For the second year now we were delighted to host a mixed Charity Bootcamp Day in aid of the two charities that we support Breakthrough Breast Cancer and The Eve Appeal.  Both charities are very close to us at The Body Retreat and the concept of the bootcamp day was actually inspired by our friend and supporter Lulu (Louise Wisson) who is currently on her journey to beat stage 4 ovarian cancer.

Building on the success of last years event this year we wanted to create an event that was bigger and better than before. Our aim is to create a day that is filled with Fun, Fitness, Friendship & Fundraising and this year thanks to everyone who turned up on the day, donated a prize, baked a cake or donated to the Just Giving Pages we really ticked every box.

The Charity Bootcamp Day took place on Sunday 9th November at the Olympic venue Eton Dorney Rowing Centre.

Numbers might have been low but spirit and fun were high helped by the varied schedule of activities.

Our Dance instructors Irem and Martine donated their time to come along and put us through our paces in both Zumba & Fitsteps class, Julie B had developed a circuit class that contained all her favourite exercises and there was a 5k dash around the lake.

The highlight of the day has to be the Boat Race up the Olympic Lake.  Despite it being November and having a dreary weather forecast the sun shone on the day itself and so we were able to actually get out on the the olympic lake itself for a dragon boat race.  Divided into two teams (Team One :  Deidre, Prem, Alison, Wendy, Gene, Daksha & Jeanne.  Team Two: Julie B, Juls, Emma, Lulu, Mike, Carol & Amanda….Teresa stayed on solid ground to act as official photographer) we set off, one boat up the lake the other on a zig zag course that saw us clobber every buoy and worry every duck on the lake…it turned out that team number one had a secret weapon at the helm in the shape of Jeanne who had sailing experience under her belt.  Needless to say team one were the winners, but we are all now honorary Olympians having raced on the lake ;-)

We were amazed and delighted by the selection and variety of prizes donated for our raffle. From a 5 Day Body Retreat, a years supply of Jaffa Cakes, Microsoft Office for mac or pc, digital photo frame, bottles of wine, a baking lesson with Louise Wisson, beauty products, hair care products, Mio high intensity products, Greens Powder, frying pan…the list went on and on…the only thing missing was a cuddly toy (must get that sorted for next year!!)

After a delicious healthy two course lunch there was little chance of an afternoon slump,but just incase we ended the day with Afternoon Tea Bootcamp Style.  We had asked the bakers in our community to bake us some teatime treats with a “healthy” twist.  We were not disappointed. We had everything your taste buds could desire, carrot cakes, scones, paleo cookies, courgette cake, apple cake, brownies, blackbean cake and Julie’s latest creation Millionaire Jacks.

Thanks to the generosity of everyone who joined us on the day and those who donated from home we raised £870 on the day.  We are going to top that up to a nice even £900 so that is £450 for each charity.  In addition we raised £235 for The Eve Appeal and £65 for Breakthrough Breastcancer on the Just Giving pages.

So the final scores on the doors for the day are £1,200!!  Huge, Huge Huge Thank YOU to everyone who made this possible.

If you missed this year…don’t worry. We are already planning next years charity bootcamp day and will be sending out a Save the Date sooner rather than later.  Please watch out for that and support us and our two charities by booking your place.

See you there is not before xx