Davina beyond breaking point

BillyMansell

Cornerblock wrote:

BillyMansell wrote:

I save my energies for the millions of volunteers and carers who every day make a difference to the lives of others, often without recognition or reward and often at a cost to their own wellbeing and their life chances simply because they care.

What does this mean? Seems to me that you are putting the same amount of energy into having a pop at someone for doing a good deed as others are doing in just simply saying 'well done or fair play', if not more.

True, my contributions require the same amount of energy as anyone else's which is the energy required to type on a keyboard.

In fact you are probably wasting your energy as you are commenting on something you clearly dislike. Why even bother? That way you would really be saving all of your "energy" for the people who you deem to genuinely care about those less fortunate.

I have no time for the shallow world of celebrity but sometimes it's better to look at the bigger picture. If the money raised goes towards helping a girl like the one shown last night having the opportunity to go to school, getting the books she needs and then hopefully one day fulfilling her dream of becoming a doctor then it's all good.

I have plenty of energy to go round and will gladly use the small amount required to tap a few keys on a keyboard to challenge the culture of self-flagellation.

As for helping those less fortunate, to blow my own trumpet so far this week my voluntary activities have included meeting with directors from my Foundation Trust to arrange attending their Trust Board to deliver a piece on achieving greater involvement of people in their own care which will lead to improved quality of life, on Tuesday I was in a hospital assessing the care environment for patients and people with dementia which will benefit the quality of care for thousands, I had Wednesday off but then yesterday I was in London with NHS England on the development of Personal Health Budgets that will benefit millions and today I'm at a meeting with the county council on the development of social care that will benefit tens of thousands. There's also stuff I've been doing by email with my local CCG to improve health outcomes in primary care that again will benefit tens of thousands.

And yet despite standing up and challenging health and social care to do more to improve people's quality of life for people I'll probably never meet and who'll never thank me, and getting on with all the other things in life, I haven't once broken down crying proclaiming I can't go on.

griffsters

I like to congratulate both Billy Mansell and Davina for their selfless acts. Chapeau!

cornerblock

BillyMansell wrote:

Blew his own trumpet

Well done you and to all those others who do similar work but don't write about.

Vandiesel

Decorators where in too!!

snowley

I thought it looked bloody tough! Most of us wouldn't have been out in those conditions and definitely would not swim in open water at that temperature!!

She did well to complete and will hopefully encourage some more people to get out on their bikes

ugo.santalucia

The battle for fundrising is getting tougher... it's probably not unforesseable to think that in a few years it will be necessary to to end up in A&E at the very least and die at the very worst for the sake of Children in Need... it's obviously all ridiculous, as these associations, if they are indispensible, could be made part of the State and funded by taxpayers, rather than relying on celebrity stunts and generosity.

I still find incredible that the London Air Ambulance has to be funded by charity... One would think that essential services should be provided... bah, God bless Scandinavia!

mfin

BillyMansell wrote:

Where this country has gone to the dogs is the public obsession with self-flagellation which certainly since the death of Princess Diana has become de rigeur where not participating in the self-flagellation leaves you open to criticism.

Well, I'd like to congratulate Billy on managing to mention the death of Princess Diana as a some kind of watershed attitude shift moment in regards to anything. Random and brilliant

It's obvious it was a tough and daunting challenge for Davina, and it's been a key visible thing for Sport Relief this year which has already raised a lot, and this weekend her choice to do it will in itself no doubt cause even more money to be raised.

Going back to Diana, I would have donated £10 on the spot if they'd had a fund-raiser based on donations meaning we wouldn't have had to listen to Tony Blair's pause-ridden faux-sincere speeches and the relentless false depiction of the country being brought together by common personal mourning. (and I would have topped it up another £90 and made it a square £100 if they'd promised to stop bloody playing Elton fat-fingers John).

gabriel959

BillyMansell wrote:

nunowoolmez wrote:

For those having a go at these celebs suffering on camera, well, it's because they are suffering. They are taking on mammoth physical challenges & are having a camera thrust in their direction while they are doing it. The average Joe would be exactly the same.

