Tuyet Te

Before I begin this post, I have to make it clear that I am utterly in love with Eddie Izzard. I was a fan of his stand up shows years and years ago (to prove it, I actually have them on VHS!) and when he did an intimate gig in Manchester last year, I gladly allowed myself to be ripped off by a ticket tout who charged me double the face value of the ticket price. Therefore it probably didn’t help my obsession when I first heard the news that Eddie would be performing the superhuman challenge of completing 43 marthons in 51 days AND that it would be in aid of raising money and awareness for my Comic Relief, my favourite charity in the whole, wide world. CLEARLY we are soulmates.

Last night, the first of three parts of ‘Marathon Man’, a documentary about his feat (and his blistered feet) aired on BBC3 at 10pm/11pm.  If you missed it, be sure to catch up on BBC iPlayer!

You can sponsor Eddie here or by texting the word ‘EDDIE’ to 70005.

Congratulations to Mr Steve Holt who has completed over 300km on a leg of Lawrence Dallaglio Cycle Slam which sees the former England rugby star complete a 2,800km bike ride over 24 days and through six countries along with a large contingent of fellow cyclists.

The news circulating around the office is that Steve suffered a bad fall from his bicycle and hurt his elbow so we’re all hoping that he gets back in one piece

The proceeds for the cycle challenge will be split equally between Sport Relief and the Dallaglio Foundation, two very excellent causes, so please donate generously by clicking here!

Being the rather absent-minded girl that I am, I’ve only just noticed that in an earlier post I mistakenly referred to the founder of Comic Relief as Richard Harris. I feel very bad about this for two reasons, namely I am taking credit away from Comic Relief’s actual founder who is Richard Curtis and because Richard Harris died a few years back. I hope Mr Curtis will accept my sincerest apologies and that Mr Harris is resting in peace although I’m sure he would have been proud to be the Comic Relief founder as well as having an amazing acting career.

Yes, I’m an idiot.

Trust Comic Relief employees to go all out when it comes to fundraising for the cause. There’s a team of scuba-cycling enthusiasts who are cycling a mile underwater,  people who are swimming a mile but the winners have to be the Marketing department who held a ten-hour dance-a-thon yesterday. Yes, technically I am a member of the Marketing team but I really, really, REALLY don’t do dancing. I’m contemplating not even dancing at my wedding because looking like a fool is probably not a part of any girl’s dream big day. However, I was quite happy to drop my spare change into the money box to watch other people (who are coordinated – JEALOUS!) do some routines ranging from MC Hammer to Bhangra. There was also a dance machine that magically appeared just for the occasion! On top of the festivities, we celebrated Fairtrade fortnight with after-work drinks  including some yummy fairtrade beer, wine, juice and snacks. The team raised over £1300 which is fantastic considering their target was £1000!!

Today, Steve has asked me to do his research for him which is nice because I’m not used to having football on the brain all the time! Not sure how much I’m allowed to give away but it’s in relation to the much publicised Robin Hood Tax. For those who don’t know, we and over 50 organisations including Oxfam, The Salvation Army and Action Aid, are joining forces to create a mass campaign that aims to implement a 0.05% tax on certain financial transactions between banks.  This could result in a potential £250 billion for charitable causes ANNUALLY so it really is an exciting prospect. Comic Relief has been one of the most active charities in drumming up media interest and getting involved in the creative process including Richard Curtis, Comic Relief’s esteemed founder, who has lent his support by writing a short film (starring Bill Nighy) to explain the tax and to get the UK public backing it.

You can (and ought to!) show your support by signing up at http://robinhoodtax.org.uk

I get into work today and what do I find on my desk? A pair of swimming trunks and a swimming cap signed by the lovely David Walliams! Unexpected stuff like this seems to appear in the office all the time – a football shirt signed by the England team, a mountain of Sports Relief water bottles waiting to be sent out for the bike ride team to use on their challenge and bafflingly an exercise bike has appeared in the social space!

Unfortunately I was on a train on my way to a party when this aired on BBC1 at 6.30pm but I caught up on BBC iplayer as soon as I could being the very devoted Comic Relief employee that I am. This meant that at 3am on the Sunday morning I ate a kebab in front of the TV alone (because Theo had passed out in bed) and watched a bunch of celebrities dancing their (Sport Relief) socks off. My favourite, by far, was the amazing Rufus Hound who put Cheryl Cole to shame!

