Too tired to count!

Sunday evening and we’re back home after two days in the saddle.

The second day started off eventfully! As I am unpacking all the gear out of the car, I notice there are a load of people in the foyer of ASDA in martial arts uniforms. And they had started putting collection buckets out. Oh dear. We’ve been double booked!!!

Collecting for charity at a big store like ASDA Sheffield is a delicate balancing act. I really welcome the opportunity to stand on ASDA’s property and collect for Diabetes UK. They don’t have to let me, so first and foremost I am very grateful. The original offer came about because I helped their area manager Richard Gratton train for and complete a 150 mile bike ride for charity in the summer. He’s a mate of mine from Tickhill and had never riden before, so we spent time in the early summer getting him out during evenings and at weekends so that he was ready for his ride for Tickled Pink – ASDA’s chosen charity this year. When Samuel was diagnosed Diabetic and I said I was doing London to Paris, he said he’d return the favour and let me collect outside a couple of his stores!

I don’t take it for granted though. These guys still have a business to run after all. I try to position myself out of the way of the main footfall. And most importantly, don’t pester the customers. They have come to ASDA for their shopping, not to see a fat(ish) middle aged bloke in lycra, peddling a bike!

So when there were a load of guys from the local martial arts club turning up to do a similar sort of thing to me (they were looking to raise funds to send one of their teenage members on trip to Africa), I felt that we were just going to get in each others way and end up annoying all the customers. Given Richard’s and ASDA’s generosity in letting me do this in the first place, that was the last thing I wanted to happen. The group of Martial Artists from Sheffield had loads of children and parents coming down all day to help, so I was all set to say I would bow out and let them have their day. It was one of those things after all. They had booked it with another manager a long time ago apparently, and sometimes these things just happen!

As it turned out though, it worked quite well. They were going to raise funds by helping customers pack their shopping. So they all went instore and left me in the foyer. In this way, we were both able to do our fundraising and most importantly, customers didn’t feel like we were getting in their way.

The weather was atrocious in Sheffield today and I thought this might put off people from coming out. Apparently not. When it rains, people are more likely to come and do their grocery shopping. It was a busy as Saturday, if not busier. We won’t have raised as much as yesterday as we were only there for five and a half hours, compared to nine yesterday. However, the people of Sheffield still proved to be phenomenally generous!!!

We’ll get the money counted and bagged tomorrow, and report back with a total! In the meantime, a big thank you to anyone who came out and donated!!!