Photographing Gaz Top in Kentish Town

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting television presenter Gareth Jones (Gaz Top) for my forthcoming bowel cancer fundraising book in Kentish Town before The Alarm's concert at The O2 Forum. As with any London gig it was busy and hectic, but Gareth, the former Alarm roadie before his TV career, made time to talk to me, and take photos even though he was running late, and he was a very popular figure in demand with many old friends wanting to say hello.

Transport problems, and a fantastic gig will add to the flavour of this chapter, but what stood out was a few bits and pieces that Gareth revealed to me including, sadly, a bowel cancer connection. He was ever so friendly and wanting to make sure I got what I needed for the book, even going the extra mile and sending me a very detailed email responding to a few questions, so a massive thanks to him.

My mum passed away in 2016 four and a half years after being diagnosed with bowel cancer. Although the operation to remove the tumour in her bowel was successful, the cancer spread to her lungs and she underwent four further operations to remove cancerous nodules. It was only when the cancer also spread to her brain that her health deteriorated and we were at her bedside when she peacefully passed away a week after her 80th birthday. All proceeds raised from sales of the new book, to be called The Record, will be donated to Bowel Cancer UK / Beating Bowel Cancer, the UK's leading bowel cancer charity.

Skydive Sponsorship Target Smashes 100%

Just three weeks ago I signed up for the charity tandem skydive this July to raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK in memory of Mum who passed away in 2016 from bowel cancer. The response has been staggering, and has now smashed the £1000 target I set for the challenge. I'd like to thank everyone who has sponsored me so far, it has really touched me how friends, old and new, have been so bloody wonderful! Thank you so so much!

There are still almost two months to go until "The Big Jump", so I would love for the figure to keep rising, and to raise as much money as possible. So please visit my sponsorship page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tims-bigjump and support me if you can. I am genuinely petrified about doing this, and I have no idea how I am going to physically "jump" out of a plane, but this tremendous support is giving me the motivation to face this challenge head on.

Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK. If detected early it can be successfully treated in over 90% of cases. However, just 15% of cases are detected at that early stage at the moment. Raising awareness is vital, and improving early detection rates is a massive challenge. The aim of Bowel Cancer UK / Beating Bowel Cancer is that by 2050 no-one will die of bowel cancer..

Charity Tandem Skydive Sponsorship Reaches £795

Training at The Empire State Building

The very generous sponsorship donations for my charity tandem skydive this July have continued, and I am now well on the way to my target figure of £1000. To date I have received a wonderful £795, so a huge thanks to everyone who has kindly supported me so far. 

My recent trip to New York gave me an opportunity to do a bit of training when I went up The Empire State Building. The views were stunning, but the smiling photo masks the fact that it took a lot of will power to make myself go to the railings, and looking down was terrifying! My thoughts at the time were how on earth am I going to be able to jump out of plane at 10,000 feet... However, I am putting those thoughts to the back of my mind for the time being.

Click here for my justgiving page 

or Text GEUU71 £? to 70070

Cash or Cheques

There are two main reasons why I am doing this. Firstly in memory of my wonderful mum lost to bowel cancer in 2016. Secondly,  41,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year in the UK, and what they have to endure puts my worries about jumping out of a plane very much into perspective. 

So please if you could sponsor me I would be so very grateful. I am raising money for Beating Bowel Cancer / Bowel Cancer UK, the UK's leading bowel cancer charity.

Meeting Deborah James Sadly No Longer Still With Us

I can't believe that it's one year ago that I met Deborah James for the forthcoming book I am writing, The Record. I came into contact with Debs on social media in 2015 around the time that I published my last book, Lives & Times, which she kindly bought, and thereafter we stayed in regular contact. She was one of the first people to agree to be in this new fundraising book. Very sadly Debs passed away in July last year from an aggressive form of bowel cancer. All proceeds from sales on the book will be donated to Beating Bowel Cancer  / Bowel Cancer UK, the UK's leading bowel cancer charity.

So we met at the beginning of May in 2017 at the Sixfields Leisure Park in Northampton. At that time Debs was still very positive, and determined to do everything she could to stay healthy, and live as long as possible in spite of an awful prognosis. She told me that when she was younger, she said she would live to be 100, and with her lovely infectious laugh she then said that it was still possible. In fact Deb's laugh was constant throughout, even during the bits where we chatted about the most difficult subjects relating to her illness.

