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Title: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: inspector_blakey on January 05, 2012, 02:09:22 Our very own Ollie is embarking on a six-day tour of the FGW network, with the aim of covering every route on the system, from 5 - 10 Mar this year. The aim of the game is to raise money for the Save the Children and CHICKS charities.
Plan and more details on Ollie's website: http://www.fgwollie.com/tour.php (http://www.fgwollie.com/tour.php), including a link to the Just Giving page for this endeavour. Let's see if we can help Ollie make it to his target of GBP 1,000! Updates on Ollie's Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/#!/fgwollie (http://twitter.com/#!/fgwollie) To give this thread maximum visibility, I've taken the liberty of making it sticky for the moment... Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Ollie on January 05, 2012, 02:11:53 Thanks for this, it is much appreciated :)
I want to raise as much as possible for the 2 charities :) Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: JayMac on January 18, 2012, 21:52:55 Bumping this thread simply to have it appear on '...unread posts...' as a reminder to all forum members of Ollie's charity 'bash'.
Let's help him reach his target..... :) Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: JayMac on February 02, 2012, 16:58:23 From the Wokingham Times (http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s/2107610_train_ticket_office_workers_on_the_rails_for_charity_challenge):
Quote Train ticket office worker's on the rails for charity challenge A railway ticket office worker from Finchampstead is getting out of his booth and hopping aboard the trains to travel an entire railway network for charity. Ollie Evans, from Finchampstead, will spend five days travelling the First Great Western Network to raise money for children^s respite charity CHICKS and Save the Children. The 23-year-old, who works in the ticket office at London Paddington station, will travel to Penzance, Swansea, Weymouth and Brighton in five days ^ if the trains are running on time. He said: ^The plan is to do it in the space of five days but I have allowed for six in case anything goes wrong. ^It will go from Paddington to Carmarthen and we have one train which goes to Brighton so I^ll be doing that as well.^ On the first day of the trip Mr Evans will be making 18 changes as he travels down to Exeter, Plymouth and across to Truro and Falmouth. Day two will see him ride the railways to Wales before he heads back to the South through Bristol and Bath on day three. The train enthusiast will be making stopovers in Penzance and Swansea on two nights, but is hoping to make it back to his bed in Wokingham on most days. He said: ^There are some late finishes but that^s to be expected. ^It^s only a couple of nights I^ll need to stay away ^ most of the time I^ll be coming home. ^m hoping the trains will all be on time. It will be disappointing if they aren^t but I^m staying positive.^ Mr Evans will be taking his laptop and mobile to keep him company during the journey but has also been promised company by friends for some of the journey. He said: ^ll have my laptop and phone to make the time go by. ^Some of the routes are quite long journeys and it could be quite tedious but it^s all for a good cause.^ The ticket officer is hoping to raise ^1,000 for CHICKS and Save the Children, which is supported by First Great Western. He said: ^CHICKS do respite breaks for children who otherwise wouldn^t get a break. ^They^ve got a base down in Cornwall and Devon and I did some volunteering with them so I have first-hand experience of the work they do. ^And First Great Western does a lot of work with Save the Children.^ The train operator has given its backing to the challenge by waiving the train fares and helping with accommodation costs. The company has also donated ^250 to get the fundraising off to a flying start. Mr Evans will be setting off from Wokingham station at 6.50am on Monday, March 5, and is hoping to pull in to his final station, Twyford, at 7.38pm on Friday, March 9. To sponsor Ollie visit www.justgiving.com/teams/fgwollie. Thanks to forum member bobm for finding the story. :D Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: johoare on February 05, 2012, 13:49:51 Just thought I'd bump this up again.. Please sponsor Ollie if you can ;D
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Mookiemoo on February 06, 2012, 11:32:33 I like the press release about fgw waiving the ticket costs to help.........erm, would ollie not get it free anyway given he's staff?
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Ollie on February 06, 2012, 20:28:02 Well it's a work benefit, but "technically" FGW are waiving the cost :P
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Chris from Nailsea on February 16, 2012, 20:36:04 From elsewhere on this forum:
That reminds me, isn't it time that a certain persons charity journey was bumped as a reminder ? Done! ;) Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: JayMac on February 23, 2012, 00:34:48 As I've finally got round to donating to this worthwhile effort by young Ollie ( :P) I thought I'd post and *bump* the thread.
