A Pie Eater Swimming Breaststroke

Posted on June 20, 2011 by The Bent and Bongs Beer Bash Blogger

Congratulations to Paul H, Bent and Bongs committee member and Great North Swimmer, on completing the Great North Swim this weekend.

Twelve months ago Paul the Fish was denied the chance of completing the swim due to the outbreak of algae in Lake Windermere.  This year offered no such excuse and so on the morning of June 19 he donned his wetsuit and dove straight in to the choppy waters of Winderemere, completing the swim in a time of 36 minutes and 55 seconds.

In Paul’s own words:

‘Not bad for a pie eater swimming breaststroke’.

All humour aside, this is a great achievement, as the following figures show:

Summary Position Total in Group Placed (%age) Fastest time Slowest time
Overall Position 2324 5820 In top 40% 18 mins 35 secs 2 hrs 18 mins
In Wave 98 278 In top 35% 22 mins 00 secs 1 hr 39 mins
In Age Group (45 – 49) 317 824 In top 38% 21 mins 41 secs 1 hr 50 mins

The sponsorship monies raised are going to The Christie to help them with their fight against the big C.

All in all, a great achievement!

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Drink Beer – Save Lives.

Posted on May 28, 2011 by The Bent and Bongs Beer Bash Blogger

Bent and Bongs Charitable Trust committee members present a cheque for £5000 to the North West Air Ambulance

Let’s be brutally honest about this.  The North West Air Ambulance saves lives.  It’s as simple as that.  They save lives.  They get to places that road based ambulances struggle to reach.  They get there faster.  And from there they get straight to the hospital.  No roads.  No corners.  No slowing down for traffic lights.  They’re there in a matter of minutes, and with the kinds of accidents they deal with, minutes count.  It really is the difference between life and death.

A view of some of the equipment carried in the air ambulanceThe operation to provide this service comes at a cost.  A big cost.  Somewhere in the region of £4 million a year at the time of writing.

The Bent and Bongs Charitable Trust selected the North West Air Ambulance as one of the main beneficiaries of the 2011 festival, and so on the morning of May 28 a couple of members of the Bent and Bongs Charitable Trust Committee ventured out to a windy and chilly Barton aerodrome to hand over a cheque for £5,000.  This donation might seem like a drop in the ocean of the £4m required to operate the service each year but every bit really does help.  We were told by the crew that this amount might well cover the cost of the next flight; and that’s potentially a life saved.A paramedic explains the use of the inflatable splints

So as you think back to the beer festival, that tenner you swapped for a handful of beer tokens might just be one of the tenners that went towards the donation to the air ambulance.

Drink beer!  Save lives.  There are worse things to do!

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