FORTHCOMING EVENTS 

The noted brother and sister team of Dan and Keeley Bullock, who run Swim for Tri www.swimfortri.com ,  are organising their SWIMFEST 2010 at Alexandra Lake, Lakeside Shopping Centre, Thurrock, RM20 2AB on September 19th 2010 over three distances of 750m, 1.5km and 2.5km

They will be raising awareness for Myfanwy's Charity, the Myfanwy Townsend Melanoma Research Fund: it's a wonderful gesture on their part, and we're really grateful

Skin Awareness Week June 21st to 25th 2010

June 21st to 25th 2010 was Skin Awareness Week, and Skin Check pods in Southampton (June 21st and 22nd) and Plymouth (June 24th and 25th), attended by 684 people in total to get their skin examined for signs of sun damage. 321 skin conditions of concern were diagnosed including 6 cases of suspected malignant melanoma, 32 cases of suspected non-melanoma skin cancer and 142 cases of Actinic Keratosis.

Doctors in attendance included Dr Pixie and Dr Dawn, from Channel 4's 'Embarrassing Bodies' at Southampton, and BBC TV's Dr Rob Hicks at Plymouth, as well as local GPs Dr Stephen Hayes, Dr Mark Tyrell, Dr Inma Mauri-Sole and Dr Brian Malcolm.

85% of those who attended were aged over 45, the age range which is most likely to display signs of sun damage and be susceptible to skin conditions such as actinic keratosis, which can be an early indicator of a more serious skin cancer.

Dr Hayes explained 'The skin checks were hugely successful....we weren't surprised by the high level of sun related skin damage....on the South Coast we have a lot of sailors, walkers and cyclists- many local people work and play outdoors. However, we found that not enough people understood how the sun damages the skin....crucially we need to convey the sun safe, skin aware message- encouraging people to look for signs of skin damage and get any changes to their skin checked by their GP....

We are immensely grateful to Grayling and Signature Healthcare Communications Limited for organising and funding these Skin Check pods

Leeds United, their sponsors Whyte and Mackay, and 1576 advertising organised a huge fund raising event from which it was hoped that the Charity could benefit by many thousands of pounds!
They launched a month-long Lowest Unique Bid Auction on March 25th for someone to win a giant Leeds United shirt, a piece of football memorabilia that has been signed by some of the greatest names in football history. It was commissioned by Whyte and Mackay- The Team Spirit of Leeds United, to mark their sponsorship deal with Leeds United.

Leeds United donated an entire page in their match programmes for four weeks to this fund raising auction: again, incredibly generous of the Yorkshire Club whose players donated, out of their own pockets, the money to put our lime green wristbands on the market!
The 7ft tall giant Leeds United shirt was signed by the manager and captain of every Premiership club in 2003-4 including Sir Bobby Robson, Patrick Viera, Alan Shearer and Sir Alex Ferguson.
All money raised was donated to the Myfanwy Townsend Melanoma Research Fund.

Sadly, this failed to grab the public imagination despite the wonderful support from Leeds and money raised fell far short of expectations. 

The international seed firm Thompson and Morgan produced a Sweet Pea named Myfanwy Townsend. Packets of seed are available from Harry Townsend, 6 Manor Road, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 1LR for a minimum donation of £1.00 (plus postage of 50p).

This Sweet Pea combines the rare qualities of colour and scent. It is a fiery red and orange bi-colour, excellent vigour, a good garden and exhibition variety as well being a good cut flower with four flowers per stem.

Thompson and Morgan have also donated the logo for our charity, for which we are very grateful.

The support has been enormous.

An article about the sweet pea on March 7th 2002 in Garden News, for whom Harry used to write and appear at major Shows where Myfanwy also helped as part of the team, resulted in more than 80 mail order sales.

Our friend Alan Titchmarsh wrote an article about the sweet pea in the Daily Express on Saturday 4th May 2002: as a result,  we received 410 letters and sold almost £1,300 worth of seeds. Thanks, Alan!

The seeds were also sold at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (Kew Gardens), the Royal Horticultural Society Gardens at Wisley (where in 2002 they planted a 40 yard hedge in their Country Garden, which will look superb), Ventnor Botanic Gardens (Isle of Wight) and locally around East Grinstead. More than 5,000 packets have been sold to date

We realised that to raise money in the amounts necessary we had to do something out of the ordinary and push back the boundaries of popular imagination.

So Cameron, myself and brother-in-law Peter Clarke climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, raising sponsorship in the process; I then completed  the Death Valley Marathon,  took part in the 153 mile, 6 day Sahara Marathon des Sables, and 'rowed' a marathon (42,195 metres) on a Concept 2 rowing machine in the gym.

