Update

Off the phone again with yet another BBC reporter... as you do :D They are hoping to ring me during their Saturday lunchtime show to do a 'live to air' bit as we pull the plane. I've never been so 'popular'. :)

Saturday the 8th

A few more emails back and forth and as of right now (4pm ish Monday) I'm hoping for 2 planes being provided by CTS. I think the spill over from the photos, radio interview etc has helped. At Kemble Ops suggestion I'be emailed a Cirencester paper and Jo Wynn from NSPCC will do a release.

Onwards... :)

More:

Link to news item mentioning new mayor being pulled by strongmen:

http://thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=231771&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232193&contentPK=18231946&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch

Link to an article on 'wot' we did yesterday

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2007/08/30/steve_strongman_feature.shtml

Image from article (as we crossed the main junction) :

Link to interview:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/realmedia/2007/09/barton_stevegardener.ram

Let's start with the lead up. I was busy the last few days and stopped training Wednesday so as to have plenty of power to use come Saturday. The extra training, as per my logs elsewhere, consisted of dragging a loaded pallet (about 170-180 kilos) around our yard a lap at a time. I never seemed up to more than a lap at a time but did find that I was recovering quicker and quicker as time went on.

Thursday had me doing a telephone interview for the weekend bulletin on BBC Radio Gloucestershire as well as a bunch of emails and phone calls with the BBC radio team and NSPCC / Childline's rep to deal with. Friday I was up to One Eyed Jacks for the live radio interview and am pretty sure all got a mention. My other memory of the afternoon was me leaning further and further back as the microphone got ever closer to my mouth. For a moment I had visions of toppling over the wall I was sat on! I also made sure to check and set out everything needed for the following day (or so I thought - see later).

Come Saturday and as is want with these kind of things any planned schedule I had in mind went out of the window. I had been asked to do a 10am photo op which turned into a 1045 or later 'op'. Regardless I had someone take some photos of myself and little Hamza Atcha in case it all went belly up.

Talking of which... I had hoped and planned for 8 or 9 big healthy lads turning up but this quickly turned into 4 with us almost mugging poor Rod when we saw him at the event shortly before the procession kicked off. Mike (Whey Consortium), Alf (Gymnation), Malcolm (Gymnation) and myself (Whey Consortium) formed the main crew with Rod shoved in at the back. Various phone calls etc were made but we had no time to set others up as we wanted to. I was fairly sure we'd make it but not in the way I had wanted to.

Alan Myatt had rung at 9pm Friday and arranged with me to have us at the back, thus giving is the room to play with that we needed. Only a loud Samba band followed us (I think I still hear the beat now ha ha). The time to set off arrived and so we were away. As we'd pulled similar vehicles in the past we knew the problem was more the distance and any lumps and bumps we needed to get over. But, as Mike said over my shoulder half way up Eastgate Street, we could have passed the rest of the procession and arrived first. The biggest problem was stopping and restarting and the first hiccup came at a speed bump. We were all of five feet away and doing a dead start to get over it when what we'd need is a little of a run up.

However, although tough we all gave it the necessary welly and cracked on. The main road junction was as tough as I thought it would be put the next stretch was very easy only made hard by a stop and when we were ready to set off tender driver Tim Cox was handing out business cards... I think it was at this point we noticed poor Rod had dropped out. He trains but obviously not to the level of the guys pulling and found it very hard going. He rejoined us at the shopping centre only to be seen absolutely shagged out on a bench when we walked back.

My daughter Chanel, fiance Lee, Tania (Alf's other half), Julie, Ethan and Ashley (Mikes Mrs and children) were all doing their bit taking photos, shaking charity buckets and so on and are deserving of our thanks - cheers Guys and Gals. Two other young Gymnation lads helped at the very end - I didn't get their names - but their help was also gratefully received.

A quick natter with some faces in the crowd and a well deserved cool drink for those doing the pull itself and I had an hour or two before my show. 2.15 or so saw me towing a pallet laden with the tools for my act and around 2.45 I started to lay it out in readiness... so where were the wraps, where's the one hand lift handle??? Arrrgghhh!! With minutes to go Lee and Chanel popped back but came back with one or two bits but no handle or heavy chain (d'uh!). A quick word in the Compere Ian's ear and I'm legging it back myself. Thanks to one of the other entertainers and Ian's efforts they kept the crowd warm for me and I even ended up having to wait.

As some of the equipment would have come through the stage I stuck with street level and so, grabbing another Gymnation member as my less than glamorous assistent, I was able to do the close up work of nail bending (no good if you are up on stage). Lee showed how hard it was by barely getting one going whereas I did the business and ended up finishing it bare-handed. Onto a frying pan for the usual rolling up and then I dispatched 2 1000 plus page Argos brochures - as you do. Next up was the dangerous looking but relatively easy hammer and axe to the face and then the Inch dumbbell was rolled out and again Lee didn't budge it while I repped it out. I was fortunate enough to remember to do it three times to all three sides of the crowd.