I’ve been telling absolutely everybody to tune in which has earned me the reputation of always being at work!

The week so far has been quite repetitive. Contacting clubs followed by waiting for clubs to reply followed by writing press releases for clubs and emailing them to the clubs. The hard work is paying off though because so far we’ve received offers of support from 70 out of 92 possible clubs with several weeks to go!

While we’re waiting for clubs to respond let me make it clear that I don’t sit idle! Sitting opposite Greg is a very nice man called Steve Holt who is hugely respected by everybody in the office. He’s had an incredible career including being a non-executive director for Aon, an ex-chairmain of Peterborough United and holding a seat on the board for the Football League so his opinion is really valued at Comic Relief. Knowing this makes me kind of nervous especially when, last week, he asked me to do a few jobs for him.

The first was doing some creative research for his meeting with sportscotland, the national agency for sport in Scotland who are partnering up with students in Scottish universities to try and get them involved with the Comic Relief campaigns. I put my brains together  with Events to come up with a list of fundraising ideas that would be appealing to students. With the memory of being a student fresh in my mind, I was quite confident that I could come up with some attractive ideas. However, some of them got rejected – semi-naked mudwrestling, for example – I should have realised that I was supposed to keep it clean! Still, I am fairly certain it would raise a LOT of money.I also had to write an introductory blurb about student involvement in charity which pleased me no end because I think it’s about time it got more recognition. Did you know that Nottingham University’s Karni is Europe’s largest, and most successful student-run rag organisation having raised over £688,000 in 2008 alone? In my first year, I did a sponsored skydive through Karni and it was terrifying but amazing!

Kicked off yesterday’s day of work by attending the launch of Comic Relief’s new International Sport for Change Programme which was all very exciting especially because there were representatives from more than 30 charitable organisations present (including UNICEF, Save the Children and Christian Aid). The aim of the  programme is to provide support, financial or otherwise, to ‘organisations that use sport to reach children and young people in Africa and some countries in Asia and Latin America, bringing about lasting positive change in their lives’. Comic Relief are particularly proud of this new programme as it is the first International Development donor to launch a Sport for Change programme.

Before this, I never realised the extent to which Comic Relief is actively trying to evolve the idea that sport can be a contributory factor to people’s quality of life in the developing world. I used to think that Comic Relief only went as far as raising money through sporty challenges but now I’ve learnt that they actually engage very widely in academic studies and they also place a strong emphasis on gathering research from the projects they run so they can create a stronger case for sport as an effective channel for changing lives. Not only this, I feel like I’ve learnt a lot about the application process for funding, from both sides, which should serve me well for my planned career in the third sector (fingers crossed!).

Later on I was in a meeting with all the managers involved in United Relief Live: The Big Red Day Out. This, if you haven’t already heard, is an event taking place on Saturday May 1st which is being run jointly by Comic Relief and the Manchester United foundation.  It’ll include a star studded concert and a friendly match between a Manchester United XI and a Rivals team that will feature legendary Reds opponents. We were informed by the Artist Liason team celebrities that have been unconfirmed, confirmed and those who are under negotiations (including some very handsome actors). I have been sworn to secrecy about the line up but I think the talent is enough to guarantee a large audience of girls and the male contingent will look forward to seeing some of their footballing heroes on the pitch again.

My day has mostly been taken up with attending a launch for the Extra Time project (see earlier post for more info) which took place at an old folks home in Enfield.  Arrived at a very plush looking retirement home called Skinners Court at around 1pm with Greg who spent the train  journey teaching me a bit more about the initiative. Currently, 20 football clubs are involved in the scheme, one of which is Tottenham Hotspur, which explains why the launch was attended by Spurs’ very own David Bentley, midfielder and occasional England player. I cosidered getting a picture taken with him but decided against it as he was busy getting heckled by a elderly Arsenal fan. The project, which has been relabelled as HOPE (Helping Older People Exercise) by Tottenham’s charitable foundation is quite remarkable in that 100% of respondents felt an improvement as a result of having participated in the programme whether that was a physical change, a boost in confidence, or a better social life. It isn’t even a particularly expensive scheme which goes to show that you don’t even have to throw lots of money at a problem to solve it.

