On 23rd March, leading national charity Victim Support invited the Broadgate community to take part in the hottest challenge of the year. Nearly 60 intrepid people were trained by Survivorbility Ltd to walk on thousands off pieces of glass and then…. on fire! The evening was a resounding success and the charity has already raised over £15,000 with monies still coming in to help victims and witnesses of crime right across the capital. This is a wonderful example of how our business community can work together for a really worthy cause.  Local firewalkers and glasswalkers ranged from Henderson Global Investors to the City of London Police (still uniformed!) and from Slim Jims (in leotards and to date still raffling spa days to raise more money for the charity) to Virgin Active. Participants also came from further afield such as IPC Media, the National Fraud Authority, Liberty International Plc the Probation Services, Mazars, two London Councils, the BTP and Met Police, SSR Personnel, Baker McKenzie and of course Victim Support staff and volunteers. To cap the evening, The Fleetwood hosted party celebrations and had even specially baked 'burnt men cookies' to raise proceeds for the charity.

Michael Bull, a season ticket holder in the East Stand who has been supporting Barnet since 1975, is doing a 15 feet sponsored walk in aid of the charity Victim Support.

Not your run-of-the-mill walk this one. Michael's effort on March 23 is, in fact, a firewalk over 15 feet of embers burning at 800 degrees Celcius and he is also hoping to take part in a glasswalk as well on the same night.  Both events are being run by Survivorbility Ltd, the fire walking and lass walking experts.

A worthy effort. If anyone would like to sponsor Michael a donation can be made to http://www.justgiving.com/mikecbull

These funds are crucial to Fawcett and will help us bring together individual women and women’s groups across the UK to ask politicians – including Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Leader of the Opposition David Cameron – ‘What about Women?’

We will have more photos to show the amazing Firewalkers in action available on our Flicker site in the next week, please go to http://www.flickr.com/

Fundraising fire walk in Boston, Lincolnshire for the Butterfly Hospice Trust

Bostonians are definitely behind fundraising for the in-patient hospice, which will provide an invaluable service not just to Boston and the surrounding area, but the Pilgrim Hospital’s catchment area and beyond.

55 volunteer fundraisers took part in the fire walk

It’s impossible to exaggerate the difference it will make to patients, but to demonstrate just how willing the public is to support the hospice, consider the fact that 55 volunteers turned up to take part in the firewalk. After signing the scariest disclaimer form I’ve ever seen, which stated that people HAVE been burned and that injury IS a very real risk, and after a worrying briefing in which it was once more acknowledged that the fire WILL burn the soles of the feet, not one person backed out of the challenge. Everyone who turned up eventually walked through the fire, because every participant was behind the Butterfly Hospice Trust’s fundraising aims.

The fire walking event began with Martyn, a hypnotherapist by trade, and his fire man Andrew setting up at the PRSA site. The fire walk was hosted at Boston’s Rugby Club, and to protect their grounds, the fire was set on turf with a 50cm tall pyre of oak and mahogany created, fuelled also by firelighters and liberal doses of an accelerant. The fire was lit just an hour before we walked over the embers, just as a firework display, barbecue and demonstration by junior members of the rugby club took place. The temperature of our pyre was measured – it was burning to just over 1,200°C, and shortly, we would walk barefoot for 20 feet at temperatures over double that of your oven’s hottest setting to raise money for the trust.

The fire walk was preceeded by an inspiring seminar that got the adrenaline flowing
Whilst the fire was burning, participants were taken into a briefing room and were given a short seminar by Martyn who explained that there was no trickery involved in fire walking, no secret, just positive thinking and self-discipline. “From an early age we learn to fear fire.” Martyn explained to me. “When we have children we instill into them that fire will burn, that they mustn’t go near the fire, that fire is dangerous. It’s true, but because of that, we assume that we can’t walk across the burning embers. It’s not true. We can, and we’ll prove it tonight.” After the seminar, all 55 participants, fuelled by the adrenaline that Martyn had talked into us, made our way outside and joined the embers, removing shoes, socks and tights, then rolling trouser legs up to calf height. Ironically, the embers were burning to 550°c but participants were still cold given that the heavens had opened and torrential rain was battering the stadium… still, at least our feet would be warm!

Walking on fire is an odd sensation!

One by one, the participants stood at the beginning of the walk, stated their name in a loud voice then took one, two, three, four, five, six bare-foot strides across the burning wood with no protection. Upon reaching the end we were hosed down and rejoined the group, often opting to go across again… I walked three times and loved every minute… it’s an odd sensation. With a rain sodden rugby field and bare feet making my soles numb, the first couple of steps were positively pleasant, but as Martyn stated, the last step is often hard with the heat really coming through on the final step. There’s nothing to block the heat… participants could feel every single degree, but Martyn was right – once the first couple of steps are taken, and you realise there’s no need to fear taking each stride, you’re on a bit of a high, particularly due to the encouragement of the crowd as we all cheered each other on.

A fire walking explanation – according to science

Wood is a poor conductor of heat, hence the reason the first few steps don’t burn the feet, and because mahogany and oak each produce round rather than square embers, the fire feels relatively soft. Furthermore, with the heel and toe rarely making contact with the ground at the same moment, the feet never remain in contact with the fire for long. There’s science, as well as positive thinking, behind fire walking, but it certainly remains an impressive sight, culminating in a real sense of achievement afterwards. In a short debriefing afterwards, we all congratulated each other, and recovered from the torrential rain, with all 55 participants receiving certificates. We were also told how to treat any firekisses – that’s a PR-friendly term for a burn – and back home, I was glad to shower half a rugby field from my feet and self-medicate with a little after-sun for my soles and red wine for the soul.

The fire walkers raised £11,000 for the Butterfly Hospice Trust!

