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Swim the length between Gilly's favourite rugby clubs

By Sonia Gillam

Donate to Sonia and help them hit their goal of £2300!

My Activity Tracking

206
mi

My target 300 mi

We are fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Our loving husband and Dad Dave died last October due to having Pancreatic Cancer. Dave had very few, if any symptoms, prior to his death. He was diagnosed 5 weeks before he died. This was a massive shock for Dave and his family. Since his death we have heard quite a few similar stories, and therefore more has to be done to diagnosis this silent killer earlier or prevent it completely, to save more families going through what we did and are still adjusting to.

Some months before Dave's death he talked about doing a swimathon to raise money for charity. So, myself James and Ali are organising one on his behalf. We all know his greatest love (besides his family) was rugby and swimming. 

The challenge is set to get a load of people to join us in swimming 300 miles. So why 300? It's the distance between his favourite rugby clubs, Cobham (for whom he played) and Newcastle Falcons (for whom he had a season tickets for a lot of years). Dave played rugby until his early 50s and regularly swam weekly up until weeks before he died.

So why not join us and commit to doing a number of lengths - 60 / 45 / 30 in an hour (1 / 0.75 / 0.5 miles) - at least once a week across the month of August. You can either let us know your target in your donation text or email Sonia at geordiesonic@outlook.com. It doesn't matter whether you can do 1 length or 60 in an hour. We have beginners like Sonia having a bash, along with some experts like Ali, James. Wardie, Mark and others. This is all about doing our bit to support Dave and Pancreatic Cancer UK. If you can't do the swim, then if you are able to, please donate or get alongside someone who is doing it and be a fab cheerleader. 

If you're swimming, please feel free to raise awareness of this event. Please also, send in photos which we can share with others and more importantly, let us know the lengths you achieve every week so that we can measure ourselves accurately against the target. Seeing this go up will be so, so encouraging.

We're hoping to do the final lengths in a local swimming pool on 3rd September, 2 days before it would have been Dave's 67th birthday.

So, we're off to practice!! Looking forward to hearing all the great stories and seeing the photos as we hit the pools in the UK and abroad.

Thank you in advance for your support,


Sonia, James and Ali x

Please support my fundraising!

Raised

£2,285 + £363 GiftAid

My Goal

£2,300

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My donations could fund...

87 hours with a nurse on our Support Line

or

39 hours of early diagnosis research

My Achievements

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Reached 50% of goal

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My Updates

Extended period!

Hi... We have decided that we need to hit our target of 300 miles... so we're exrended the event until end of September, but it is likely we will reach our goal before then...

We have also increased our fund-raising goal too as we are so close to hitting £2000...

Its not too late if you want to jump in a pool and do some lengths x

Almost there!!!

Hi there,

We are excited to be almost reaching the finishing line. We have one more week to go with almost a 100 miles of swim to do. The swim team have been amazing and we so appreciate all that have contributed... whether its a few lengths or 100s it all helps. We're doing this to celebrate the life of David Gillam who is missed greatly by all who knew him.

Looking forward to giving you the final update once we have ended next Saturday,

Thanks again for all your support and love

Fantastic start to the event

Thank you to all who were able to kick the day off with their first swim. Thanks to Kate for being first in the pool today. We did 7.5 miles today with the longest swim going to Ali G. I'm shattered so having a rest day tomorrow but we're all looking forward to seeing what the next few days bring. We've extended the event to September 10th as James is away so more room to get those lengths in. Thanks again to all who are booked in for a swim in the coming days and weeks. Sonia, James and Ali x

Thank you

Thank you all so much for making a donation. It is appreciated so much by us all xx

David Gillam - A legend on and off the pitch!😍

David Gillam was, as many people know, the king of corporate hospitality, hosting countless events over the years and turning clients and colleagues into friends. He enjoyed meeting many sporting icons and celebrities, including Alan Shearer, Geoff Hurst, Frank Bruno, Steve Collins, Gareth Edwards, Phil Bennett and Jason Leonard. 

 

David had a huge heart and was passionate about raising and donating money to many charities including a school in Kenya and Safe Families for Children. One of the biggest ways he raised money was through buying copious amounts of sporting and musical memorabilia. 

He was a giant of a man with a huge heart and who’s generosity touched many many people. Right up until his death he was only worried about others and how we would all be without him. He brought kindness, hilarity, and wisdom to all that encountered him and was passionate about building relationships both personal and business. He will be greatly missed but lives on in our stories and memories of him for many years to come. 

Thank you to my Sponsors

£200

Sonia Gillam

offline donation

£31.20

Mai Lai Chun Frankland

£8.32

Tony Harrison

£50

Anonymous

£31.20

Chris Black

What an achievement!

