Category Archives: Tony

Top Up from Tone !!!!!

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

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So in the words of Delia Smith…..Where are you ? Where are you ? Let’s be ‘avin’ you ! Come on ! ……..whilst the donations have slowed there is a lot of work going on arranging events….

25th February Becca’s cake day approaches and whilst Colin is concerned that Nick may consume some of the offerings he has assured me that won’t be the case……in fact he has been abstaining from beer and sweets for the past three weeks…fair play !
9th March Blazing 80’s at the CROWN
16th March An evening with Chopper Harris and Jimmy Greaves
23rd May An Evening in the City
June Lee’s Cabbies collection
TBA Ronnie’s Boys…., Three Peaks Challenge
  • We also have collection pots in the Prince of Wales (our local Chelsea pub)
  • And DFS – Donnas Furniture Store is open for business
  • We are very hopeful of adding to this and any ideas are welcome…please make that extra effort and support the effort !

We are currently printing the posters so please let me know how many you need, they look great with collection pots in local shops, pubs and even post offices…..

Even our local Chelsea pub has allowed us to do a collection, but we are going to get Colin to do that!!!!!!!

So we really need you to step up and think of something you can contribute to this cause….however small it will go a long way to helping us achieve this goal….please, please put your thinking caps on and go for it…..

As Colin has said I will be having my finger nail fixed tomorrow so typing could be a problem but normal service will be resumed by the weekend…..thanks for listening!

(Doesn’t he like the ol’ exclamation marks – Editor)

Ironman Insanity

10 Sunday Feb 2013

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Ok folks – we all think that all this “Ironman” malarkey is just another Triathlon, an excuse for a weekend away in the south of France, a nice dip in the water, a cycle through the countryside and a jog around the city. And the weather will be pretty good in late June too, wont it?

Its not just the distances that are unimaginable to those that don’t relish a sprint for that proverbial bus. Its the number of other bodies thrashing through the water, elbows, feet, blow back, I mean no breast stroke and keeping your new bouffant dry for the evening celebrations!!  then in the cycle, yes granted one is now seated! but its no best of DFS, with integrated recliner function, what is not always obvious to the untrained observer are the inclines, from sea level to nearly 1200 ft and pretty sharply too!    Then the run… not much to say about that, we are all pretty impressed at the thought of Paula Radcliff running a marathon, but not after swimming and cycling.

So lets recap:

3.8km swim

Swim

180km cycle (Note the course profile graph!!)

Cycle

42.2km run (reminding you yes this is a full marathon)

Run

Not just for Girls

09 Saturday Feb 2013

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Shoes are obviously not just the realm of the fairer sex.

These little puppies are from Adidas, the Adizero Tempo 5 (obviously superior to the 4th version with more go faster stripes!)

So today they will be put to the test with a 4k run (gently with shoulder still pre operation status).

Editor: I wonder whether these were subject to the same dismissive statement upon their discovery in the bottom of the cupboard “oh these old things? I have had them for ages”

An Evening in the City (you will never forget!)

07 Thursday Feb 2013

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We are delighted to present an evening of entertainment you really shouldn’t miss. The very best London has to offer.

Details:

Date:   23rd May 2013   17:00

Steam Wine Bar

1 St George’s Ln, City of London, EC3R 8DJ

Programme:

17:00

Cash bar drinks

18:00

Guest Speaker: Colin Speirs of Headcase

“There’s nothing like a name ?”- Lloyd’s the Musical

Light food

A decade’s review London and IT

Charity Auction

Probably the Best Quiz in the world

Supported by

logoprint

Auction Items include:

A Night in The Grange Tower Hotel

4 x Day Green Fees at Royal Wimbledon Golf Club with bar tab

Husband and Wife membership at The Yacht London www.theyachtlondon.com (worth £1,900)

A money can’t buy experience at Paradise Wildlife Park www.pwpark.com for a super VIP family of 4 to experience: Feed The Tigers, Meer cate, lemurs plus more. Plus an overnight stay at the apartments at the Park, Plus food and drink (worth over £5000)

A money can’t buy experience on set with Cohort Film Services http://cohortfs.co.uk/ which is a UK based company who provide props and weaponry to the Film, Television and entertainment industries. Nick the owner does not offer this to anyone so you can honestly say this would be worth thousands and thousands to buy and Nick can accommodate a couple of attendees

A years subscription to www.luxury-briefing.com and 2 tickets to attend the Luxury Briefing Awards which is being hosted, filmed and broadcast by Bloomberg, (worth £1,425).

Joe Calzaghe WBO Super middleweight Champion – Signed Boxing glove

Two Complimentary Subscriptions to Insurance Insider Magazine

Specialty luxury Spa Hamper

Signed framed shirt from Bacary Sangna

more to follow…

Tony’s Topup

03 Sunday Feb 2013

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So two weeks in and here are the stats…….55 Donations amounting to £2,629 (£3250 with giftaid)

  • 8,497 hits on the blog from 2,978 unique visitors from 32 countries
  • 163 @IMHeadcase Tweets
  • 79 @IMHeadcase mentions
  • loads of Facebook likes

Feb 10 stats

However our best week was the 21st January with 4,498 visits in one week, our big launch of the blog, Since then we have promoted the blog and circulated tweets, but it needs your help with spreading the work and getting people to take a look, then hopefully donate.

