Gone Skiing - A fundraising party for Jo Willoughby

We’re sure that many of you are keen skiers and probably dreamt of being a down hill skier or even being part of an Olympic ski team.  For Jo  Willoughby her dream might be about to come true.... but only with your help.

Jo hails from Barnsley and was able bodied until the age of twelve when she contracted Transverse Mylitis.  This wasting disease left her blind in one eye, paralysed from the neck down with no feeling below the chest, she also only retained 60% use of one arm and lost the fingers on one hand. Her medical predicament continues to deteriorate having had a leg amputated earlier this year.  Despite the seriousness of her illness Jo has worked tirelessly over the last four years to become Britain’s leading sit-skier and has qualified for five events at the Winter Paralympics 2010 to be held in Whistler.  To say that Jo is inspirational would be to understate her unique personality. Jo is the most compelling individual that we have ever met and she deserves her place on the mountain.
 
Victor Buchanan, Jaquie Pern and myself are organising ‘GONE SKIING’ a benefit party at The Star at
Harome on Friday 27th November to raise funds for Jo, whom Victor met after reading her story in a magazine.  Victor has pledged to Jo to organise the entire fund raising effort and the target is £75,000.  His company, Bioflame is also helping her redesign her sit-ski in order that she can compete with the Japanese and Canadian teams who have seemingly unlimited funding.  We hope that this fun evening will raise £20,000 mainly by way of an auction of incredible promises that money alone couldn’t normally buy.  Chef’s to cook in your house, Ski chalets you can’t normally rent,  being a zoo-keeper for the day, extreme heli-skiing in Verbier with a British guide, 20 tonnes of compost delivered anywhere in Yorkshire (honestly!)etc, etc

 
You can read all about Jo’s story on her web site jowilloughby.com and as you will read for yourself, she does not want our sympathy but she needs our help to raise funds in order for her to achieve her goal of Gold medals.  Jo absolutely believes that she will win all 5 Gold Medals. Britain has never yet won an Alpine medal in the main events.  Jo only receives £12,000 support from the British Olympic Authority and given that her skis alone cost £10,000 unless we help her raise further funds she has no chance of completing her training and therefore climbing that hill in Whistler.
 
Please support us by taking a table of 10 at £750 per table, to include arrival champagne, 4 course dinner cooked by Andrew Pern and wine on the table, followed by the auction with some fantastic prizes and then dancing & entertainment.  Jo Willoughby will also attend the event and be interviewed (hopefully by a leading sports journalist), so you can hear her story first hand and catch up on her latest training.  Jo has agreed to sit at the table who bid’s the most for her company and the opening offer is £500.  Please email Annabel with your bid
 
7 of the 15 Tables are already booked so please don’t delay.  Please complete this booking form and pay by cheque.  Paypal is an expensive nightmare for us as we are NOT a registered charity.  If you have any ideas for auction prizes or for further information or to help in any way we would be delighted to hear from you.  Please contact us by email:

Annabel  or  Victor
 
Jo’s dream can come true with your help.

Some examples of assistance already pledged to Jo

Alan Henderson of HMD International  £2000 cash.
David Twiddle of Renovo Careers - £1 for every referral generated by
JobCentre to his company  (400 to 600 a month at the moment)