Sinead's Kilimanjaro Diary

Sinead Tighe will be part of the EBM team trekking Kilimanjaro in June this year, here she writes about how her preparation is going so far...

It’s about 5 weeks since I took the plunge to scale the highest free standing mountain in the world (thank you wiki). So far the training has been mental, (literally) To be honest getting my head around the fact that this is going to become a reality has been a real challenge. For anyone who knows me I’m not exactly what you would call an outdoorsy type! If there’s a bus passing I’m on it, a car...I’m shotgun, not really the words of someone embarking on a 6 day ascent!!

I remember hearing about my cousin, who would spend his evening cycling 30 miles.. and this would be for pleasure! My reaction used to be general dis –belief, tainted with a (he’s the mad one, not me, much more rewarding sitting on the couch with a movie on the download!) But I’ve had to change my attitudes and to be honest it’s been really rewarding. I suppose it’s like any new challenge...giving up smoking.... or starting a new job, it’s all about getting a fresh outlook and finding the hidden pleasures in your new found lifestyle. For me, completing a 22 mile walk was a real confidence booster...suddenly 10 mile walks seemed doable and the feeling of completing them would linger enough to give you drive for the next walk. Now no rose tinted glasses here, my legs were feckin aching, stiff as a board the next day, walking sticks never looked so cool! But where there’s pain, there’s gain and I knew it was doing my body good too which gave me a sense of security.

I’m still a long way off being fit enough, and the other climbers are training flat out, but I guess when something is good, it’s worth doing.


Sinead

10 Mile Sponsored Walk

Nice to Nice NI group founder Sinead Tighe will be taking part in the EBM trek of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, in June this year. The mission hopes to raise £30,000 and events have been taking place throughout Northern Ireland to help them in this effort.

In order to support Sinead and the rest of the group, we are appealing for people to take part in a 10 Mile Sponsored Walk in April. If you can attend either of the two dates given (or even both if you're feeling really fit), then please get in touch via email at nicetobeniceni@googlemail.com for sponsorship forms and more details.

The event will take place from 10am and will end around 12.30pm, depending on pace. Even if you can only manage a small amount of sponsorship don't worry, the more people we get involved the bigger the impact we'll have. The walk will follow the Lagan Towpath route, consisting of beautiful riverside scenery and refreshments will be provided at the finish line. Even if you cannot take part in the walk, we are also looking for volunteers to drive people to the event. If you have a car and a spare half hour on either of these Sundays, please get in touch on the email address provided above. Though we're not always blessed weather wise here in Norn Iron, hopefully this should be a great day out for family and friends.

Sinead will be blogging about her preparation for the climb, which peaks at 4600m, over the coming months. She has already raised over £250 in the short time she has been preparing for this event, through coffee mornings and competitions. If you would like to sponsor her individually please email us for further details.

If you would also like to hold a coffee morning for the EBM, either at your place of work or recreation, we will be happy to provide you with help and advice on how to do so.

East Belfast Mission

For our very first charity we have chosen the East Belfast Mission in the Newtownards Rd area of Belfast. A registered charitable organisation since 1985, the work that EMB do in the local community is as wide reaching as it is important, with youth schemes, meals on wheels, Mission Cafe and Re:store Chairty Shops to name but a few.

To try and explain just what they do in a simple blog post would be to do them a great disservice, so we urge you visit their website for more information or visit their Facebook Page.

They are currently looking for volunteers in many areas.

We will be begin our fundraising for the EBM in the next couple of weeks, so please keep checking this blog for more information on how to get involved and share fundraising ideas, as well being kept up to date with events and services at the mission itself.

What we're about

Nice to be Nice NI is a group of people interested in non professional fundraising for charity. Each year we chose a charity to fundraise for, organising various events and sponsorships. We are volunteers and receive no payment, commission or remuneration for the fundraising work we do on behalf of our chosen charity. Any costs incurred whilst organising an event are covered by our members independent of the fundraising total. We are not a registered charity and do not on any occasion present ourselves as such, though we ensure that our chosen charities are recognised under section 63 of the Charities Act 1992 and/or ROI equivalent.

For more information please see the attached document.

Nice to be Nice NI