All excellent so where to next…..

Before I go into that I just want to put on record that Colin is fast becoming in my eyes the first member of the ‘Chelsea Supporters club – hall of fame’ what a top bloke supported by an equally top family. He has in adversity found a new vocation! his story and weekly diary are truly inspiring, a blend of humour with a real touch of reality and detail. So if Colin can raise his game then it is up to the rest of us to at least try and match it…not going to be easy !!!!!

So what’s been happening this week ?

  •      Lee one of the Chelsea boys is planning a collection at Heathrow from the cabbies ! full day but great effort, will keep you updated…..
  •      Ronnie is moving the ‘three peak’ boys along, I suspect a further update soon..
  •      We now have collection jars, well stickers for jars for coins collections, let me know how many you want…
  •      A football night – led by ‘Chopper’ Harris and Jimmy Greaves…that could be interesting !
  •      An ‘Insurance in the City’ event is being planned for the 23rd Mary in Minster Exchange, Mark Lane,

My favourite message of the week was from Faye…..on her Facebook !

‘Ok everybody…….its finally the end of January so everyone will have been paid by now, diets out the window, alcohol back in the fridge…and a daunting unused gym membership…..but its pay day so do something to make you feel better…don’t scroll past this to read some irrelevant post about someone’s weekend plans or breakfast (yes guilty of those types of statuses myself)…….go to this web site and donate for an amazing cause…….Thank You’.

I will be doing this sort of propaganda every last day of the month until June so plenty of time if now is not the best month for you to donate !

Other ideas………

  •      We have now had 55 donations taking us 8% of the way…if all of those 50 people persuaded 5 additional people a month to contribute £1 we raise a further £1250..easy !!!!
  •      Challenge yourself to get one COMPANY interested in contributing to the cause…..
  •      Arrange to do something, do you have a skill that could attract people to part with their money….or arrange a collection or something similar….

Colin is fighting with the gloves off…the least we can do is support him and the cause !!!! Happy funding……

Tony Tiger Topup

27 Sunday Jan 2013

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downloadOk …. Things have started really well. First week and we have taught Colin how to use a computer, and to commence what must be a tough call and write his story….top bloke.

We have had 1000’s of hits on the Blog from countries all over the world as well as the first 27 people donating a total of over £1600 …but this is only the beginning ! We would need to average over £200 per day to stay on target.

Thanks to everyone who has donated so far please spread the word and if you can spare a bit more along the way please return and donate again, it is really appreciated, however, we also need ….
Corporate Sponsorship.

So we need any company that may may be able to help, if they need more info or help in putting together an approach please get in contact…we can help.

Also we have other initiatives commencing:

  • Coinstar jars with the Headcase stickers on. Send your kids to school with them, or put one by the front door and put all your change in it. when it is full go down to your local collection centre, usually a super store and just tip it all in.
  • We have a group from QE2 doing the three peaks and have decided to donate all funds to Headcase, all good stuff.
  • We want to raise awareness at varios corporate events and if you think you’d like to choose Headcase as a charity to support at an event, quiz, run, bake-off, cycle, walk, swim whatever then let us know.

So please any ideas how ever off the wall please contact us and we will help….time is ticking and it’s a great cause…..thanks Tony tonyrussell42@live.co.uk

The Up hill just got steeper

24 Thursday Jan 2013

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shoulder-rotator-cuff-tear-torn-partialWhen the trip and slip sets to scupper the No Hospital trips New Year’s resolution its understandable that spirits take a dip. But there is a plan and that was Physio, modest exercise for a couple of weeks then build up to swimming in 4-6 weeks. As long as the pain wasn’t getting worse or the ligament wasn’t “flicking”. Guess what? it’s getting worse and the ligament is “flicking”. Make or break… booked operation to put it back in place as soon as the surgeon could fit me in.

So already a setback, but Operation booked for the 14th. Surgeon understands the dilemma, and his responsibility to get this shoulder sorted. However it does mean first major Warm up is off Abu Dhabi on the 2nd March. More details to follow, for now painkillers and a lot of swearing!

Tony

Little hiccup

19 Saturday Jan 2013

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Rotator_Cuff_TearOk the new year starts and now the time has come to face reality, flights and entrance is booked, no backing out now.

And then a little water and a rotator cuff sets to cause complete chaos!!

As adults we are normally familiar with the forces of gravity and its effect on our bodies but less familiar when velocity and water come into the mix. A seamless innocent trip to watch a football match resulted in a slip and trip. But the pain and resulting damage now mean the journey is going to be harder than planned.

Consultations and physio confirm two partial tears and a displaced ligament so for now Swimming takes aback seat and an operation is on the cards.

It may be easy to spot the be-wetsuited competitor that is going round in a circle!

Its about time to start

18 Friday Jan 2013

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After more than 22 triathlons and half Ironman races one would think it would be a natural progression perhaps to start stepping up the training for the double or quits. And there is a valid case for the observation that this may be the last viable year to do it. 55 years years old, knackard knees and now other, granted unnecessary at this stage, organs are giving up the ghost. So do or die.

But Christmas is a funny time of year in the City of London, a series of necessary business lunches and evening drinks gatherings, so a steady routine of swimming in the morning and where at ll possible an evening cycle. Then make up the shortfall at the weekend, that should be ok and in the New year we take matters seriously. Agreed?

But first let’s shop….