When I got back I learnt that I am going to be compiling some content for the Football Foundation website so I am quite pleased that I got experience the work of Extra Time first hand. I have to detail what Extra Time participants are doing for the Sport Relief campaign as well as what the 20 Extra Time clubs have been doing for Sport Relief which has included posing in our merchandise for promo shots, distributing leaflets encouraging people to sign up for the Mile event and warming up in our branded t-shirts.  Offers of support from nearly all of the clubs have been flooding in which keeps me busy – Greg and I have a spreadsheet which we update religiously and it’s quite satisfying to fill it in with the various gestures that the teams are making!

I really need to get more inventive with the titles of these posts but at least they’re straight to the point. Turned up to work and almost immediately was sitting in a meeting with Greg and Hansa, a lady from Extra Time which is an initiative targeting over 55s that tries to get them physically active and more involved in the community through football. Extra Time is jointly funded by Football Foundation and Comic Relief so it’s easy to see why E.T. wants to use Sport Relief night to raise its profile.

Afterwards I got to familiarise myself with my new desk which is situated next to Greg, who is sitting next to Karl, who is Greg’s boss. I was handed two books: a guide to the Premiership and a guide to the other clubs in the League, my Bibles for the duration of my placement. There seemed to be a million t-shirts and pairs of Sport Relief socks surrounding my desk so I spent a lot of my day packaging them into boxes and getting them sent off to various clubs up and down the country. There are these awesome 6XL t-shirts, honestly the biggest t-shirts you will ever see, that are made for the team mascots and I really want one! Maybe if I ask Gunnersaurus Rex (Arsenal’s, if you hadn’t guessed) he’ll let me have his.

Must give a mention to Hula Hoops who are very kindly partnering up with us and are donating £1 for every donation of £1 or more that is made by text on www.hulahoops.com using barcodes from special packs. They’re also attempting to break a world record of people simultaneously hula hooping together which I might try and get in on – would like to say that I helped to break a world record!

In the afternoon I sat in a meeting for various people from the fundraising teams and it was one of the most interesting meetings I’ve ever attended as sad as that sounds! It was basically an opportunity for each of the teams to update the other teams on how they were getting on and it was so inspiring! Firstly, we were shown some of the promotional videos that are going out closer to the time and the room was in stitches over them – celebrities doing lunges in neon will always guarantee a laugh. Next up was the local event team who are really happy because they have signed up 68% more people than this time last Sport Relief. They’ve also lined up some really good entertainment for the Mile days including football trickster type people (who are going to try and do keepy uppies for six miles!!) and bongo drummers!

Then it was the time of Corporate who deal with Sport Relief’s big partners like British Gas and Sainsbury’s. As well as sponsoring events like the Mile runs and the Walliams & friends bike ride (sponsored by BT)  these places encourage their gazillions of staff members to raise money. Greg was up afterwards to talk about his progress with the football side. So far he has signed up more football clubs than they had in the whole of 2008’s campaign and there are several weeks left to go which looks very promising! He also talked about an event that’s happening at the beginning of May at Old Trafford which will involve a family fun day, charity football match and some big music names so watch this space! Can’t believe how quickly the day went! Am on my own tomorrow as Greg is in meetings at Portsmouth AM and Wolves PM. Was supposed to be going with him but alas I have some computer programme training and my desk area is still a tip.

First week has completely flown by which is definitely a good indicator of how much I’m enjoying it but also bad because I know the two months will be over before I know it! I’ve been lent out to the Broadcast team for most of the week who are incredibly busy dealing with filming slots for the Sport Relief  show (on TV screens near you – March 19th!). Really nice bunch of people including Jacqui (pregnant, like half of the women at the office, it seems), Laura (fantastic taste in shoes) and George (in picture). As you can see, these guys take their work very seriously and are willing to suffer huge amounts of embarrassment for the cause which is something I deeply respect (if a man with a chest rug, in a bra can ever be called respectable)

The very hard-working George was kind enough to fit in some chat-time with me this week which I used as a golden opportunity to try and dig up some dirt on celebrities that he’s filmed in the past. Ever the consumate professional, he remained tight-lipped but DID reveal that Davina is really as lovely in real life as she comes across on screen, and Mel C/Sporty Spice is a very nice lady.

