Wonderful people!

So far we have the follow fantastic people signed up as sponsored dancers-

Rosie Amos, Maria Andersson, Gemma Barson, Gillian Bates, Gerald Bianchi, Paul and Fae Claydon, Neil Delaney, Martin Ellis, Ros Evans, Sam Flint, Lotte Geldof, Toni Laurila, Tanja Manners, Asif Malik, Claire Newham, Matthew Riddle, Will and Tara Sheldrake, Mirjana Skrba, Franck Valentin and Caroline Williams. They've all earned my undying gratitude!

We also have three fantastic DJ's, Matthew Riddle, 'Pinball' Paul Claydon and Martin Ellis. If you are interested in DJing for an hour or two let me know as we've got lots of time to cover.

Presenting.....

The Cambridge Lindy Hopathon!

In aid of The CF Trust

Saturday 2nd February 2008

At The Centre at St Paul's, Hills Road, Cambridge

12 hours sponsored dancing from midday to midnight!To take part and receive a sponsorship form please email me ros@cambridgelindy.com
You can sponsor us on our just giving page-
www.justgiving.com/lindyhopathon2008
Keep watching this Blog for regular updates.

If you want to come along and support the sponsored dancers and have a dance there will
be Social Dancing from 7.30pm

How it works...
The only rule for the Lindy Hopathon is that there must be someone on the dance floor (actually dancing) at all times. You can be sponsored to dance for just 1 hour or any number of hours up to the whole twelve for the really hardcore dance fans! You don’t have to dance every dance in your alloted time, as this is meant to be a fun event not an overly exhausting one! If you only want to do three of four hours then you can do a couple at the start and then some more later on. There will be tea and cake to support all the sponsored dancers!

What is CF?

-Cystic Fibrosis is the UK's most common life-threatening, inherited disease and affects more than 7500 babies, children and young adults. Symptoms can include poor weight gain, troublesome coughs, repeated chest infections, salty sweat and digestive problems.-Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects a number of organs in the body (especially the lungs and pancreas) by clogging them with thick, sticky mucus.
- In the UK, 2.3 million people carry the faulty CF gene - 1 in 25 of the population.
- If both parents are carriers of the faulty gene, there is a 1 in 4 chance with every pregnancy
-At present there is no cure for CF, but the faulty gene has been identified and doctors and scientists are working to find ways of repairing or replacing it. One of the main objectives of the CF Trust is to fund this work.-People with CF are living longer than ever before. Until the 1930s, the life expectancy of a baby with CF was only a few months. Today the average life expectancy for someone with CF is around 31 years.

Why take part or donate to the CF Trust?
- By taking part you can help raise money to fund research into new treatments and a hopefully a cure. Next year new trials will begin into a new gene therapy which, if successful, could change the lives of hundreds of people with CF
- Each week five babies are born with Cystic Fibrosis. Of the people with CF, 50% are under 15 and 70% are under 20
- Each week three young lives are lost to Cystic Fibrosis.
- The Trust funds research aimed at understanding, treating and curing Cystic Fibrosis.
- They also aim to ensure that people with CF receive the best possible care and support in all aspects of their lives.
- The Cystic Fibrosis Trust needs to raise £8 million every year to fund its vital work.

Hopathon 2008

Yes it's time to start thinking about the next Cambridge Lindy Hopathon, having raised just over £4000 last time we've got a big target to aim for, so we thought we'd try for 12 hours non stop dancing! The prospective date is the 2nd of Feb in Cambridge somewhere! Will post again when have a confirmed venue and hopefully some bands!

Some Photos and News!

If my calculations are correct we have now raised more than £4000!!!! However I am not anouncing the final total til its confirmed by the CF Trust :-) Am so pleased.

Also here are some of the photos I took on the night, most of them not particulalry good but some are at least in focus!

Fab Photos

Fabulous photos of last night were taken by the wonderful Graham Stratton. See them here-
http://photography.grahamstratton.org/lindyhopathon/

WE DID IT!!!

Eight hours of dancing, vast amounts of chocolate brownies and more than 50 fabulous dancers= a fantastic day of dancing! Even better we smashed our target of £2500 and so far our total stands at-

£3602.82!!!

and there's still some more money to come in, so we may make it to £4000!!! I am just shattered after a very long day yesterday but I am utterly ecstatic as well. I really can't thank everyone who came along and supported this event enough, and especially all the sponsored dancers who did so well for such a great cause. Special thanks also have to go to the three fabulous dj's Paul Clayden, Matthew Riddle and Martin Ellis, who provided such a fantastic night of swinging sounds. I will post some photos once I have recovered a bit and have found some that are in focus...

