Rowing 4 Sam

Toby and Edward Roe, Alister Rayner and James Brigden will be rowing down the Thames in September to raise money for Sam. The four, who are friends of Sam’s Dad Neil, will be setting off in a traditional Thames skiff from the source of the Thames, near Lechlade in Gloucestershire and rowing to the start of the Boat Race at Putney Bridge, a distance of approximately 150 miles.

“None of us have any rowing experience apart from the odd jaunt on the Serpentine and so we thought this would be a suitable challenge to take on and raise lots of money for Sam. We are all training in the gym and will be doing some practice rows on the Thames in the next few weeks, with the focus on not colliding with the riverbank or other boats!” said Toby.

The ‘four men in a boat’ will be leaving Lechlade on Sunday 23 September 2007 and aim to complete the journey by Friday 28 September. Updates on the training and the trip will be posted in due course.

You can sponsor them by making a donation via Paypal, just click on the make a donation button on the left. Or you can send a cheque made payable to stuff4sam to PO Box 54662, London, N16 8YG.  Please mention row4sam on your donation so that we can calculate how much the event has raised.

We’ll be keeping you updated about the training and event planning. If you want to wish the boys luck or find out more about what they are doing, contact them at rowing4sam@hotmail.co.uk

Hi Sam from Malta

Hi Sam,

 

this is us on holiday in Malta. Everywhere we went there were old buildings, ancient tombs and temples and lots and lots of cats! It was a great place to explore. Hugh ate rabbit and there was some very salty goats cheese which was lovely too! This is us in Valletta, the capital of Malta. In the harbour there were huge cruise ships as big as towns!

Lots of love, Madeleine and Hugh xxx

Brainfingers

Three weeks ago I went to CSUN, a technology conference for people with disabilities. It’s the biggest conference of it’s kind and has people from all over the world giving presentations on access technologies as well as showcasing hardware and software.

While at the conference I met a gentleman called Andrew Junker who created a software called Brainfingers. Using the software you can us a PC to play games, email, browse the web, anything. You wear a Cyberlink headband which detects electrical signals from your facial muscles, eye movements, and brainwaves. The Brainfingers software decodes these signals into virtual fingers which trigger mouse and keyboard events to control everything that’s happening on your screen.

I had a go and it was a complete trip to use. With the strap around my head linked up to the PC I was able to play games and music with a virtual keyboard by simply raising an eyebrow, clenching my jaw or smiling. The smallest movement or expression gets translated on screen.

Cyberlink is designed to be used by a broad range of people with disabilities; from minor to severe. Even people with minimal ability to control facial muscles can usually learn how to map “clicks” to a number of special controls.

View a video of Brainfingers as seen on the Discovery Channel program “KAPOW! Superhero Science. The video is around 3 minutes long and there are low and high bandwidth versions available in Windows Media Format and MPEG format.

Hi Sam from six continents!

Another round up – this time the locations Hi Sam pictures have been sent from. We were working it out and found that we have six continents represented – pretty impressive! Here is the list 

• Afghanistan 
• The Antarctic 
• The Arctic
• The Big Chill festival
• Birmingham
• Boston, USA 
• Brighton (x3 including one from the Harley Davidsons)
• Budapest
• Chaps Olympics event in Bedford Square, London
• Comino, Malta
• Cornwall
• The Country
• Crosby Beach, Liverpool  
• Dunwich Beach
• Edinburgh 
• The Farm
• France (x4)
• Greece
• India (kind of, via the book group)
• Isle of Wight
• Japan 
• Jerusalem
• Kendal
• Kew Gardens
• The Lake District
• The London Eye
• Madeira 
• Morocco
• Newfoundland, Canada
• New York
• New Zealand
• The Proms
• Regent’s Park (Teddy Bears’ Picnic!)
• Spain (x2)
• Suffolk
• Thailand
• The Thames
• Victoria Park, London

So is anyone going to South America so we can complete the list?

Keep sending your pictures in! We want more! Find out what is Hi Sam and how you can send us your contributions!

Stats4Sam!

It seemed like the right time to take a good look at how we have raised £20,000 for Sam. So, here it is: stats4sam!

December 2005

• Stuff4Sam starts – we have lots of great ideas for how to reach our target of £8,000!

January 2006

• Our first unwanted Christmas presents sale raises £1310.
• The office swear box gets to £80 in three weeks – hmm.

February 2006

• Henny’s mad-cap arctic adventure raises £7000 in two months!

May 2006

• The London bookbox gets started with the aim of raising £100.

July 2006

• The stuff4sam website is launched.
• Hugh’s 120-mile bike ride makes £1200.
• We reach our £10,000 target!

September 2006

• Debbie and Jane run the Women’s 10k and raise £450.

October 2006

• Our JustGiving page closes at the start of the month on a total of £10,870.
• Arlo does two sponsored walks and raises £200 (and he’s not even two!).

November 2006

• The Peterborough scarf sale raises £200.

December 2006

• The London office craft fair raises £900. People come to do their Christmas shopping and to feast on cake!
• A good time is had by all at the Stuff4Sam party, it raises £2000 in one night!
• Christmas party and secret santa donations make £150.

January 2007

• Unwanted presents sales in Peterborough and Birmingham raise £260 and £150 respectively.

March 2007

• London unwanted presents sale raises £800, the lucky dip is the surprise money-maker of the afternoon!
• Peterborough easter egg and cake sale raises £115, a print floor collection raises a further £35.
• Book box sales total £1600 (and counting).
• We reach our £20,000 target!

Other achievements

There have also been multiple team birthday and leaving collections donated to Sam as well as countless one-off donations from Sam’s friends, family and people who have been touched by his story.

Wow! It’s amazing when you think it started so small. Huge thanks to everyone who has donated or done something fabulous to raise money for Sam.

£30,000 here we come with other events, physical challenges and sales planned for 2007!