Teams success in France follows them home as Auction profits smash the target total !!

The Charity Auction held at the Hamworthy social club on Sunday 13th December produced a fantastic finale' in what many will echo as being an all round unforgettably unique experience for all involved since the beginning. The Night was an outstanding success and a grand total of £5910.00 raised, this will be added to the other monies already raised and banked, and in the new year presented to the Charity representatives. Thursday January 7th 2010.)

The endeavours of the team were rewarded last night with a truly Grand affair, three musical acts amalgamated to produce a superb musical treat including among many well know force favourites our own Chief constable Mr Martin Baker (guitar). The Auctioneer Mr Adrian Whiting our Assistant Chief Constable held court and I hope he wont mind me saying he was on top form for the evening, auctioneering in his own inimitable style and undoubtedly his efforts and energy greatly helped the amount of money raised during the evening, the end result for him was a very hoarse voice and a day trip to Athelhampton house!

The evening was by far the most complex fundraiser organised by the team, it required months and months of relentless sourcing for all the lots that were sold, but equally as important but maybe not so obvious was the meticulous planning that went on behind the scenes. Id like to take this opportunity to highlight two of those person largely responsible for that success!, these two organised the timetable schedule on the evening and formatted the entire auction from start to finish, so a huge heart felt thanks to my two admin angels Alison Leeming and Zoe Greenaway, without who's massive help, patience (with me) and good humour this event could have been an entirely different affair!! Thank you lady's for your time and energy in organising the smooth and frankly faultless flow of the evening - An outstanding effort, and that was proven without doubt in the end result.

The team are now all wandering what on earth they will do with themselves, when you think they have trained together now since the 1st Monday back in September 2008 and had at least five long weekends away plus several training courses and not forgetting the actual expedition, its no wander really. I have no doubt there are many wives and partners waiting with a list in one hand a drill in the other (boats with holes don't paddle nearly as well!). The fact I've mentioned the wives now is no mistake, they are the silent majority in this expedition, many of whom have all hated me at some point I have no doubt, I thank you for keeping it bottled up!! They have all however consistently supported their respective paddlers 100% and in so doing supported the team and the expedition, they have leant me their husbands for a good chunk of the last 16 months...they all deserve a big thank you, this was no normal challenge and the commitment shown by the paddlers, has without doubt echoed through their family's. Thank you one and all for your support it was and is genuinely appreciated. I hope your reward will be the sense of pride you have for your partners they did a tremendous job all round.

POINTLESS FACTS :

We paddled for 56 'almost' consecutive Mondays (I gave them august off!)

We have paddled well over 2 million paddle strokes between us - don't shake any of our hands!

We have never seen Howard stop smiling - fact!

We have all accepted a teddy bear within the group - Fudgemeister

We have all remained largely unable to speak French - sorry

We must have collectively eaten Gazs body weight in jaffa cakes since we started - addiction is an issue

We all know how to recognise a German Sheppard dog by its bark in the dark - woof dill woof

We all know the plastering frog joke backwards and still laugh when donut tells it - Legend

The team still all smile when I light a smoke in a force 5 with driving rain - stubborn

The team will have other interesting plans for next year and beyond (don't tell their wives yet please!!!), it will be nice to embark on other challenges in the future without the sense of the sometimes relentless pressure that was very evident during this specific challenge / training. Munros mariners was established to Honour a man, my friend and my mentor Neil Munro and to raise money for three worthy causes locally in his memory. We have achieved this goal without doubt, but more than that the team has become a group of close friends. What better tribute to a my friend and colleague I cant imagine. Rest in peace mate.

The grand total is still being collected from far and wide, please bare with me ...once its all banked the total will be advertised on the site.

To all of you that have followed the teams endeavours I thank you for your support, without which our efforts would have been pointless, we have succeeded in a time when finances are as tight as anyone of my generation can remember. This result in its self mirrors the efforts of the team as a whole.

Phil