Events
GAN AGM
The GAN AGM will be soon upon us. If you have
not been before, it is a great opportunity to find out more about
what we
have been up to in the past year, meet other
supporters of the charity, and see some of the exciting projects
which we have planned for 2004-5.
It is also your opportunity to ask the staff
and committee of GAN any question you would like. This year’s AGM will be taking place in Horsham Town Hall in
West Sussex, on Saturday October 2nd between 6pm and 7pm. Immediately
following the meeting, we will be hosting one of our infamous cultural
evenings in a Nepalese restaurant in Horsham town centre. Click here for full details of the locations of both these places.
The AGM is open to all and is of course free. The cultural evening
afterwards will cost £15, which will include a buffet meal of
delicious Nepalese food.
Horsham is easily reachable by car or train from London.
London Marathon
GAN seeks budding Paula Radcliffes for 2005 London
Marathon
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GAN Country Director
Chris Sowton minutes
after
finishing last year’s marathon
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Building on the successes of the previous two years of runners, GAN
will be entering another team for the Flora London marathon on April
17th 2005. We are now accepting applications for the race.
For those of you thinking that 26 miles 365 yards sounds a little,
you can take comfort from one of last year’s GAN runners, the
aptly named Max Hope. He said that ‘before the race, I didn’t
know what I was letting myself in for – but I knew that it was
something I’d always wanted to do. Even though the training was
really hard, by the end of the race I was so proud I’d done. To
realise a dream and to raise almost £2,000 for such a worthwhile
cause was a great feeling.’
Runners are asked to raised at least £1500 in sponsorship for
the race, which will go directly towards our project work in Nepal.
If you are interested in participating in the race, or know of somebody
who might be, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
Parachute Jump
Piers Wehner, who jumped for GAN, writes the
following: “Other people, who have cast-iron resolutions and calf muscles
the size of small cows, run marathons for charity. The idea of a 26-mile
slog for GAN never appealed to me. So I volunteered to do a tenth of
the distance - 2.6 miles. The only catch was that it was straight down.
Like the marathon runner, I had to prepare. I read
all the articles I could find detailing the unfortunate deaths of free-fallers.
Of the
2m people stupid enough to go parachuting every
year thirty-five die. Horribly. I listed all of the things that could
potentially go wrong,
such as being strapped to a suicidal instructor
or being blown into the propeller by a freak wind or landing on a radio
antenna or, well,
I thought of a lot. 
And so the day itself came, the 26th June 2004. After the guys at the
Hinton Diving Centre (near Banbury in Oxfordshire) shredded my nerves
by making us wait for the next day for clearer weather, we boarded the
plane having completed our introductory training. Just as Abbie and
I got on, we saw Hannah – all smiles – who had already done
her jump. Clearly she is far harder than I am. Images of my pulped body
swam before my eyes.
The jump was a tandem parachute jump. Imagine yourself dangling 13,000
ft up in the air from two small hooks, which are the only things attaching
you to a man you've just met. And then you leap into the void. The fact
that I am a spineless coward with crippling vertigo and can't get to
the top of a ladder without blacking-out only occurred to me later.
Ever the gentleman, I let Abbie go first. Despite the
fact that I have film evidence to the contrary,
she claims she wasn't scared at all.
Then it was my turn. One minute your feet are on
the pleasantly solid metal floor of the plane,
the next you are airborne, falling. And falling
fast. In the first 10 seconds of freefall your
speed builds up to 120 miles per hour. The wind
rush contorts your face into a ripple of skin,
and if you weren't wearing goggles, you eyes would
simultaneously implode and be sucked out of your
skull. After around 30 seconds of terminal
velocity the instructor pulls the shoot, at which
point even the most panicky jumper is going to
realise they are helpless and sit back to
enjoy the view. Which is incredible. All those
dreams you had about flying didn't even come close.
Back on terra firma, I kissed the ground like
John Paul getting of the Pope Plane. But I wouldn't
trade that feeling for anything. And now I can
climb ladders.
Oh, and we raised over £1,500 between us.
GAN is looking for more volunteers to participate
in future jumps.
Wine-Tasting Evening
In accordance with GAN’s mission to increase knowledge, on Sunday
13th July, a group of people in South London attempted to learn the
difference between drinking and tasting wine! The wine tasting - with
all profits going to GAN - was led by Olivia Hoggard who took us around
the world of wine and encouraged us to think about what we were actually
drinking and vocalise our thoughts. This was helped by a mixed bag of
props - which included a jar of jam, vanilla essence and cheese to help
demonstrate the (occasionally surprising) adjectives used to describe
the taste of fermented grapes. Inhibitions were shed as people explored
their palates, and amazingly the spittoon was actually used, allowing
people to stay alert for the entire tasting! It was great fun and hopefully
some of the knowledge will be retained. A total of £75 was raised,
which was not bad for the first event of its kind. If you would like more information on hosting a wine tasting in your
own home, you can contact Olivia on 07879657595.
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