Why can't people just applaud someone for doing something positive without the need to be so negative toward them. Sign o the times I suppose, todays society has gone to the dogs...

How come people like David Walliams, Eddie Izzard and Helen Skelton can take on such challenges and do so with dignity always mindful of whatever they may be suffering it pales in comparison to the suffering of others? There's no doubt that Davina and Alex are very needy people and maybe that's what the organisers want; people who will break under pressure rather than those capable of taking on a challenge stoically recognising that in the grand scheme of things the task in hand is pretty trivial.

I save my energies for the millions of volunteers and carers who every day make a difference to the lives of others, often without recognition or reward and often at a cost to their own wellbeing and their life chances simply because they care.

Where this country has gone to the dogs is the public obsession with self-flagellation which certainly since the death of Princess Diana has become de rigeur where not participating in the self-flagellation leaves you open to criticism. Maybe seeing the occasional celebrity suffering for a few days satisfies a need for humbling and ticks a box that for some allows them to not have to face up to the real suffering happening on our doorsteps every day.

SFT

Well I thought that looked really hard, whoever you are. I take my hat off to her

capt_slog

+1 on saying Well Done that woman.

I don't care how much training and support she had. It was a tough trip for anyone.

Whilst it's true that she blubbed (a lot), I liked the way she pulled herself together for every 'meet and greet' stop that she made and put a brave face on it. She saved the anguish for the times she was in the relative privacy of the support bus/hotel rooms and I sometimes wondered if she realise how much she was being filmed at those times.

chris_bass

like her or not, think it was hard or not, think she could have done it better or differently, the only real thing that matters is that £1 million was raised for charity, right?

also, really wasn't expecting princess Diana to get a mention on this thread! i'm sure a group will be marching in from the right soon enough and this thread will be complete!

cougie

Not watched it yet - but what she did was impressive. I'd not fancy Windermere in February - or the rest of it !

Loving the negativity that some cyclists have - no matter what the achievement.

(see Team Sky, Cav being World Champ etc etc....)

ugo.santalucia

Nobody wants to comment on why basic necessary services have to be funded with this system and not by the taxpayer?
I think charity should fund the extras...

mrushton

It's an achievement but make no mistake it's a showbiz box ticked for her. And that's the point some of us are making. We'll have a Bike Radar charity ride and see how many police outriders/support vehicles + staff/bikes we get.

rickeverett

cougie wrote:

Not watched it yet - but what she did was impressive. I'd not fancy Windermere in February - or the rest of it !

Loving the negativity that some cyclists have - no matter what the achievement.

(see Team Sky, Cav being World Champ etc etc....)

Dont worry , they're just the usual dicks on the road that give us all bad rep anyway. Arrogant tossers.


She came through our local town Whalley that day she did the Lakes and had a stop at Beacon Bikes. Weather was utter shite that week and the route down through Scotland to the Peak District wasn't easy either. Lots of hills.

Anyone whos been up on the Pennines on a bike, cold with sleet in your face would know its not fun.

I thought it was a excellent achievement. Yes she had an excellent team around her, but it still isn't easy.

mrushton

Thought that was an odd route. I'd have been straight down the A6 in the slipstream of the lead van as opposed to going through to Whitewell. Nice route on a sunny day.

amaferanga

rickeverett wrote:

Dont worry , they're just the usual dicks on the road that give us all bad rep anyway. Arrogant tossers.

:roll:

rickeverett

mrushton wrote:

Thought that was an odd route. I'd have been straight down the A6 in the slipstream of the lead van as opposed to going through to Whitewell. Nice route on a sunny day.

Yeah the route was all over the place. Good cycle routes mind but not exactly direct. The bit from Birmingham to Windsor looked better - they were doing a good average speed too. 20mph at one point which would be a dream back over in the Lakes and North West bit.

chris_bass

mrushton wrote:

It's an achievement but make no mistake it's a showbiz box ticked for her. And that's the point some of us are making. We'll have a Bike Radar charity ride and see how many police outriders/support vehicles + staff/bikes we get.

yep - see how much money you make in comparison too!

veronese68

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Nobody wants to comment on why basic necessary services have to be funded with this system and not by the taxpayer?
I think charity should fund the extras...

