The Justgiving accounts have made things really easy and visible which really has helped us.
The support we have gained through RIBnet has been awesome, however outside the forum we hit brick wall after brick wall.
The turn out at the cruises has been excellent, it takes so much effort to raise money and also collect the promises of sponsorship. We first ran the IOW cruise in 2012 with 12 ribs, in 2013 we had 48 and in 2014 there were 70!!!
The round Anglesey guys have been awesome too
It's not easy to raise money and I wish that I could have been there.
The RIB 4 Macmillan was an overwhelming success which saw companies open up their doors to us. The build team and the boat show team were absolutely so dedicated and I have never seen teamwork like it anywhere else in my life.
Building the rib with all your money and donated parts was an honour and everybody poured their hearts and souls into it but we did build a bit of a monster and it was difficult to make the decision on how best to sell it.
Dragging a derelict rib out of a field, restoring it with only your donations and then showing it at the Southampton Boat Show while on an eBay auction starting at just 99p with no reserve was probably the biggest roller coaster that I have ever ridden. So how did I make some of the decisions??
All through my life I always turned to my father for advice and support, but now I have to make my own way in life. I remembered reading a poem on a bathroom wall around 18 years ago and the words were quite inspiring, I was sure it was called If, so I found it online and changed the last line. Now, I'm not one for poetry, but I certainly found this very helpful...
IF.
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you built the RIB 4 Macmillan, my son!
BLACK PIG
Piglet
Wings
Red Mist