Most of all though, we toasted the efforts of the fundraisers, who managed to raise an impressive £11,000 for the Butterfly Hospice Trust as well as raising the profile of the charity and its work. “Some volunteers raised over £1,100.” Said Fundraising Manager Jane Parsons. “The feedback we’ve received has been extraordinary – everyone had a great time and we’re really pleased. Local community and individual support is really important for the success of the hospice and together we really can make a difference.” For more information or to take part in future Butterfly Hospice Trust projects, see www.butterflyhospice.com or call 01205 311222.

Charity firewalk at rugby club

It may have been wet and windy… but the weekend was hot, hot, hot for a number of those at Boston Rugby Club's fireworks night.

70 brave souls did the charity fire walk

Around 70 daredevils had pledged their souls to a charity fire walk on Saturday… stomping across a 20ft bed of red-hot burning wood embers. The challenge, held at the Princess Royal Sports Arena, was in aid of the Butterfly Hospice Trust, which dreams of building a bed hospice in the town.

The fire walk raised thousands of pounds

"Despite the weather the night was absolutely fantastic," said Jane Parson, from the trust. "I would like to thank everyone who took part and raised a fabulous amount of money." Around £10,000 was raised from sponsorship. Special recognition was given to the greatest fundraisers with the company title going to Mehmet Bahadir hairdressers with £1,130 and the individual award went to Steve Andrews who collected a staggering £1,093.

Fireworks at fundraising fire walk for Macmillan Cancer Support

Raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, around 20 people walked over 500C coals, including four sisters, Alison MacDougall, Jan Davidson, Shirley Stewart and Karen Will, who together raised more than £1,300.

Fire walking "without getting burned is all in the power of the mind"

Speaking after the firewalk, Mrs MacDougall, from Alford, said: “Our feet are quite cold actually. Getting across without getting burned is all in the power of the mind, you need to focus and believe you can do it. Cancer has touched all of us, so we try to do as many things like this as we can for Macmillan.”

Fundraising charity fire walk for Barnados

A team of 31 brave souls hot footed it to an event in Hopwood to raise thousands of pounds for a good cause. Participants travelled from all over the Midlands to the Westmead Hotel to cross a walkway of burning embers measuring 800 degrees centigrade for the very first Barnardo's Believe Fire Walk Event and raised over £4,000 for local children.

The fire walking event raised over £4,000 for Barnardo's

Jon Tandy, 31, a software sales manager from Birmingham, said: "Doing a fire walk and raising money for a charity was perfect. The night was great and the training must have been first class because I went first." Sponsor money is still coming in from supporters but it is thought that the final tally will exceed £4,000 for Barnardo's.

Money raised from events like the Barnardo's Believe Fire Walk help fund the charity's work to support children, young people and families in communities. Barnardo's work includes help to tackle problems such as poverty, abuse, homelessness, disability and life limiting illness. There are 50 community based projects run by Barnardo's in the Midlands including the Worcestershire Short Breaks service which provide breaks for disabled children and their families.

More Barnardo's Believe Fire Walk events are planned

Sarah Bowron, from Barnardo's fundraising team, said: It's the first time we've held a fire walk event and it was a huge success. "We've had some amazing feedback from people who took part saying how it's had a lasting effect on them. "There are so many charity fundraising challenges and events nowadays that we wanted to put on something really different that people of all ages and fitness levels could do. "We're definitely going to organise more Barnardo's Believe Fire Walk events in future."

Fundraising fire walk at Lincoln City Football Club

The fire walking event raised over £1000.

More than 100 people watched the dare-devil fire walkers tramp through the burning embers in front of the Lincolnshire Echo stand at Sincil Bank on Saturday night. And it is hoped the event raised well over £1,000 for the charity. Suited and booted in a full tuxedo, Imps chairman Steff Wright led by example and strode across the fire first. After completing his challenge he said he had done it for Jacko. "Obviously he was at the forefront of my mind throughout and I'm about to ring him up and tell him I've done it," he said.

"It's been a brilliant experience for everyone who's taken part. There was a real mix of people and everyone really enjoyed the buildup. The walk itself was really odd. It stung, but I guess it wasn't quite as hot as I'd thought, I think everyone was so focused they didn't notice the pain. Lets hope we've raised plenty of money for Macmillan." Echo reporter James Newall and football writer Mark Whiley also took part in the fire walk.

The UK's most northerly charity fire walk, for SPCA charity

The SPCA charity fire walk was a 'euphoric' experience

"It's the most northerly fire walk that's ever been done, so that in itself has put us on the map," said one fire walker. Mrs Mackay, who also endured the hot coals said the experience had been "euphoric" adding that the feeling of achievement she had gained from the fire walk was difficult to put into words. "The night was amazing," she said. "It was something that you really had to experience to know how it felt

The East London Advertiser's piece on the joint glass walk and fire walk

Fire walkers face their fears to raise over £7,000

26 brave people took part in East End charity Toynbee Hall’s fire walk on site at Toynbee Hall in E1 and raised over £7,000 in sponsorship on November 1st.

Toynbee Hall staff, corporate supporters and individuals completed an hour’s training with survival expert Martyn Helliwell of Survivorbility that included breaking arrows with the sharp end against their throats and walking over broken glass.

A glass walk makes fire walking seem easy! Firewalker Alexandra Roberts said, "After walking over broken glass the firewalk seemed like a breeze! I enjoyed every minute of it." Another participant said; "I could never have imagined walking over fire and was really nervous beforehand but after walking over broken glass in the training the fire was no problem!"

After the firewalk there was a Fire and Ice party in the historic Toynbee Hall with a live band and fire poi performance for the firewalkers and guests. All the money raised goes to support Toynbee Hall’s vital work with young people, adults and older people.