brown dog

1. brown dog NEWS HOUND Satisfaction Survey 2011 Refection & Success Themed Xmas Party Details of our Xmas party giving members and friends (new and old) the opportunity to meet and socialise without being exhausted after a challenge Results from the survey are included along with some of your comments Some thoughts and Photographs from the Triassic & Portland Challenges and what we achieved APRIL 2011 - KEY FEATURES THIS MONTH 2012 Challenge Mohs Presentation New Web Site An invitation for you to book your place early and spread the cost of joining over the whole year. Update on the Presentation made at Leicester Hospital on 28th June Brown Dog launches new web site Brown Dog is a Registered Charity (1111550) Raising money to help men, women and children who have cancer www.cancerbrowndog.co.uk

2. Welcome to our July Newshound Editors Note • Dear Brown Dog Member, • According to the feedback you gave us at the Dogs Dinner and in the Satisfaction survey it sounds like you all had a great weekend. • We always said the Triassic was going to be a very hard challenge, so with scorching heat it was made even harder. • Some of you felt it should have been a little shorter, but the reality is that the vast majority of people did complete the challenge • and we only finished 30 minutes later than planned – which in that heat was both commendable and fully understandable. • At our Trustee meeting last week we discussed both challenges, but agreed that with regards to the Triassic there was clear evidence that some people had really under-estimated the severity of this challenge (despite the many communications we made to reinforce this) and had not sufficiently prepared for it. As such we have agreed to take the following actions for next year; • everyone must register individually and provide a home address, e-mail address, telephone number and T-Shirt Size • everyone must confirm (as part of registration) that they will be 18 or over on the date of the challenge • an initial Q&A teleconference will be set up early January to re-enforce requirements for the June event • each member will be given a “Trustee Buddy” who will ensure messages are getting through and provide direct contact • the teleconference in May (just before the challenge) will be positioned as mandatory • Hopefully by taking this action we can further improve the whole communications process and ensure that everyone is fully • briefed and informed – this will help members decide whether to join the bigger or smaller challenge based on their capability to prepare for the challenge. • Looking towards next year, you will see in the pack that you can guarantee your • place right now by completing the registration form and setting up a • standing order – by doing this you can spread the expense of the challenge over the • year, paying only £10 a month. • In the mean time please do all you can to collect your sponsorship money as quickly • as possible and most of all thank you for supporting brown dog M Mark Storer – Founder Member (on behalf of brown dog Trustees)

3. brown dog Satisfaction Survey • In summary your feedback was really good • You told us that; • it was a very enjoyable event • it was very well organised • the information pack was very informative (high quality) • the dogs dinner was very good (venue, food and function room) • and that it was good value for money. • The only area where feedback was mixed was with the caravan accommodation • where some of you said it was good and others said it was ok • Everyone found the Triassic challenge difficult, some people felt it was too difficult.

4. Brown Dog 2011 Campaign – TRIASSIC & PORTLAND CHALLENGE – Combined Member Satisfaction Survey Results (based on an sample size of 41 out of 62 excluding Trustees = 66% representation = Good) Enjoyment 97% of members enjoyed the event (61% very much) Value for Money 97% of members said it was value for money (65% very much) Do Another Event 95% of members said they would do another brown dog event (5% maybe) Well Organised 95% said it was well organised (76% said ‘very well organised’) Caravan Accommodation 63% said accommodation was good (47% said it was ok) Haven Site 59% said the Haven site was good (41% said it was ok) Dogs Dinner Venue 100% said it was a good venue (66% said ‘very good’) Dogs Dinner Meal 100% said their meal was good (66% said ‘very good’) Dogs Dinner Function Room 100% said the room was good (66% said ‘very good’) Brown Dog Web Site 76% said they had been on the site (87% of those said ‘it was good’) Briefing Telecom Only 7% said they joined this (100% of people who attended said it was useful) My Donate 54% said they used My Donate (100% of people that used it said it was easy to use)

