Second Gig Of The Week, Passed 10% of My Fundraising Target Already

Jonathan Introduces Me To His Group

Where Shall I Start?

Getting Into My Stride, So To Speak

It's All In The Book, Folks!

The second gig this week was at the Holistic Centre for Cancer Patients at James Cook Hospital in Middlesborough. 

Jonathan Taylor had invited me to speak. Jonathan is currently in remission from a particularly severe type of lymphoma. This has stopped him working as a builder but he has not been idle. He has formed a support group for lymphoma sufferers in the area and it was this group to which I was speaking. I was very impressed by the positive outlook and refusal to be sidelined which they all exhibited. 

I got a real feeling that they all enjoyed my talk, and Jonathan sent me this message after the meeting -
 "Just catching up with things today. Can I say a massive thank you to you and Gay for your fantastic talk last night, I've had some great feedback today from the people there say how good it was and what an inspiration you are to everyone, which you are. I really enjoyed it thank you, and I'm looking forward to reading your books ;-)

It was great to meet you in person finally, please stay in-touch and next time your in Darlington we'll meet up for coffee or lunch my friend."

As I mentioned, Jonathan's illness has stopped him working, but he has taken the opportunity to fulfil one of his ambitions by writing a science fiction book - The Forgotten Mission - The Return (1) -  which is doing very well.  You can find the Kindle or paperback  versions here on Amazon. 

My First Probus Talk -Good Proceeds to Pancreatic Cancer UK

I had never heard of Probus clubs 3 months ago. When Basil Strickland heard I was going to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK by speaking to clubs and groups, he told me about Probus and suggested I should make contact with them.

I did, only to find out that, although there are lots of branches of Probus (for retired business and professional people) and although they have regular speakers at their meetings, they tend to book their speakers up a year or more in advance.

I made it clear that mine is a long-term project and I would be very happy to speak to any club in a year's time but that I could step in at short notice to replace any speakers who fell by the wayside through accident, injury or illness, or for any other reason.

This paid off and today I spoke to my first Probus Club, in Sandbach, at a week's notice. It was a pleasure to meet them all and I raised well over £100 including sales of autographed copies of my books and the speaker's fee, which at my request they paid direct into my fundraising page, which is, by the way:

https://www.justgiving.com/Vic-Heaney2

I know you have suggestions for talk or signing venues. No matter how crazy, let me know. I will talk to anybody. Or, if you want a signed copy of one of my books in return for a donation, or to contact me for any other reason, email me on:

victalksthewalk@gmail.com

Don't be shy. No venue is too small or too large. We have a disease to beat here.

If all other ideas fail you, why, you could just go to the "Donate" button on this page and send your money to the cause.

Follow me on Twitter:
@VicTalksTheWalk
Or on Facebook:
Vic Talks The Walk for Pancreatic Cancer UK

Gig At Short Notice? Vic's Your Man

Sandbach

I have spent a lot of time in the past couple of months marketing this concept - that I go to a club or other gathering and do an illustrated talk about Vic's Big Walk, then ideally sell autographed copies of my book about the walk, or indeed any other of my books, to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK. One of the problems is that most of the clubs which take regular speakers plan and book more than a year in advance.

But all that hard work is paying off now. For instance, I know that one of Sturday evening's audience at JPs Coffee House in Lytham has been back into JPs to get my contact details for a local club.

And this morning, while we were in the car coming back from St Annes, I had a call from Sandbach Probus Club, asking me to stand in at short notice, next Tuesday, for their planned speaker who has had an accident. Of course I accepted and it will be back to Cheshire for the day, only a few miles from Middlewich, where I lived for a while.

Success In First Two UK Fundraising Gigs

Just had a great first weekend of UK gigs to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

First a 4-hour book signing at the Lytham Methodist Church table-top sale. That was Saturday morning. The same evening, a talk, followed by book signing, at JPs cafe in Lytham.

Total raised was over £200. With promised online donations, that could rise to £300. With a donation of €100 earlier in the week, we could be talking £400 for the week. Not a bad haul and, as I frequently tell people, their contribution could be the final push which funds the long-awaited breakthrough for a pancreatic cancer cure.

Also, I now have another gig booked, in April, at the same JPs cafe.

I also received approaches about presenting my talk to 3 more organisations.

I am indebted to Peter Labrow of Labrow Marketing for finding time in his busy schedule to design the above logo for me. You can find Peter here:

labrow.com

I know you have suggestions for talk or signing venues. No matter how crazy, let me know. I will talk to anybody. Or, if you want a signed copy of one of my books in return for a donation, or to contact me for any other reason, email me on:

victalksthewalk@gmail.com

Don't be shy. No venue is too small or too large. We have a disease to beat here.

If all other ideas fail you, why, you could just go to the "Donate" button on this page and send your money to the cause.

Follow me on Twitter:
@VicTalksTheWalk
Or on Facebook:
Vic Talks The Walk for Pancreatic Cancer UK