September 4th and 5th 2002 was a major fund raising event, the Rim to Rim crossing of the Grand Canyon. 24 miles in total, 13,000 feet total ascent and descent as we descended 7,000 feet from the North Rim to the Colorado River and then climbed 6,000 feet to the South Rim in  temperatures exceeding 120F.

Four of us, myself (Harry Townsend), Gary Hall (Royal Mail), Ted Morris (Surrey Ambulance) and Jimmy Canavan (British Airways), (all of us front row forwards, although at 66 I was long retired but was long time club coach, were friends from British Airways Wingspan Rugby Club at Gatwick and had shared the experience of being members of the club tour to New Zealand in 1999), together with Ted's wife Carol, did the trek on foot, with Malcolm Garrett-Eynon (former BBC) invaluable in driving the support van from Rim to Rim by road as our back-up and emergency contact. 

We set out from the North Rim (9,000ft) at 04.00 and crossed the Colorado River (2,000ft) at Phantom Ranch by 12.30. The temperature there was 120F: after an hours rest, still in the heat of the day because we had fallen behind with our time schedule, we trekked through the area known as The Furnace (130F), toiled up the Devil's Corkscrew, and reached Indian Gardens with 4.5 miles to go and 3,200ft to climb. Gary went ahead to warn Malcolm that we were behind schedule, and reached  the South Rim by 7.30pm: Jimmy followed and arrived by 10.30pm, having done the very hazardous climb up the forty switchbacks of Jacob's Ladder alone and in the dark: whilst Carol, Ted and myself got our heads down on a picnic table for a few hours before proceeding in the early morning with the temperature only 75F! We reached the South Rim, at almost 8,000ft, with the temperature well in excess of 100F: the most challenging part of the climb had  been reserved for last, with a climb of 1,200ft in the first mile of the final 1.5 miles (average 1 in 4).

Remember, it is recommended that the Rim to Rim should take two to three days because of the combination of heat and altitude combined with the stony track and the constant gruelling gradient. Jimmy, with nineteen years of army experience and many such treks behind him, reckoned that he had only experienced one challenge tougher than the Rim to Rim.

Sadly, we raised less than £4,000: and this was only possible because we had each paid our own way. But rather than rely on sponsorship alone ('Give me money to see me suffer!') we had produced a large good quality post card, a unique and tangible memento of the Challenge (nobody had ever done that before!), that helped our sponsors to be aware of Myfanwy's Charity and of the dangers of skin cancer, the commonest form of cancer in the world, and of which malignant melanoma is a particularly deadly form.

The postcards were donated by the very well known postcard firm Judges of Bexhill-on-Sea: and to stamp collectors, these now have rarity value because of the very limited number posted home to our sponsors, and particularly a handful posted and postmarked from Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and brought up by mule train! These postcards had a picture of our team set against the backcloth of the Grand Canyon, whilst on the reverse was brief information about Myfanwy's Charity (including website address), the reason, the Challenge, the team, and the Grand Canyon. These cost a minimum of £5

Thanks for their support to:

Sam Lambourne of The Jog Shop, George Street, Brighton

'Rebel' eye protection supplied by iles-Stephens Limited: an ADCO Group company

Brasher: their trusty trekking poles have been my constant companions on all my 'Challenges' since (and including) Mount Kilimanjaro: except, of course, when I 'rowed' a marathon on the Concept 2 rowing machine in the gym 

Supported by Olympus Cameras www.olympus.co.uk

Judges Postcards, St Leonards-on-Sea www.judges.co.uk

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Kerrachar Gardens

Are you a garden lover? Are you going on holiday to the far north of Scotland? Then  Kerrachar Gardens are the place for you!

Peter Kohn was at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Ashbourne (Derbyshire)  with Myfanwy. He and his wife Trish now live in the remote north west highlands of Scotland, in a uniquely beautiful and remote situation on the shores of Loch a Chairn Bhain near Kylesku in Sutherland.

This garden of about 1 hectare has been developed since 1995 on the site of a disused croft; it is one of the few permanently inhabited homes in the UK with no access by road or path.

Instead, you enjoy a thirty minute boat trip from Kylesku (where there is good hotel and overnight accommodation and parking), with breathtaking views along the way and the chance of seeing the seals sea otters and eagles that inhabit the area.

They open their garden from mid May to mid September, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays: and when they heard of Myfanwy's death, they decided to make this their Designated Charity under Scotland's Gardens Scheme.

It is a super gesture, and really appreciated. They regularly donate more than £200.00 every year through Scotland's National Gardens Scheme 

If you want to find out more about the garden, visit their website at www.kerrachar.co.uk

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Harry walked end to end of the north island of New Zealand (800 miles, 68 days) from mid February to late April 2004. Melanoma is very prevalent in New Zealand: details are posted under New Zealand.