Details here and links to Just Giving where you can donate: http://www.fgwollie.com/tour.php?page=index I bumped into Ollie today at Swindon station (sorry for holding up the queue in Upper Crust - weren't my fault the lady couldn't find can of Carling on her till.... :P) and he told me that he was just returning from a radio interview about his charity challenge on Swindon 105.5 (http://www.swindon1055.com/about/), a non commercial radio station in, err, Swindon. Interview should be broadcast on Swindon 105.5 mid-morning (1000 - 1200) 23rd February 2012, if my brief conversation with Ollie was correct. Live streaming via the underlined link above. Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Ollie on February 23, 2012, 23:52:34 Thanks to those who have sponsored my so far, it is much appreciated :)
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: EBrown on February 24, 2012, 16:32:25 Always happy to donate to two worthy causes. I'm also impressed by the unorthodox fundraising method!
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: johoare on March 04, 2012, 17:53:23 Since it's been a while.. And since Ollie starts this tomorrow.. I am going to bump it up again
Please sponsor Ollie if you haven't already.. Also.. good luck with this Ollie.. Hope it goes really well ;D Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: JayMac on March 04, 2012, 19:25:47 Yes, good luck Ollie. Here's hoping there are no major problems on the network in the coming days and you get to complete the challenge without using your 'spare' day.
See you on Wednesday for Castle Cary-Weymouth-Westbury. Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: EBrown on March 04, 2012, 19:41:08 Indeed, good luck! Hopefully there won't be any problems on the network! Congratulations for reaching your (fundraising) target too!
Sadly I won't be able to say hello. :( Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Chris from Nailsea on March 04, 2012, 21:51:38 If anyone sees Ollie on his travels, please do give him a wave (and a donation)!
(http://m.gmgrd.co.uk/sbres/798.$plit/C_67_article_2107610_body_articleblock_0_bodyimage.jpg?02%2F02%2F2012%2015%3A30%3A12%3A099) Ollie Evans will be passing through every stop on the FGW line in five days to raise money for charity. Pic by SWNS.com Chris ;D Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: John R on March 06, 2012, 20:17:48 Also now starring on the Fact Compiler's excellent Railway Eye blog.
http://railwayeye.blogspot.com/ Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: JayMac on March 06, 2012, 20:30:51 Yes, well done to my fellow moderator inspector_blakey and well done to the Fact Compiler for publicising. ;D
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: inspector_blakey on March 06, 2012, 20:34:08 *cough*
What on Earth makes you think it was me...? Oh, I see. ;D Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Chris from Nailsea on March 06, 2012, 20:38:38 With my apologies to John R for treading on his toes, so to speak: a link to that specific item on the Fact Compiler's Railway Eye blog is at http://railwayeye.blogspot.com/2012/03/man-travels-entire-fgw-network-by.html :P
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: JayMac on March 06, 2012, 20:45:11 I shall hopefully catch up with Ollie tomorrow (Weds 7th March) at Castle Cary, to cheer him along and bash a little with him down to Weymouth and back to Westbury. I'll report back here on his progress and (with Ollie's permission) post a few photos of what will be almost his mid way through the challenge.
No harm in posting the link again to the donation pages. Ollie has reached his initial sponsorship targets, but all further donations will be greatly appreciated by the two charities who are the beneficiaries of this challenge. http://www.fgwollie.com/tour.php?page=index Edited to correct date. bignosemac :-[ Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: bobm on March 06, 2012, 21:34:12 We should have a forum uniform - try finding Ollie on a train of 200-300 people. Still I did spot this rather unfortunate misprint on the carriage labels. At least it is spelt correct in the list of calling points.....
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: inspector_blakey on March 06, 2012, 21:42:46 It's almost worse that they got it right the second time.
I have another FGW window label at home somewhere that spells "Carmarthen" correctly but advertises "Pemrey and Burry Port" as a stop. Bring us back to the old question: who (if anyone) is proof reading this stuff? Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Ollie on March 06, 2012, 23:03:13 I shall hopefully catch up with Ollie tomorrow (Weds 6th March) at Castle Cary, to cheer him along and bash a little with him down to Weymouth and back to Westbury. I'll report back here on his progress and (with Ollie's permission) post a few photos of what will be almost his mid way through the challenge. Yep see you tomorrow (7th March) :)We should have a forum uniform - try finding Ollie on a train of 200-300 people. Still I did spot this rather unfortunate misprint on the carriage labels. At least it is spelt correct in the list of calling points..... Not sure where you tried, but in the end I didn't join this service until it got to Swansea (originally planned as Swindon)*cough* What on Earth makes you think it was me...? Oh, I see. ;D Many thanks for this :) Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: bobm on March 06, 2012, 23:07:16 We should have a forum uniform - try finding Ollie on a train of 200-300 people. Still I did spot this rather unfortunate misprint on the carriage labels. At least it is spelt correct in the list of calling points..... Not sure where you tried, but in the end I didn't join this service until it got to Swansea (originally planned as Swindon)Swindon to Newport. Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: inspector_blakey on March 07, 2012, 02:51:44 Many thanks for this :) It struck in a moment of inspiration whilst I was failing to sleep last night! At least something useful came out of my insomnia... :) Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: JayMac on March 07, 2012, 21:54:23 Taking on the mantle of Coffee Shop roving reporter just for today, I joined Ollie for but a small part of his charity challenge.
