#TeamHonkRelay, Sport Relief, Twitter and Me (and You).

With all due apology to the lovely, brilliant Emma Kennedy (clang) for bastardising her book title (if you’ve not read “The tent, the bucket and me”  buy it immediately) I thought this was a good time to reflect on the force of nature that is Team Honk.

Regular readers can skip the next paragraph.

It still makes me catch my breath but this all started with a tweet, asking Emma Freud (clang) if bloggers could help with some fund raising for Sport Relief because we all know that bloggers have a voice that people listen to ….and now here we are, 16 months and £34k (almost) raised later.

I’ve met extraordinary people in places I never thought I’d go to and had some incredible opportunities off the back of all of this.   Who knew, for instance, that I’d be on the radio this morning, and this afternoon going …… okay more about that later.   It’s still #SecretThingNo3 at the moment.    Shhhhh.

Team Honk has been recognised by various blogging groups, which is lovely, but the main achievement is that it has become a badge people can wear with real pride, saying “I was part of that”, either  “I scooted 2 miles in a kiddy car along the sea front” or “I jumped around on a pogo-stick in Reading”.  Or “I send 100 tweets with links to fund raising pages”.    It has all helped to put money where it’s doing tremendous good.   Really helping to prove #LastingChange.

I know I bang on about Sport Relief/Comic Relief, but it really is incredible to see how they have changed things in a permanent, lasting way for people all over the world.  Famine response is hugely important, but this is something else, helping people to move away from a subsistence existence.   Giving them the tools to make real change in their communities.   Not just with an immediate hand out of money, but by funding long term projects, that will some way benefit from the money that has been raised by the UK blogging community, their family and their friends.   Or what Sport Relief says:

The money raised by the public for Sport Relief creates lasting change in the UK and around the world.   It does this by starting things off that keep on working, changing not just one person’s life but giving people a leg up so their families and whole communities benefit from the ripple effect.

A small amount of money can be all that’s needed to help people in unimaginably tough situations turn their lives around.  It can train people who can then pass on their skill to others.  It can help get local charities off the ground that then run on their own steam.

Team Honk, as I *may* have said before, is everyone who has ever got involved.    Yes, it started with Annie, Penny and I but it is so much bigger than that now.     It’s the kids on the boat across the Solent and up at Barnard’s Castle, the nutter who swam for a mile down the Cam at 7am one day (yes, even you, weirdo).

Thank you.

And next week the relay will be over. On Wednesday the love of my life, the gorgeous and supremely talented Mr B (editors note:  Bruce wrote that line.  No, he really did) will head up North to meet the other Mr B (Baton) in Edinburgh and take it to John O’Groats.    Via skiing shenigans and white water rafting.    As you will imagine, it’s far too precious a cargo to be left to that buffoon so Annie (Mammasauraus) is going to keep an eye on him.  Along with Mary and Ian (Annie’s first husband) who are going to keep an eye on Annie.

I shall be holding the fort at home, keeping a close eye on the Team Honk Social media feeds and trying desperately to not be upset that it is nearly over.

After ten weeks, nearly 200 bloggers and 3,000 miles, it’ll be over.

Done.

#TeamHonkRelay will be finished this time next week.    We will wake up to an inbox that doesn’t have a social supporter email from Annie.   Without tweets telling us what is happening that day.   Without a steady stream of emails alerting us to a new sponsor.

Life will return to normal.  (whatever “normal” is).

And by 12pm on Monday the plotting for 2015 will have begun.

Watch. This. Space.

Picture credits go to the amazing bloggers that sent pics of their leg of the relay to Team Honk.