Although I only got to meet her once, that experience definitely left a mark on me, and I'm sorry that I didn't get the opportunity to know her a little better, and see her again. She wrote a wonderful blog, My Joyful Gut!, which is well worth a read. She had set up her own business, which was raising awareness about cancer at the workplace, supporting businesses, cancer patients and their families affected by cancer. She was a quite special person, who will be missed by so many people.

Debs and I agreed that the chapter on her in the book should be written as of that moment in time of our meeting. I wanted her to see the chapter as it would appear in the finished book. I wrote it up and sent it to Debs, who thankfully was very pleased with it. I will not change it, apart from a few lines of explanation that I've added to the start of it. 

Bowel cancer is the second highest cancer killer in the UK, claiming 16,000 lives each year, and yet if detected early at stage 1 it can be successfully treated in 97% of cases with patients living for 5 years or more. That figure falls to just 7% when it's detected at stage 4. At the moment only 15%are diagnosed at stage 1. So much more needs to be done in raising awareness about bowel cancer to reduce the numbers losing their lives, and the sadness and devastation caused to the families left behind.

My Mum was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2012, and she sadly passed away in August 2016. All my fundraising is now done in her memory. I have my bowelcancerfundraising website which sells my books, Stop Bowel Cancer t-shirts and wristbands, art, and other bits and pieces. My latest venture is a charity skydive that I am doing in July at Brackley. This is a massive challenge for me as I have a huge fear of heights. I have already been sponsored £685 for this on my justgiving page.

bowelcancerfundraising.co.uk passes £4000

Great news this morning as the fundraising on bowelcancerfundraising.co.uk has passed the £4000 milestone. £4029.13 to be exact. The support since I set up this website in 2015 to sell my fundraising items has been quite amazing. I am truly grateful for every single purchase / donation, and of course the encouragement which keeps me very motivated.

The books, art, t-shirts, and wristbands, plus the other nice items are available to buy on my website. All proceeds raised from sales are donated to Beating Bowel Cancer / Bowel Cancer UK, the UK's leading bowel cancer charity. Next target is £5000...

Seperate from my website fundraising, I am now also signed up to take part in a charity tandem skydive on July 14th supporting Bowel Cancer UK. This is a massive challenge for someone who has been terrified of heights his whole life. After just one week I am already two thirds of the way towards reaching my £1000 target. So please take a look at my justgiving page. All sponsorship for this is really appreciated, and will go some to making the absolute terror worthwhile.

All my fundraising is being done in memory of my mum who passed away in 2016. I will continue to raise bowel cancer awareness which is so important. Bowel cancer remains the second highest cancer killer in the UK, but is treatable in 97% of cases if diagnosed at the early stage 1. At the moment only 15% of cases are caught at stage 1.

Photographing Frank Turner for The Record

Last night I attended Fran Turner's show number 2163 in Southampton at the sold out Guildhall. I was very kindly given a photo pass, and spent the first three songs snapping away. So this completes the photography for the chapter in the forthcoming bowel cancer fundraising book, The Record, which I began when I met Frank before his gig in Reading in 2016. I can't thank Frank enough for his support and giving me such a unique opportunity to put such a great chapter together on him.

Once I had finished with my camera, I went back into the audience to enjoy the gig. It was another stunning show. I am fairly new to the Frank Turner party, and this was just my third time seeing him live. Each gig has been amazing, and the crowd in Southampton last night really were terrific and on great form. His 7th studio album, Be More Kind, comes out on Friday, and the new songs were very well received last night alongside all the classics, and Frank is now at the start of a very long period of promoting the album, which will hopefully be a massive success for him. He is definitely one of the good guys.

In other fundraising news I have now been sponsored £545 for my charity tandem skydive for Bowel Cancer UK in memory of my mum in July. So I'm already over half way towards reaching the £1000 target after less than a week. The thought of jumping out of a plane terrifies me, but 41,000 are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year, and I think that a few minutes of terror is pretty insignificant compared to what these people have to go through. Please take a look at my justgiving page to find out more.