Walk for Barges and RNLI
Sunday 4th May 2008

In conjunction with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution we are organising a fundraising walk the proceeds of which will be split equally between the trust and the RNLI.

The walk is a pleasant 6 mile round trip starting and ending on the quay at Maldon. The route takes us upstream to Fulbridge, over the river and upstream a bit more then cut across to the Chelmer canal and walk downstream to Heybridge Basin. Then along the sea wall back to Fulbridge and Maldon.

The walk is open to all, we are hoping that RNLI members and Barge Trust members alike will rope in a few friends and do the walk. Aside from having a nice day out and getting some much needed exercise, The other objective is to raise as much money as possible. We are hoping to get about 100 participants.

Raising sponsorship money can be done in either of 2 ways, in both cases the money raised will go first to the Thames Sailing barge Trust who will in turn give half the money raised to the RNLI.

The traditional way, face to face
Print out the sponsorship form take it around with you collecting names, money and where applicable a tick to say that the donor paid tax on their donation and thus it is eligible for gift aid. If you are unable to print out the sponsorship form you can email or telephone 01252 512848 and ask to have a form sent to you by post.

When you have collected all the money, send your form and a cheque to John Morgan at the address on the bottom of the form.

The easy way, via Internet
For some years now people have been using an organisation called Just Giving to collect sponsorship via Internet, where applicable they also collect 28% gift aid from the government and pass the money on to the charity. Big charity fund raising events like the "London Marathon" and "Race For Life" encourage participants to use Just Giving.

This method is easier for the participant and it reduces the administration required on the part of the receiving charity. Just Giving is unable to create pages that split money between two charities so we ask participants to create their Just Giving page in favour of the Thames Sailing Barge Trust who will give half the money raised to the RNLI.

As a participant in "Walk for Barges and RNLI" you can create your own page on Just Giving . Their site prompts you through the steps in an easy fashion. You then email the address to all your friends and ask them to sponsor you on-line.

I plan to put links to all the Just Giving pages created for the "Walk for Barges and RNLI" event. At time of writing 15 March 2008 there is only one

We look forward to seeing you all on the day.