Finally my 'assistent' and I set up the one hand lift bar, chain and handle and I cranked out 160+ kilos and a 215-kilos no probs. On went the belt, more weight and a little chalk and I did 671 lbs or 305-kilos easy as you like for the finale. With Ian working the crowd for me and a fairly quick pace it seemed to go well.

Onwards to next weeks plane pull...

We're just a few short days away from everything taking place. I attended the final meeting for the Barton Fayre yesterday and Sanita and Eric from Childline came.

They seemed to like the novelty of what we are doing and more so when I explained the visual nature of what we are doing and hope to achieve - never mind the physical challenge.

I also spoke to Clare from BBC Radio Gloucestershire and agreed to be interviewed on Friday afternoon as part of the promotion for the event.

With these last few days rushing toward me at head speed and afraid that the guys might not have been hitting their sponsors as hard as I'd like I more or less sent out a 'pleeeeaaasseee give me money' email or three (1400) and virtually knocked my buddies over at www.mickhart.com (the forum there) for some of the hard earned. They came through for me as did Rob Thomas of www.rbsystems.co.uk with the group as a whole hitting £240.00 between 6 or 7 of them - very nice.

A long chat with some of the committee at the new lady mayors pub - One Eyed Jack's - and not only will the route we will pull over be ever so slightly extended but I may also be helping the lady mayor up into and down from the cab of the engine.

Right ho - some emails to do and people to chase before training today.

More money donated

At least £30.00 - the 'just giving' page has been updated. And I'll be handing out more forms to those taking part. In addition I was sent a small prize package for an article 'wot I wrote' and I'm giving the Muscular Development online t-shirt to the biggest doner at Gymnation.

First chunky donation just in

Via the new page we've just had our first donation of £50.00 - awesome!! I'd like to pass on our special thanks to: Mark Henkelis - cheers Mark!!

Donation page created

I've been busy reading through the Childline package sent some months ago and used one idea of theirs to create the following page http://www.justgiving.com/teamconsortium

This allows those of you so inclined to make an immediate online donation as well as contributing in the usual fashion.

I'll create a link in the main page so that you can get the total moving.

Thanks.

Site updated

I've added some sections / features to the right hand side. Firstly a link to videos by Mike Betty of our effort with the tender last year.

Then I'll be updating and adding website addresses of those involved in this effort. I started with the Party Pump site.

Finally a little intro about me and a 'welcome mat' so that those popping in know what it's all about.

I also saw two commitee members in the last few days and am happy to report that the money needed to allow the Fayre to go ahead has been raised with about £1000+ spare - result :)

Offer of help

While reminding you we still need sponsorship I am also happy to announce I had an offer via our forum www.wheyconsortiumforums.co.uk to cover the costs of any t-shirts we might wear. Cheers Keith and Michelle.

Thanks to the efforts of town crier Alan Myatt and the bosses of www.partypump.co.uk Tim and Lez here's the Dennis engine we will be tugging along behind us.

Check their site for info on hiring this one off vehicle for your special event!

Banging the drum!!

As well as starting this here blog I also spent an hour or so yesterday with my thinking cap on dreaming up attention grabbing emails for me to send out to various parts of the local media.

I contacted GFM (96.6fm) and while I was filling out online forms a shout out came back within ten minutes - great stuff. Chris Maltby has also given a plug on his late night show.

Severnsounds (102.4fm) replied with a 'please go ahead and plug the even on our site' which I will be doing today.

BBC Radio Gloucestershire has previously expressed an interest (indeed a couple of weeks ago called me while I was training at Gymnation) and asked me yesterday to send some more info (already done).

I also contacted The Citizen, the local newspaper and await a reply.

Two websites 1) http://z9.invisionfree.com/Strength_Discussion/index.php?act=idx (thanks to Tom 'Vikingpower' Jones and 2) http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/ (general section - thanks to James - one of the owners) also allowed me a post. SDF are THE site for strongmen and women in the UK as far as event info and discussion is concerned and MT are THE biggest (in terms of member numbers) UK Muscle site (14000+ members).

Alan Myatt, Gloucester town crier is the man to go to regarding the Barton Fayre and procession and took some info from me which ended up (see attached image) in the glossy newsletter sent out to every home in Barton and Tredworth by the Barton and Tredworth Development Company / Trust.

Visiting CTS @ Kemble and getting a look at a plane

The guys and gals at CTS (Chevron Technical Services) have proven invaluable. Without the help of many people we would not have the opportunity to do the work we want to do for Childline and without CTS no chance of getting our hands on a plane.



In the picture here you'll see (L-R) Neville, Imran, Harry, Laurence, Alf and a kneeling Scooter) in front of the BAE 146-100


So when a few calls earlier this year resulted in an invite to Kemble Airfield we raced to take advantage. Using the old Gymnation mini-bus several of our crew set of for the 40 minutes or so journey. A little confusion on where to go meant we more or less drove around the complete perimeter but eventually we found our way to their offices and had a brief chat. We were then introduced to an engineer of we followed him into the hanger.