5. Member Feedback from the Triassic Challenge 2011 t Mark Storer and the whole team make you feel very humble and very proud to be part of brown dog!! Great charity, worthwhile and I feel like I contribute and make a difference It continues to inspire me to push myself and now has transcended into the next generation which is allowing my children to learn and benefit from the brown dog challenges It is a great charity and I’m really proud of Mark and the Trustees for what they have achieved. It makes you feel proud, and a huge sense of achievement! The effort and arrangements and most of all the time put into brown dog is amazing. BRILLIANT I JUST LOVE YOU It’s a great charity to be associated with Fantastic effort, great company, genuine memories Fantastic sense of achievement and being part of something special. Really enjoyed seeing the number of new faces present this year

6. Member Feedback from the Triassic Challenge 2011 t The Family, Trustees and charity as a whole are the most welcoming, honest and hard working people you could wish to meet. I will continue to support you all as long as I can. Well done to all. I’m so proud to have been part of it as everyone was so supportive. You can’t fail to make new friends FANTASTIC! Very happy ! I like how I can always see how and where my sponsorship money is being spent Very proud to be associated with brown dog and to be ‘part of a family’ Fantastic and I feel privileged to be involved Well done to all – long may it continue! A brilliant charity – everyone is so friendly - Feels like a family! Great charity. The event this weekend was so difficult. It will take me a long time to recover and I don’t feel that’s about my fitness level.

7. Member Feedback from the Portland Challenge 2011 Passionate – the folks taking part are amazing. Great to come back year 2 and meet people again. The organisors work so hard so it is a pleasure to be involved. We feel honoured to be part of it. I hope to be involved for many years to come. Bonus for me as two of my family also involved Fantastic Charity, can’t wait to be part of it next year. Amazing Dogs Dinner – company, food, updates, Very emotional. Completely impressed and proud to be a small part of the charity. I will enjoy coming back next year – simply fantastic! Words can’t descibe how proud I feel at being a member – this is only my second challenge but I feel like I know All of you and will support this charity for along time to come

8. brown dog Refection on Triassic Challenge

9. On the coach Sidmouth – off to the start Sidmouth – Start Point

10. The first hill at Sidmouth Then up through the steep woods One hill down

11. On-route to Weston Mouth Just before Weston Mouth Approaching Branscombe

12. Leaving Branscombe Branscombe – 1st Break En-route to Beer

13. Approaching Beer Leaving Beer

14. The Undercliffe’s

15. The view you didn’t get from The Golden Cap (as it was midnight and dark) The view of Seatown that you didn’t see (as it was midnight and dark)

16. 3.30am the Sun Rises Burton Bradstock needing a helping hand!

17. Finish Line – still alive (just) and smiling!

18. brown dog Refection on Portland Challenge

19. At the Start Up through Portland Town and off towards the island path

20. brown dog Points you raised on the survey along with a brown dog perspective and some action taken/proposed

21. Member Comments on how we could improve the challenge – with comments from brown dog “It was extremely hard” and “The hills were too demanding for me” We made it very clear from the on-set that this years challenge was going to be hard. We did a special feature in the April Newshound saying this won’t be a walk in the park. The Trustees shared their Jurassic experiences and explained what they were doing to train At the Teleconference we reinforced how hard it would be. There is no doubt that the heat on the day made it even harder. We have action plans to further improve communications in future to re-enforce the difficulty Members to carefully consider the severity in future and consider the smaller challenge if appropriate “Not so much walking, more longer stops” When we did the dry run for the Triassic it took us 19.21 hours which included small stops We added 4 hours of additional rest time to this – which is 1 hour for each of the 4 stages This included 3 planned longer stops at Lyme Regis, West bay (coffee) and Abbottsbury (breakfast) Also experience tells us that muscles stiffen with long stops, so you can’t have too many We believe we had sufficient breaks when added to the numerous short breaks taken “For me a shorter distance, but I struggle more than most” Perhaps next time you need to consider the shorter challenge “Have an easier challenge” We did have an easier challenge – it was called the Portland Challenge Told us how many hills there are With a coastal challenge it’s more difficult to do this as the terrain is up and down and as such it becomes in-practical to outline every incline. In Newshounds and the pack (see right) we did continually point out the Diffiiculty. In future we will pick out the larger hills and provide a clearer picture of exactly how steep they are. Extracts from the pack re: reference to hills The first phase is probably the hardest with many steep ascents and descents. From Seatown we continue walking in the dark with some short, steep climbs

