Rick treks the Sahara, China and Peru!
Rick receives £3,000 from Arriva for the MS Trust
In 2009, Rick Halsall trekked both in the Sahara desert and across the Great Wall of China for the MS Trust, raising over £17,000 in the process. Now he has also completed a Peru Trek and his fundraising total has exceeded £35,000!
Rick didn't raise that huge amount of money from sponsorship alone but organised a series of events. He held two hugely successful Summer Balls at Aintree Racecourse with raffles and auctions; a cheese and wine party; a race night; a ten-pin bowling night; a sponsored bike ride and a 5-a-side football competition! He also arranged for the MS Trust to benefit from a mass Snowdon climb by Arriva employees, which raised £3,000.
Rick told us, "My wife Carol got diagnosed with MS 5 years ago. We have always enjoyed travelling but we were not sure if we would travel together again, so we made a commitment that I would get fit for fifty; raise funds for MS; raise awareness by holding a number of events; still do some travelling and share my experience with all.
"Before signing up I discussed it with a number of work colleagues and we decided to hold some events - it's just grown from there. You do get motivated by being involved with others who are raising money for good causes. The support from people has been amazing and I hope to carry on for a number of years.
Rick at the Great Wall of China
"Carol keeps looking at your parachute jumps and trying to encourage me to do it, but I would rather keep my feet on the ground and carry on walking. If we can carry on supporting the MS trust on research and more information, it must make a difference for us and others one day."
Rick has been very successful at gaining local press coverage and you can read some articles about him below. Rick intends to continue fundraising for the MS Trust and has more exciting challenges planned for the future including a Three Peaks walk, a coast to coast bike ride and a Blackpool to Paris cycle ride.
Click the newspaper articles below to read them (pdf files):
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If you would like to get involved in an overseas trek on behalf of the MS Trust, visit our overseas events pages or call 01462 476707.
Make a Difference
You can find further inspirational ideas in the latest issue of Make a Difference - the MS Trust's fundraising newsletter. Find out more