It must be said that although we later had the possible chance of a crack at a 747 (more on that another time) on first view the plane we were shown on this visit still seemed a little large and somewhat daunting. But as we walked around and got a feel for the scale it slowly seemed doable. Most of us has pulled the fire safety tender before and that can weigh between 9 tonnes empty and 14 tonnes laden (4 of which will be water) so the idea of 2 or more pulling a BAE 146-100 weighing (in the lightest model) between 29 tonnes empty and 35 tonnes fueled didn't seem too much.


Other engineers came over and soon we were looking at towing points and expanding on the race between staff using two such planes the previous year. Before we knew it and forgetting the words of their boss James in our excitement we were just about to have qa go when he appeared. Apologies abounded - it was just so tempting. Big Laurence had already put on his light weight climbing boots and the rope together with the harness was laid out!!

Leaving left us with a feeling of being that little bit closer to getting a chance to pull a jet airplane and raising as much as possible. Over the many, many years I've had my interest in all things 'Iron' be that weightlifting, bodybuilding, grip, etc I know that the larger and more visual a feat is the better it looks and the more the media likes it. I also know that the opportunity to pull a jet airplance comes but rarely and so we must grab such chances and bless all those that give us such opportunities - cheers ops @ Kemble and cheers to all @ CTS!!

2006

Together with members of Gymnation including Malcolm, Scooter and Alf, Laurence, Mike, Harry and myself worked with Haroon and Imran (community workers) and got to pull a 13 tonne Fire Safety Tender from Gloucester Fire Brigade.

Late last summer Widden School held a summer fete and the highlight of the day was to be the Fire Engine pull. We were allowed to go to the Brigade Headquarters and spent 30-40 minutes trying out different members (first photo shows Scooter, Alf and myself having a go). We were happy that it wasn't going to be too much of an effort and with a little more than usual strength training looked forward to the day.

When the day arrived and the time to pull shortly thereafter was upon us we quickly found that the planned pull on grass at the rear of the school were the fete itself was being held proved something else compared to our much easier rehearsed pulls. Indeed there is a short clip on youtube showing 5 of us at once pulling with all our might. The tender barely moves even when, as can be seen in the background, at least ten of the children are also pushing.

We quickly decided to have the driver pull round to the front of the school where a combination of paved brick, tarmac and concrete proved more forgiving and everyone that then had a go was able to pull it on their own (second photo shows Malcolm) pulling all 13 tonnes (gross weight).

Money raised by local sponsorship and from the fete itself was presented at a short ceremony with the local newspaper doing a small feature at that time third photo shows the then Mayor of Barton together with a few of our motley crew and representatives from the charity Little Amazing Miricle Babies). We managed to get just short of £700.00 in 2006 - were aiming a lot higher this year.

Team Consortium - who are they?

Team Consortium is made up of members of the crew training in Hopewell Street, Gloucester - using the Whey Consortium strongman gym (www.wheyconsortium.com), members of Gymnation in Alfred Street (a community project) and a few assorted strong and willing who we managed to get involved.

The Hopewell Street Gym includes stuntman Nick McKinless - 2006 to 2007 under 105-kilo Britain's Strongest Man, Laurence Shahlaei (recovering this week from competing in this years Britain's strongest man - check channel 5's listing in August for the TV show timings - photo this page shows Laurence deadlifting at the BSM in Minehead just last week). You can add Mike Betty, co-owner of The Whey Consortium, who also competes in the 105-kilo strongman class as well as Harry 'H' Shahlaei. Harry is 230lbs and not yet 18 and yet can deadlift 250-kilos and is well on his way to becoming a big name himself if he keeps this up. I train at both the Hopewell Street camp as well as Gymnation and have a few grip strength records to my name as well as managing to win the British Grip Championships in 2006. All of the lads compete and have many competions placings to their names. I'll introduce a few more of the regulars at a later date.

From Gymnation we have Tony 'Scooter' Smith who has competed for many years in drug free powerlifting, Alf 'blimey he's a lump' Squires, Neville - Scooters training partner and more. Gymnation have been heavily involved with community work and played a massive part in helping us raise funds for their charity last year. The mob that trains at Gymantion is, for the most part, a very freindly and sociable group and enjoy these big events.

Barton and Tredworth, here in the city of Gloucester have a great many ethnic groups and this mix is well represented within the main crew that will be involved in both pulls. We hope that this diversity will appeal to the media and any potential sponsors and shows that diverse groups from many backgrounds can work together when they have a common aim.

Welcome

Hi all, this is where I intend promoting this summers work raising as much as we can for Childline.

I'll tell you a little about those involved, will be 'bigging up' those helping us and especially sponsors. You'll also get to read about what we've been involved in in previous years as well as any media interest we've generated.

I will remind all involved that while it is great to see photos of ourseleves and being able to pat ourselves on the back for our charity work gives you a warm glow ultimately the end result is about helping this years chosen charity - Childline.