What Have I Done?

Community is at the heart of this episode as Caroline chats to professional photographer Jenny Smith. During the pandemic domestic abuse rose sharply and Jenny set out to fundraise for Refuge UK with her Front Door Photo Project capturing socially distanced portraits on peoples' doorsteps within her North London neighbourhood. It's a reminder that on our own doorsteps, in our own communities we can all make a difference.

In this episode Caroline chats to award-winning fundraiser Rajinder Singh MBE aka The Skipping Sikh who loves to skip. During the isolation of the pandemic Rajinder began the lockdown skipping challenge, supported by his daughter Minreet, to help inspire young and old to get up and get active sharing videos which aimed to inspire older members of the Asian community to stay healthy whilst also raising money for NHS Charities Together.https://twitter.com/sikhskippinghttps://www.instagram.com/skippingsikhhttps://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/raj-singh6

As a survivor of breast cancer, Diane Copsey signed up for Coppatrek! a challenging 100km 5-day trek and camp along the Pembrokeshire coast in aid of breast awareness charity Coppafeel! Diane shares with Caroline how her determination to raise funds (from race nights to a style talk) to support breast cancer awareness got her through this physical challenge as did the camaraderie and good friendship along the way.www.coppafeel.orgwww.instagram.com/coppafeelpeople

A boy, sleeping night after night in a tent, fundraising for a local hospice. The idea sounds simple, almost idyllic…. But of course outstanding fundraising ideas require something else: determination, resilience and the ability to resonate with the donor. Max Woosey BEM joined Caroline for a chat all about his multi-award winning fundraising campaign in aid of North Devon Hospice. What stood out from the conversation with Max was his inner grit to sleeping under the stars come rain or shine (literally) and how he is able to articulate his campaign and message so eloquently.He also did very well on the quick fire round!https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/max-woosey1https://www.instagram.com/the_boy_in_the_tenthttps://www.facebook.com/TheBoyInTheTent/

In a deeply personal and touching conversation, Simon McDermott talks to Caroline about his two very different worlds running in parallel: the continuous 24-hour care needed to look after his father Ted as he lives with dementia and the bright lights of media attention giving a spotlight to his incredible 2016 multi award-winning dementia fundraising story. Simon talks candidly about the push/pull between keeping his father out of the public eye versus the realisation that his car sharing sing-a-long videos with his dad brought so much pleasure to the world and in turn £150,000 in donations. A record deal and book would follow.www.songaminuteman.comwww.facebook.com/songaminutewww.twitter.com/songaminutewww.justgiving.com/songaminute (Alzheimer’s Society)www.justgiving.com/songaminute2 (Alzheimer’s Research UK)www.alzheimersresearchuk.orgwww.alzheimers.org.ukwww.dementiauk.org

Ten year anniversaries of the loss of a loved one can be a particularly poignant moment, full of reflection and what ifs? So when Stuart Bates MBE and partner Charlotte Nichols MBE set out to mark the tenth anniversary of Stuarts’ brother Spencer ‘Spenny’ - who passed away from Motor Neurone Disease whilst still in his 40s - the seed of an idea was set to fundraise for MND Association. Cue Spennylympics: completing 102 Olympic events during the 17 days of the Tokyo Olympics. Take that in for a moment. Chatting to Stuart and Charlotte it was clear that their determination to honour the memory of Spenny was front and centre. This was a marathon of a physical challenge but also pulled on their mental resilience, whilst the eyes of the world’s media were on them. I was exhausted just listening to their daily regime, so sit back and have listen, you may find yourself reaching for your trainers….nose clip…pole vault!https://www.facebook.com/Spennylympicshttps://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/spennylympicshttps://www.instagram.com/spennylympicswww.mndassociation.org

In this episode Caroline chats to Leah Chowdhry, an inspirational fundraiser and author who took on the challenge to swim the English Channel to support The British Asian Trust. Leah tells her first hand account of visiting India and how it motivated her to support the charity and shares with Caroline what it takes to train and complete this iconic 30 mile swim and how it felt to be the first British Asian woman in history to swim the Channel. Leah is an example of someone who digs in, overcomes hurdles and keeps pushing forward.https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/leah-chowdhryhttps://www.facebook.com/britishasiantrust/photos