So once again, on behalf of The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and all the people out there with CF including me- THANK YOU and WELL DONE!!!!

More Information

As several people have requested the venue's postcode so that they can multimap it, here it is- CB2 1RX. There is NOT parking at the venue, the easiest parking is at Lion Yard, but that's all in my last post.

Social dancing starts at 7.30, tickets are £5 or £4 concessions, available on the door. Sponsored dancers get in free! We are doing really well raising money, with the online sponsorship having reached £965, and that's not including all the money raised offline!

Dress code is whatever is comfortable! If people want to wear vintage of forties style that's lovely too.

Even more lovely people have signed up, we have more than 30 sponsored dancers now, they are- Neil Delaney, Tanja Manners, Tim Meehan, Martin Ellis, Anne Carter, Phil Jones, Matt Nunn, John Hammond, Katherine Watson, Maria Andersson, Franck Valentin, Matthew Riddle, Dan & Sarah Talmage, Rob and Claire Everett, Gemma Barson, Paul & Fae Claydon, Andy Clark, Jill Richardson, James & Justine Cooper, Beverley Dear, Mark Barringer, Michelle Wilkinson, Al & Linda Howland, John and Leslie Elphick, Denyse Paul and Ros Evans

Information

As requested here is a map of Cambridge, which you should be able to save by right clicking and choosing 'save as'. The venue is marked by a red cross on Mill Lane and its also got the council car parks marked on it with a P unsurprisingly. I've also marked where there is free parking after 6pm so you only have to pay for a couple of hours then its free. The main places are Ridley Hall Road and Wext Road, as well as along the backs.
Also, just to let you know there is not a dress code for the event. If you'd like to wear vintage/1940's that's great. Just wear what is comfortable and if you are planning on doing lots and lots of dancing then maybe a change would be useful too. I will try and provide some food for the event, but there is also a noodle bar, a curry house and the Old Orleans over the road as well as too pubs (The Mill and The Anchor) for a hot dinner.

We now have more than 20 people taking part-
Neil Delaney, Tanja Manners, Tim Meehan, Martin Ellis, Anne Carter, Phil Jones, Matt Nunn, John Hammond, Katherine Watson, Maria Andersson, Franck Valentin, Matthew Riddle, Dan & Sarah Talmage, Gemma Barson, Paul Claydon, Andy Clark, Jill Richardson, James & Justine Cooper, Beverley Dear, Mark Barringer, Michelle Wilkinson and Ros Evans

Marvelous!

Amazing people who are taking part!

A few more people have signed up to be sponsored dancers! We now have...

Neil Delaney, Tanja Manners, Tim Meehan, Martin Ellis, Anne Carter, Phil Jones, Matt Nunn, John Hammond, Katherine Watson, Maria Andersson, Franck Valentin, Matthew Riddle, Dan & Sarah Talmage, Gemma Barson, Paul Claydon, Andy Clark, Jill Richardson, Al and Linda Howland and of course me!

That's people from all over the place, including Swingland in London, Caldonias in Ipswich, Rock the Block in Norwich, Rug Cutters from St Neots and Huntingdon, Cambs and Beds Lindy Experience and Cambridge Lindy Hop

Also coming along for social dancing and general supportiveness-

Rob and Claire Everett, Beverly Dear, Fran and James Watson and hopefully lots of my lovely friends!

We've also raised about £500 so far. so that 20% of the target....

So far so good.....

I am so excited, we have not one but three fabulous swing dj's taking part in the Lindy Hopathon. In no particular order we have-

the wonderful DJ Pinball Paul aka Paul Claydon from Rug-Cutters Lindy Hop

(www.rug-cutters.co.uk),

the fantastic DJ Matt Riddle of Cambridge Lindy Hop

(www.cambridgelindy.com)

and Dj Swinglandsmartie aka Martin Ellis from Swingland in London

(www.swingland.com).

I can't thank these guys enough, because without them I'd have to take to the decks and the results would not be pretty!

We have also had all these lovely people volunteer to dance for the cause-

Neil Delaney, Tanja Manners, Anne Carter, Phil Jones, Matt Nunn, John Hammond, Katherine Watson, Matthew Riddle, Dan & Sarah Talmage and Gemma Barson.

There will be still be lots of space on the dance floor so come and dance and win my unending gratitude and adoration!

Also I am incredibly excited as we have raised our first £100 on Just giving! I'm just so grateful to everyone who has sponsored us so far.... to everyone else, come on its dead easy, just click on the link on the right.