22. Member Comments on how we could improve the challenge – with comments from brown dog Just make the challenge a little more achievable for a ‘normal person’ Not sure what this person means by a ‘normal person’. This year we had a range of very normal people, including people over 50, young people, men and women – the vast majority of which (despite the severe heat) completed the challenge only 30 mins later than the plan. This suggests the challenge was achievable for your average (let’s say normal) person. A 50 mile walk of that duration should be more simpler Discussed above. A few years ago we ran the Jurassic challenge that was slightly shorter in length but had a more severe terrain – 48 people all finished that challenge, so we always thought the Triassic was do-able. Better explanation of the routes, More Route Plans The route was fully explained in the pack with a breakdown of timings for each stage Less short breaks and more longer breaks We had far more short breaks than planned because we had to wait for people at the back to catch up. Experience tells us that too many long breaks is not good as muscles tend to stiffen up etc. We still believe the number of breaks we planned and had in practice (to account for the heat) was right Maybe split into ‘strugglers’ and ‘speeders’ There is no way you can plan for this as you never know until on the day who may struggle. There are two types of strugglers – one type is the person who fully prepared for the challenge but ended up struggling due to an unforeseen problem (e.g. Twisted knee, swollen ankle, excessive blisters etc.). With the demanding challenges we organise there is always a chance we will have people struggling in this way, it is just unavoidable and we are always happy to help and support these people. However, there is the second type of struggler who is someone who either didn’t do sufficient preparation or who completely under-estimated the challenge versus their own capability. To avoid having type two strugglers our strategy is to explain the severity of the challenge in question and encourage individuals to judge whether or not they feel they are capable of doing it. Also we arrange a smaller alternative challenge to provide choice for the individuals. Maybe in hindsight some people who did Triassic should have done the Portland.

23. Member Comments on how we could improve the challenge – with comments from brown dog The weather conditions and the poor preparation and understanding of some of the participants hindered the activity. This an alternative view from someone who felt they had prepared and did understand what they were taking on. There is no question that there were too many times when we had to wait too long for people to catch up. One example is the very first hill, where after 15 minutes we lost 15 minutes waiting – this should never have happened so early in the challenge. As already mentioned this year we went to great length in our emails to everyone, in our Newshounds, in our information packs and at the teleconference to stress how difficult this years challenge would be. We have discussed this at our Trustee meeting and agreed actions to further improve communications on future events. Maybe having some protocols in place regarding injured people (where to take them) as at times we had full cars and I had concerns about what would happen if more injuries were to occur This year we recognised the importance of ground support and we had a dedicated Trustee who planned the whole process with military precision – it was without doubt the most organised ground support process we have ever had. Included in this process, we had a clear emergency procedure documented should we need it. In reality it was the scale of fall-out that we had not anticipated – we recognise that this did add additional pressure on our ground support process and on the crew who did a fantastic job (as recognised at the Dogs Dinner) In hindsight we probably would reflect and say that a third car would have been useful. We will take the learning from this year and continue to improve this process. On the web – have a forum page for people to ask questions This is something we will look into. In the mean time please remember that all Trustees are available to ask any questions. Next year we will introduce the concept of “Trustee Buddies”, set up an additional ‘pre-training’ telecom and encourage everyone to attend the final telecom briefing. On the web – have a down-loadable sponsorship form This will be done

24. brown dog Dogs Dinner

27. Fun Award Winners The Crack family Fiona Johnston Vikki Green Eve Shooter

28. Poetry Competition James Green Presented by volunteer judge Karen Morris

29. Caption Competition Award Winner Jack Wardle Presented by volunteer judge Cathy Brough

30. Special Award Winners Ian Alexander (on behalf of brown dog) presented a Special Award to the Ground Support teams and thanked everyone for the vital role they played in this years event. Gez Johnston Catherine Crack Sue Hemmings TashBayliss Presented by Ian Alexander Denise Styles

