Charity support

There have been two very distinct strands to my working life. Computers and charity.

I started life wanting to teach. But part way through my teacher training course, I realised this was no longer a direction I wanted to follow. (I blame the National Curriculum!)

So I embarked on a career in charity work. I began by volunteering for Scope (formally The Spastics Society). This spring-boarded me to my first and only paid fundraising role with EAST.

Whilst I enjoyed fundraising, the project was coming to a close. And I realised that I quite enjoyed the technical side of charitable work.

So, from EAST, I returned to Scope’s fold as an IT Technician supporting profoundly disabled children at a residential school in Cambridgeshire.

It became clear to me that Computing was my career, but charity work as always dear to my heart.

In my various IT roles, I was always finding ways to raise funds for different charities. At a local sixth form college, we requested donations for password resets – as a way to encourage students to remember them.

We collected dead cartridges to donate to local charities . We dressed up for Comic Relief and Children in Need. And we had a lot of fun doing it.

In 2008, I took on my biggest fundraising challenge yet, when I applied to Cambridgeshire Search and Rescue (CamSAR) as a search technician. I was still working full time, but in a role I didn’t particularly enjoy. I needed something to fill my spare time. I took all I had learned at EAST and threw myself into supporting the team. And I hope to share some of that knowledge in these pages.

This section is still under construction. But when complete, I hope you will find, my stories of interest along with useful hints and tips making fundraising a success.