Thus far, he's on schedule with only minor delays to contend with. I joined Ollie at Castle Cary this morning, after facing my own problems with minor delays; initially it looked like my connection from Taunton was going to miss Ollie's train to Weymouth. Fortunately, his train was also slightly late, so I didn't have to rush like a mad 'un across the footbridge at Castle Cary. Located Ollie on the Class 150, where, although looking a little tired, he seemed pleased to see me. The gift of a bottle of pop probably helped! No trolley service on the looooong drag to Weymouth. A quick turn around at Weymouth (that's my shortest ever visit to the seaside!), where I barely had time for two lungfuls of nicotine, and off we headed back to Westbury. The guard was somewhat surprised to see us heading straight back, but Ollie soon explained the purpose of his journey and I added that was tagging along to offer moral support. I left Ollie at Westbury from where he was heading off to Portsmouth Harbour, before returning later in the day to Bath Spa, thence to Swindon for the 1844 to Salisbury via Melksham, before using SWT to make a positioning move to Basingstoke to pick up the FGW BSK-RDG service. Just heard this minute that Ollie is about to board a Turbo at Basingstoke..... With Ollie's permission, a few photos of him from this third day of his challenge: (http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/102_0329.jpg) (http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/102_0332.jpg) (http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/102_0337.jpg) It's not to late to donate. See: http://www.fgwollie.com/tour.php?page=index Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: grahame on March 09, 2012, 18:50:48 Ollie has just reached his final station - he's now at Paddington. Congratulations!
Over the last five days he has passed through every FGW served station - that's no mean task - including those with the sparsest of services (http://www.wellho.net/pix/ollie.jpg) Always cheerful (I don't know how he kept it up) and posted with his permission - Ollie gives a "thumbs up" to Melksham on Wednesday evening. It's not to late to donate. See: http://www.fgwollie.com/tour.php?page=index Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: JayMac on March 09, 2012, 18:58:07 Challenge complete. Congratulations Ollie!
I hope you haven't been put off trains for life. :P And it would appear that the railway gods were on your side this past week. No major delays necessitating on the hoof replanning or use of the spare day. Well done that man! (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Respect/respect-037.gif)(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Respect/respect-037.gif)(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Respect/respect-037.gif)(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Respect/respect-037.gif) Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Ollie on March 09, 2012, 22:44:17 May I take the opportunity to thank all of those on here who have sponsored me. Both charities are truly worthwhile causes, and I am so grateful for the support that has been given to me.
So thanks again. I hope Graham doesn't mind me adding that I will be making available 2 pairs of 1st class tickets for FGW available to be bid on. Hope to have more info on this a bit later tonight or maybe tomorrow. Thanks everyone :) Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Ollie on March 10, 2012, 00:51:40 Here is the link for how to bid for a pair of 1st class FGW tickets: http://www.fgwollie.com/tour.php?page=tickets :)
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Ollie on March 12, 2012, 01:27:07 Here is a link that shows the performance of services I was on: http://www.fgwollie.com/tour.php?page=result
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: inspector_blakey on March 12, 2012, 01:43:05 That's some pretty sparklinge performance...worst delay over the entire week 10 late into Weymouth! You should get FGW to put out a press release... ;)
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: EBrown on April 01, 2012, 21:31:12 Based on your fundraising pages, you've done a fantastic job, but what was your total raised Ollie (inc ticket sales)?
Title: Re: FGW Ollie on tour for charity: 5 - 10 March 2012 Post by: Ollie on April 01, 2012, 22:56:36 Figure currently: ^1,678.90 - if anyone still wants to give - please do via http://www.justgiving.com/teams/fgwollie :)
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