31. brown dog 2011 Success

32. £38,909 Pledged We have been told that Wessex Cancer Trust would like to donate £12,000 to our appeal, Plus the hospital has received an anonymous donation of £10,000 also put to our appeal £60,000 expected It looks like we have achieved our goal to fund the purchase of the Core Biopsy Specimen Scanner (subject to collecting your money in – see next page) Core biopsy specimen imaging Rapidly verify the presence of micro-calcifications in core biopsies COREVISION increases the standard of care for your patients by eliminating delays waiting for verification of core samples. With one touch of the button a successful biopsy procedure is confirmed and images can be instantly sent to multiple destinations without the need to interrupt mammography workflow.

33. Collecting Sponsorship Money in & Submitting Sponsorship Forms • Collecting Sponsorship Money - £5,000 collected so far • Success is only confirmed once we have collected all your pledged money in. • Please try and collect your money as quickly as possible • Can you try and complete this task by the end of September (latest) – 3 months to collect • Submitting Sponsorship Forms • Success also includes receiving your sponsorship forms and claiming Gift Aid • Please post your sponsorship forms to Ian Alexander • 1 St Charles Close, Midsomer Norton, bath, BA3 2XA • Remember Gift Aid adds 29p to every £1 you raise – this makes a real difference. • Remember ; • We need the name and full postal address, including post code • We need the box ticking that says the person sponsoring you is happy for gift aid to be collected • And that person is a tax payer Xmas Party

34. YE OLDE DOGS PARTY Over the past 11 years we have had some wonderful Dogs Dinners, so much so that many of you have told us that you would like us to organise a purely social event in between challenges to enable everyone to get together (when you are not tired or exhausted having completed a gruelling challenge). In response to your request we are delighted to announce our very first brown dog social event – details of which you can see on the next page. As you will see we have gone for something a bit different which is going to be great fun. The event will take place in a medieval barn, which is warm, atmospheric and provides the perfect venue for our themed event. Plus, it will be decorated for Christmas which will provide added ambiance and fun. The hotel takes great pride in the quality of it’s food which is all locally produced (e.g. venison from it’s own deer park) and can offer a choice of meals (including vegetarian) which we will share with you as you purchase your ticket. For those travelling the hotel has offered a much reduced room rate of £40 per person or you can stay at cheaper hotels next to East Midlands Airport (5 minutes away) . We are looking to arrange transport from the Coalville area for local members (via Ashby subject to demand) – travelling members can stay in Coalville (Hermitage Hotel or Broadlawns B&B) or Ashby (Royal Hotel) and join this transport. We really hope you can join us. Any questions, please contact Mark or Grace Storer who are organising the event.

35. YE OLDE DOGS PARTY • A Xmas Medieval Themed Event Saturday 3rd December Drinks 7pm - Meal 8pm - Dancing 9.30pm brown dog charity group invites members and friends to their Medieval Christmas Party in the highly recommended Donnington Park Farmhouse Hotel in Leicestershire held in an olde world medieval barn Ye Old brown dog’s party is a themed event Enabling our handsome men to become a gallant Knight, a dashing Robin Hood or (without trying for some) the court Jester or simply peasants Whilst our gorgeous ladies will tease these merry men with their distinguished Maid Marian beauty , or their Lady of the Manor look even their less distinguished bar wench or peasant girl look. Either full on themed clothes or a token gesture is acceptable. As with any brown dog event fun and merriment is the priority, helped along by an enchanting venue, medieval ambiance , quality food using local produce and (or the boys) real ale served from the barrel!!! Cost £35 includes 4 course meal and coffee Disco (bedrooms available at a reduced price of £80) To purchase a ticket contact Mark or Grace Storer mark.storer@bt.comgrace.storer@hotmail.co.uk

36. brown dog 2012 Challenge 23rd June 2012

37. As we announced at the Dogs Dinner, next years challenge will be in the Peak District. • We are planning to run two events • High Peak Challenge • The detail of the challenge is being finalised , but will include ; • A bike ride – approximately 40 miles long • A mountain walk - approximately 15 miles • Timeframe 10 hours (to be confirmed on the dry run) • Low Peak Challenge • The detail of the challenge is being finalised , but will include ; • A bike ride – approximately 30 miles long • A walk - approximately 6 miles • Timeframe 8 hours (to be confirmed on the dry run) • Until we have finalised the detail we cannot confirm the cost, but we are estimating that it will • be £110 per person, which means it is a cheaper challenge than last year. • The challenge is a one day event this year, which means that for most people they won’t have to • book leave for the Friday before.