No more celebrity spots this week although have heard/seen/eavesdropped some juicy bits of gossip that I couldn’t possibly divulge. Let’s just say that this year’s version of Let’s Dance is going to be spectacular which is saying a lot because the Robert Webb dance is one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever seen as well as actually being quite technically impressive. I hope I have some of my own celebrity stories of my own to tell by the time I leave!

My temporary home has been the editing suite in which all the old recordings from Sport/Comic Relief are kept and, quite frankly, the place looked like a bit of a bomb site because they’ve been too busy to keep it ordered. Rolled up my sleeves and got to work getting it tidy whilst marvelling at the number of classic recordings in their archive that they’ve produced: ‘When Mandela met Parkie’, the infamous ‘Ali G interview’ and the recent Mamma Mia! spoof to name a few. Part of my jobs list has included watching some appeal videos from Africa which has meant that I’ve cried a few times at work this week but I figured that this a normal human reaction. However, I also watched the programme of David Walliams swimming across the English channel and I cried at that too so I’m beginning to think that I’m just a bit soft. Need to toughen up a bit, I think. I guess nobody at Comic Relief would do their job properly if they let their work get to them too much.

There has been bad news on the run front in that I probably won’t get to do it! I asked Debbie whether many of the staff do the run and it turns out that most of us are sent out to various bits of the country to supervise the runs/look after the celebrities who are doing the runs. I hope that I get to be in Manchester! Am still aiming to get fitter and have started the process this week by walking to and from work. Also got to stretch my legs today when I got sent on a trip to the Kenyan embassy for a visa.

Really looking forward to next Monday when I move down to the ground floor where the marketing team is housed. Need to get my negotiating hat on so I can persuade a load of Premiership footballers to do the run so learning what some of them look like is probably going to be a good idea. Will be scouring the back pages of the papers this weekend and recruiting the help of my brother-in-law, Michael, who is a die hard Man Utd fan unfortunately. Aston Villa vs Man U in the Carling Cup final!!!

Didn’t really know what to expect on my first day at Comic Relief other than a sneaky feeling that the offices would be heavily decorated in red. I was proved right as I stepped into their reception on the 5^th floor of 89 Albert Embankment at 9am today and was greeted by the sight of red walls, red carpet, red stationery. Dotted on all of the walls are prints of various celebrities that have taken part in former campaigns including Rowan Atkinson, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant (which reads very much like a cast list for Love Actually now that I think about it!) I was asked to wait for a while so I sat myself in a comfy chair (red, of course) and busied myself with a booklet named ’50 things you didn’t know about Comic Relief’. Learnt that J.K. Rowling is one of their very many high profile trustees and that Red Nose Day consistently pulls in the BBC’s highest viewing figures of the year from a Friday night audience (for those of you who don’t know, Red Nose Day and Sport Relief each occur bi-annually with the former held in ‘odd’ years, and the latter held in ‘even’ years).

A few days ago I got an email from Comic Relief telling me that there were a couple of potential positions in the Marketing department that might be of interest to me. The first was an assistant role in the Schools and Youth team whose focus is to educate children and young people about their campaigns and development issues. The second was another assistant role but for an individual, Greg Baker, who is their Football and Sports Partnership Manager and he was the person who picked me up from the CR reception for an informal interview.

It didn’t take long for me to work out that Greg’s job, especially with the upcoming Sport Relief events, keeps him rushed off his feet judging by the brevity of our meeting. It was also clear, however, that he was very likeable and from the way that he described the job I felt confident that it was something that I would really enjoy. Greg seemed very keen to have me and so we shook hands and I gladly accepted the role before he rushed off for meetings at Fulham and Arsenal football grounds. I will officially start as his assistant next Monday but until then I will be sticking around the office and helping in whichever way I can.

