HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Fundraising Focus 2024
We gave out our first grant over seven years ago, and since then we have helped over 65 individuals or groups with outdoor skills training in Scotland and expeditions all over the world. We are privileged to be able to help, and when we see the difference that we have made to some of our recipients, we are humbled. However we cannot do it without your help! Over the last 5 years we have raised between £3,000 and £4,500 per year, an average of £3,450. We have had individuals who have taken part in sponsored activities, one off donations, raffles, and we have supporters who donate on a regular basis. Thanks go to all of them! This year we would like to double that average, so that we can help even more people!
What can you do to help? We are planning our own “fundraiser” for 2024 – and we hope you will join us (see details below), but we would be delighted if you could set something up yourself. How about a ceilidh, your own fundraising challenge, a talk or other event? It may be that you have benefited from a grant, or you may just like what we do! If you are not a fundraising type, we would appreciate any donations, however small. www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=J5HDY5E3CETAC
It is also possible to help us when you buy online by supporting us through Easyfundraising. www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/theneilmackenzietrust/
Become a supporter ………… For a small donation each year you will receive a supporters’ newsletter which has more information about the Trust and how it operates, as well as more details about some of our recipients and their courses and expeditions. We will be holding a Supporters Day on 24th August 2024 – save the date – in the Highlands, and we hope to have some recipients participating, some interesting discussions and innovative activities.
Join us for a Walk around the World! For our fundraising activity for 2024 Angus and Margaret (Neil’s parents, both in their 70s) plan to cover a minimum of 2,024 miles, an average of 2.76 miles each, every day, that’s 3238 km ((4.42km per day) and would roughly get us across the Atlantic! If you would like to “join” us maybe we could, between us all, cross Canada (approx.3110m, 5005km) as well – or even the world (15,500m, 25033 km)!! Join us for a year, a month, or even just a week. Walk, cycle, ski, swim, paddle or any other self propelled activity. Record and let us know your distances, in miles or kilometres, and, if you can, add a donation to www.gofundme.com/f/join-us-in-our-walk-around-the-world We will donate for EVERY mile covered! More details are available on the website: www.theneilmackenzietrust.com/fundraising or contact us by email or Facebook for more information. We are currently working on an event/challenge on Strava, so you can also join us there. We will be backing up all distances on a spreadsheet and we will update you periodically through the website, facebook page and newsletter, as well as updating the running donation total on gofundme.
Grant news: Applications are coming in for 2024, and the following skills training grants are approved:
Phil Amos: Winter Mountain Leader assessment which will take place in February.
Kamron Hardacre: Sea kayak leader training. Date to be confirmed.
Reports: Isobel Findlay Summer Mountain Leader assessment, Glenmore Lodge. https://theneilmackenzietrust.com/isobel-findlay/
Extracts from teenager Georgie Cavanagh’s trip to Madagascar in August 2023 “After traveling for 2 full days, taking 3 flights, a bus and a couple of jeeps we had finally made it to our camp in Sainte Luce in the south east corner of Madagascar. We dropped our rucksacks carrying everything we would need for the next 16 days outside the long house and made our way inside……… We quickly got to learning everything we needed to know for our time around camp such as health and safety, what research and surveys we would be assisting with and the general dos and don’ts of the culture which are known as Fady. The things we were told not to do were no pointing, feeding animals, talking about money or politics, talking about food from the UK, asking a lot of questions we were also told to be very respectful around burial sites……………..
Day 5 brought our first morning survey for my group so we were all up at 5.30 so we were ready for breakfast at 6. Our breakfast consisted of bananas, banana bread, Mofos (fried donuts) and rice pudding which was nearly everyone’s favourite meal of the day. That morning my group were doing a Herpetofauna long term monitoring survey which involved walking along a transect and counting and recording different reptiles and amphibians we saw. We would record information such as species, age, location, hight of ground, distance from transact, weather and canopy cover for each animal we found so it’s quite time consuming………………………….
On Day 14 we drove through the mountains and rice fields which had glorious views and apart from one mishap with one of the cars briefly setting on fire we made it to fort dauphin safely. We had checked into a hotel for the night which had a swimming pool and real showers which we were all very glad to see. We went for a lovely meal in the hotel’s restaurant where we all talked about our favourite things that we did wile on camp and how excited we were for the tour of the capital the next day…………..” Full report will be available on the website very soon.
Reminder of application deadlines:
31st January 2024 VOC NMAG Adventure Grant Educational Expedition grant: 31st March 2024
There is no deadline for other grants. Remember to let people know about us! We might be able to help them, or they might be able to help us.
The Neil Mackenzie Trust 