38. brown dog Hospital Presentation

39. Tuesday 28th June – Presentation to Leicester Hospital Mohs Skin cancer Equipment now in the hospital Equipment confirming that it was donated by brown dog Left to Right.... David Hall & Richard Parkes – brown dog Trustees John McKenna – Consultant Dermatologist Mark Storer – brown dog Trustee Debbie Adlerstein – Leister Hospital Charities Manager Malcome Lowe-Lori – Hospital Chief Executive Officer David Hall & Richard Parkes try out the new microscopes, that are one of three pieces of Mohs equipment purchased Flexible linear staining system The Cryostat

40. Thank You to all brown dog members

41. brown dog New Web Site

42. brown dog is delighted to announce the launch of our new web site. You will notice that the web site is work in progress. Our strategy/plan is to; Improve the design Update the content Develop the web site To do this we have created a web site Working Group who will be responsible for considering/prioritising/developing the ideas of Trustees and Members. If you have any suggestions on how you would like the web site to be improved please drop Eddie a note to..... eddietimmins@googlemail.com

43. brown dog New Trustee

44. New Brown Dog Trustee At the Dogs Dinner back in June we announced that we were still looking to recruit an additional member to our brown dog Trustee Board. We explained that our ideal candidate was someone who was enthusiastic, who had marketing skills and (to create greater diversity on the team) was preferably a women. The brown dog Trustee Board has found someone who ticks all these boxes and is delighted to announce that Fiona Johnston is now officially a brown dog Trustee. Fiona will look at ways we can better promote brown dog which in term will increase membership and generate more charitable income. If you have experience in marketing and would like to share your views/ideas with Fiona she will be delighted to hear from you (link below). In the mean time, we are sure you will want to join us in wishing Fiona all the best in her new volunteer role. Marketing Fiona Johnston Create/Drive Marketing initiatives Increase brown dog awareness Web Site Working Group T-Shirt (Design/Printing/Distribution) 07941020978 Fiona@whittakeroffice.co.uk

45. Thank you for supporting us

46. Brown Dog Trustee Board Mark Storer Founder / Communication Richard Little Main Challenge Organisation Produce Launch Pack Organise Teleconferences Produce Newshounds Produce Final Information Pack Organise Dogs Dinner Web Site Working Group Member My Donate Administrator Define Challenge Organise & Conduct Dry Run Organise Accommodation Organise Dogs Dinner Venue Organise Bikes Organise Transport 07918070710 07827881077 Chairman/Member Registration Alternative Challenge Organisation Richard Parkes David Hall Chair Trustee Board Meetings Member Registration Assist with Main Challenge Organisation Organise & Conduct Dry Run Organise Accommodation Organise Dogs Dinner Venue Organise Bikes Organise Transport 07740605362 07717866965 Ian Alexander Finance/Charities Commission Liaison Grace Storer Fund Raising Manage brown dog expenditure account Manage brown dog fund raising account Financial reporting Liaison with Charities Commission My Donate Administrator Promote Fund Raising Provide Fund Raising Guidance/Help Web Site Working Group Brown Dog Ball Assist with Alternative Challenge 07801910829 07534914359 Secretary/Ground Support Web Site Laurence Crack Eddie Timmins Agenda for Trustee Board meetings Produce minutes/actions from meetings Responsible for member database Mange ground Support Process Web Site Development Web improvement ideas co-ordinator Web Site Working Group 07736359325 07843572282 Co-Founder Marketing Anil Patel Fiona Johnston Currently taking a break Create/Drive Marketing initiatives Increase brown dog awareness Web Site Working Group T-Shirt (Design/Printing/Distribution) 07801471723 07941020978