a fascinating presentation by Raymond Heron on the history of the Boer War and the affects on the people of South Africa.

 

Day Five

This was a particularly special and unique day for all those involved -  the community day. Each member of the team was transferred to Mpondueni School where they built a jungle gym and donated stationery and other items as well as the bikes from the previous cycle challenge to the children  as some of the children have up to a 20k round journey to school each day. Each member of the challenge was extremely humbled by this and it is something they will never forget. They finished the day with a horse riding challenge where more of the local wild life was observed.

 

Day Six

Another early start! Heading to the Drakensberg National Park where a tricky 12k trek was undertaken. This sounds like a walk in the park compared to some of the other challenges but the short distance means nothing when the gradients are this extreme!

 

Day seven

The final day. Water was the theme for today - rafting to be more precise.   The current was strong so in turn a very physically demanding challenge. After all this hard work of the last few days, Team Children Today went for a well earned drink before returning home tomorrow.

 

Team Blackburn Rovers with captain Glenn Keeley won the challenge, but all the participants were winners on this incredible journey. Not only did each and every one complete the series of challenges, but they have all raised significant funds to help disabled children throughout the UK.

 

Thank you everyone for all your hard work. Hope to see you next time on the PFA Malaysia Challenge 2011!

 

Sunday 21st June saw the third instalment of our It’s a Knockout Challenges 2009 at Platt Fields, Manchester.

 

On this warm day spectators turned out in their droves to support the eight teams that took part and who collectively raised £8 000 for disabled children!

 

Every team was brimming with enthusiasm as they prepared to take on the many daft inflatable, wet games involved in this challenge. By the end of the games there was not a dry contestant in the arena!

 

Children Today would like to say well done to Expotel Reservations who were crowned the winners of the Manchester event. We would also like to thank all the other teams who took part and worked hard to raise their sponsorship money, Bolton Barmy Army, North Manchester Youth Offending Service, the three teams from the Greater Manchester Police, The Albert Inn and the Foster Care Association.

Leicester-based IT manager, John Hughes, has torn himself away from his desk this summer to take part in the first of this year’s London to Paris events, a 450km cycle ride. John set off from London in the early morning of June 3rd and spend 4 days cycling through the English and French countryside, finishing up in Paris on Saturday afternoon.

We caught up with John in Paris at the finish line under the Eiffel Tower.  He said the trip was “…a fantastic experience. So well-organised and we had a lot of fun along the way. Everyone I met was raising money for a great cause and there was a fantastic team spirit throughout the event.”

The second in the series of Children Today’s ‘It’s a Knockout Out’  events took place on Sunday 31st May at Mote Park, Kent. It was the perfect day, the sun was shining, the teams were raring to go and our host the ‘utterly brilliant’ Timmy Mallett was his usual wacky self!

 

The glorious sunshine brought plenty of spectators out to watch the 13 teams get soaking wet and covered in foam as the they competed to be the winner of these madcap challenges!

 

The teams were divided up into two sessions so we have two winners of the Kent ‘It’s a Knockout’. Canterbury High School team the Foxy Devils won the first session and Simon Wright Homes won the second!

 

But well done and thank you to all the teams that took part, The Marlowe Academy, NHS Occupational Therapists, Chuck Norris Allstars, United House Limited, Barclays Bank East Kent, the three teams from Barclays Bank Maidstone, Credit Crunchers, Summit Engineering Limited and the Big Fun Boys team from Canterbury High School.

 

Everyone had a fantastic experience and lots of fun was had by all - as you can see by the pictures!

On Sunday 17th May at Longford Park in Coventry our first “It’s a Knockout” Challenge took place. Even though it rained on the day, the weather couldn’t dampen the spirits of the eight teams who took in this version of the popular classic televion show. All eight teams had a fantastic time whilst each raising a minimum sponsorship of £1000 per team which will go a long way in helping Children Today purchase specialised equipment for disabled children.

The winners of the Coventry challenge were Parcelforce worldwide, second place were Barclays Coventry Contact Centre and in third place were Co-op Coventry NDC.

We would like to say a big thank to those teams and to the other teams who took part, Ward 40, Coventry City Council, Central Tree Care, Re:vibe Ltd, Circle of Friends Day Nursery and Nuneaton Fitness & Wellbeing Centre.