I was transferred into the safe hands of Debbie who gave me a tour around the 5^th floor as well as taking me down to the ground floor where the other half of the team is stationed. The whole building is rather fondly nicknamed ‘Charity Towers’ because there’s pretty much a charity HQ on every single floor ranging from ‘Landmine Action’ to ‘Macmillan Cancer Support’. Worryingly, our neighbours are MI6 which is why the ground floor windows are bomb proof and explains the very visible presence of armed police guards dotted around in the near vicinity. Throughout the day I heard police sirens and helicopters overhead with noticeable frequency but am thinking that this is normal because nobody else batted an eyelid.

There wasn’t much work for me to do today other than to familiarize myself with the intranet and to do some personal research for my football role next week. I have some campaigning ideas to suggest to Greg next week which, quite frankly, can’t come soon enough. I’ve been told that I have a job that hundreds of grown men would envy so am determined to give it my best shot. Something else happened today that confirmed my opinion that Comic Relief is the most fantastic place to work – bumped into the extraordinarily talented Sir Steve Redgrave as I was walking through reception which wasn’t what I was expecting on my very first day. I flashed him a rather large and goofy smile after a couple of seconds of trying to work out who he was and he smiled back at me, probably because it had been so obvious from the look on my face exactly what I was thinking. I was dying to ask to have a picture taken with him but I thought I’d better ask in case I upset anyone or was breaking any work protocol. Imagine how cool a picture with an Olympic legend would have been for this blog!

Walliams gears up for bike trip | Metro.co.uk.

I’m feeling a bit impatient reading the blogs and tweets of other Vodafone WOD winners because it really makes me want to start my placement! In the meantime I’m getting my Comic/Sport Relief fix from the news which has made me feel thankful that I’m working for a charity with a really strong media presence. This is the latest announcement from today’s news – am in real awe especially as I only learnt to ride a bike last year. I still can’t turn corners (that’s one of my 2010 resolutions)

Have just watched Comic Relief: The Net Result on BBC iPlayer because I’ve managed to miss it twice when it’s been on TV. The programme was part recap of the sketches from Red Nose Day, part documentary showing the Kilimanjaro celebrities travelling back to Africa to see how the money they raised was being used. Got very upset hearing how many people, children especially, had died of malaria because they lacked the basic knowledge about preventative measures or didn’t have enough money to buy a mosquito net. Theo went to Uganda as part of his Masters degree in International Development in January last year and I remember being really worried about the side effects of the Malarone tablets he had to take. Seems stupidly insignificant now considering that those tablets would have been a godsend to any one of the thousands of children who died last year from malaria. As sombre and serious as this entry may be, The Net Result has made me feel more positive about the possibility of exacting large scale change in developing nations and I can’t wait to contribute in my own little way.

Today I spoke to Debbie, my contact at Comic Relief, to organise some details about my placement. I’ll be relocating  from Manchester to London in the next couple of weeks in time for my planned start date of 25th January. Originally I was going to be working with the Innovation and Public Education team but there had been a change of plan. She informed me that I was being moved to the core Marketing department where I’ll be helping them to publicise Sport Relief in the up and coming months. She asked me whether I minded and I had to restrain myself from yelling ‘Hell NO!’ The Sport Relief Mile takes place from Friday 19th March – Sunday 21st March with thousands of people running a sponsored 1, 3 or 6 miles and I am really excited to be helping them with such a huge event.

Will definitely be signing myself up to the Sport Relief challenge but am undecided about which distance I’m going to run. I’m sure I’ll end up doing the six mile one but it won’t be pretty! My uncle and auntie and London are kindly putting me up for the duration of my stay in London and I’ll be living approximately 3.5 miles from Comic Relief HQ so technically I could train by running home every night. Should have asked for some proper running shoes for Christmas…

If I’m going to be updating this blog for my readers (hello mum! and the person who stumbled upon this page by accident!) then I really ought to tell you a little about myself. My name is Teresa (Tuyet is my unpronouncable Vietnamese name), I’m 22, from Manchester and the lucky, lucky winner of a placement with my chosen charity, Comic Relief, courtesy of Vodafone’s World of Difference. I am a History graduate from Nottingham University where I met my lovely fiancé, Theo, and have recently graduated from University of Manchester with a Masters degree in Marketing. My chosen area of academic specialism was not-for-profit marketing which is why I’m chuffed to bits about being able to work on something I am passionate about. Have never been very good with this blogging lark but will make a special effort since this is a fantastic opportunity!

Teresa x