£21.63

Paul Martindale

£10

Anonymous

£31.20

Mr Bruno Berardelli

Good luck Rebekah and team!

£10.40

Fiona Hardie

£20.80

Simon King

Great Guy, Great Cause. Well Done.

£30.16

Avril Saltsman

£50

Sonia Gillam

£20

Natalie Murphy

£20

Hannah Martin

Good Luck Sonia!

£10.40

Charlene Pratt

£52

Mei Ling

Wonderful what you are doing to fundraise for an amazing charity. I never met Dave, but I heard so many positive and happy things about him ☺️💜 he would be so proud of you all! Blessings 🙌

£10

Amy X

Well done bec keep at it xx

£10.40

Ryan

Well done bek 👍🏻

£20.80

Anonymous

Well done Bek!

£20

Zumbabyjennie

£10.40

Mel Wallis

£62.40

Melanie Hicks

Lovely idea. Go Sonia!

£120.64

Neil Jennings

Good luck all and I will do 3 lengths in RSBC pool to help as I’ve spent many days there with Dave, so it’s the right place for me to help your swim…

£100

Helen And Neil

What a big miss this wonderful man is - and a fantastic cause -

£10.40

Grant Critchley

Amazing! Well done Rebekah and everyone else taking part!!

£15.60

Lauren Dryden

£10.40

Liam Marsden

All the best !

£8.32

Angela Valentine

£20.80

Erin Reid

£104

Chris Ward

£78

David Dowling

all the best guys! Good on you for doing this!

£20.80

Barbara Langton

good luck!

£20.80

Jamie Chesters

£10.40

Sara Shirali

£10.40

Becky Peters

Good luck! Xx

£10.40

Jade Hoskins

£50

Tony Rice

Good luck Bevvers, to you and the swim team. Great cause for a top man.

£10.40

Elizabeth

£10.40

Natalie Fountain

Good luck to all! A great cause and I hope you do well.

£10.40

Anonymous

£15.60

Rachel Williams

Brilliant cause! Good luck Rebekah and all the others taking part. x

£15.60

Linda Taylor

The very best of luck Rebekah. Sure you'll smash it.

£10

Erica Modena

£100

Mark, Sally And Ruby X

£31.20

Helen And Simon Porteous

Great cause and good luck to all those involved. Brilliant way to remember Dave.

£15.60

Claire Preston

Good luck!! Cx

£20.80

Jamie Louise Carroll

Good Luck to Rebekah and everyone else involved!

£10

Calum Price

£10

Lisa

Such a lovely idea. Best of luck x

£31.20

Rebekah Ward

Warming up as we speak. Great work guys! Lovely idea for a lovely man. All my love, Rebekah

£30

Lisa Wilson

Good luck to all of you! While we had only met David once, we know how much he is missed by everyone who knew him. Fitting that you are doing this in his name.

£10.40

Michelle Donnan

Best of luck Mark and Sonia and all those taking part

£20.80

Tamsin & Clive

Amazing cause..well done to all involved! Kate, you’ve got this!! 👏🏼 xx

£31.20

Martin, Ruth And Freya

Such a great idea and amazing work so far!

£15.60

Liz Angus

I wish you well with your fund raising. Xxx

£104

Rachel Ward And Jordan Chapman

Well done everyone for all your efforts. Such an amazing cause, sending all our Iove xxxx

£30.16

Gordon Grant

Such a great cause to help fight such an evil disease. My father died of pancreatic cancer when he was only 56, so I fully understand what you have all been through. Finally, I will donate to any cause that makes Mark Beverley exercise every day!

£20.80

£20.80

Glenn Cue

Well done Mark and Friends

£10

John Hinton

£20.80

Rhiannon & David

Good luck to you all ❤️

£104

Anonymous

Thinking of u Sonia xx best of luck !!

£20.80

Monica

Good luck to you all. Best wishes from Monica x

£25

Lynn Borthwick

Good luck to you all for this worthy cause. Dave is greatly missed. All our love Lynn and Ian

£50

Michael Hall

Good luck all!

£52

Anthony Balkwill

£10

Cathy Hennessy

Good luck to you all xx

£31.20

Ruth Langstaff

A lovely idea to remember a great guy and raise money for a good cause. Good luck you guys!

£30.16

Kate Berry

Hi Sonia this is amazing and I will definitely join in as I love to swim and regularly do a km session in my pool. I will convert into miles and let you know the details x

£20

Michael Wylie

Good luck X

£13.52

Sonia Gillam