No, it's far easier to slag off a celebrity for doing something we'd rather not do ourselves than actually talk about what is genuinely wrong and does need fixing.
My guess is that by funding these through tax a large proportion of the population would complain that taxes were too high, without looking at what they get for it, so the government is scared of such measures. The same people that would complain about funding through taxes will of course be the first to complain if they have to wait for an ambulance after a major incident as there is no helicopter due to lack of funding.

ronnierocket

I didn't see the program but remember the troubles she was having when was doing it. I must admit to being a bit cynical about these things, they are mostly about keeping a celebrity in the news for themselves.

However, on a slight tangent, I am not sure they are quite as bad as 'normal' people who want you to sponsor them to climb Kilimanjaro for example for charity. The first £3000 raised goes to pay for their 'trip of a lifetime' and charity gets a bit at the end.

cornerblock

Cornerblock wrote:

Grill wrote:

Meh. Hundreds of audaxers tide that distance in those conditions (and worse) all the time. Nothing special about them, so I don't see why we should be patting her on the back for it.

And so it begins.

Just as I said.

Look so what if she had the best support team around her, so what if the cynics believe she had an ulterior motive for doing what she did. And who even knew swimming in a freezing Lake Windermere was 'ticking off a showbiz box'?
Bottom line is that money will hopefully go to people who desperately need it and help to change their lives for the better. Come on you sourpusses surely that's a good thing.

Druidor

Saw her on chat show just after saying they made her sit in ice bath for 10 minutes to combat the lactic acid build up as well as having some chamois cream with a bit of local anesthetic mixed in (like kids get on hand in hospital for IV needle) she referred to it as her Fa##y fudge so her lower regions were less tender.

Buckie2k5

BillyMansell wrote:

I save my energies for the millions of volunteers and carers who every day make a difference to the lives of others, often without recognition or reward and often at a cost to their own wellbeing and their life chances simply because they care.

The sport relief fund actually supports carers, especially young carers who are left to care for there familys. So maybe you should applaud the millions of pounds raised by davina?

chris_bass

just to put this in context, when i was out earlier I saw a guy walking round town dressed in pyjamas and a dressing gown collecting money for charity! it did look like quite a heavy dressing gown to be fair but i think i know which would have taken more effort overall

mfin

Chris Bass wrote:

just to put this in context, when i was out earlier I saw a guy walking round town dressed in pyjamas and a dressing gown collecting money for charity! it did look like quite a heavy dressing gown to be fair but i think i know which would have taken more effort overall

See now that depends, perhaps he had just escaped from a high-security mental institution, which might not have been easy in itself. It would be nice to think they might take his charity aiding reasons for doing so into account when they secure him again.

tonye_n

Grill wrote:

Meh. Hundreds of audaxers tide that distance in those conditions (and worse) all the time. Nothing special about them, so I don't see why we should be patting her on the back for it.

This is the kind of snobbish & rubbish talk that gives seasoned roadies a bad name. :roll:

Well done to the gal.
At least she is covering serious miles, raising funds, creating awareness of a British brand etc.

VmanF3

TV woman takes on a personal challenge, quite bad weather, cycles, swims, runs a long way. Raises a shed load of money.

What the hell is anyone complaining for!!!! Jesus, stop moaning!!! Don't like it, don't donate.

socrates

Great effort on her part but did she really have to cry every time she faced the camera. The 13 year old girl who spent 12 hours per breaking rocks didn't cry once.

Joeblack

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the fact it takes a celebrity to do something like this before the majority of the country even considers donating to charity,

She did well and as previously said she's raised a million for charity that wouldn't have been there if she hadn't done this but just like David Williams her dwindling career will benefit from it, I'm not presuming to say that's why she did it mind you