Gibside School Visit

The culmination of months of hard work and raising lots of money in support of Gibside School came to an end on Thursday 16th October 2014.

The Practice received an invitation to visit the school to have a look around, and to see what exactly we had spent months of hard work raising money for.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has been involved in helping us not only achieve our target but smash it!!! Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

We were all overwhelmed with the support and gratitude from staff, pupils and the families of those who attend the school. They even baked us a special cake, which lasted roughly about 10 minutes in the Practice staff room… Who says Dentists don’t have a sweet tooth?

Unfortunately the money will only go so far. During our visit to the school we were given a true sense as to how much things cost and what it means to the children, parents and teachers of the school. Anything anyone can do to help support the school further will be greatly appreciated and needed.

Taking time to reflect on the journey it has had its up’s and its downs.

On a windy August morning Ian, Andrew, Ken and Daniel set off on a 160 mile epic journey. There were steep descents and even steeper ascents but we were fortunate enough to appreciate some beautiful scenery. We thought that we were on for a record time when we rolled into Berwick just over the four hour mark, and stopped for lunch at Ian’s mums.

The last third of the ride seemed to drag on and on and took so much longer than the first two thirds. Ice cream was devoured in Bamburgh, a suggestion that this would be enough of a treat to get us home. All was going well until we reached Cambois near Blyth and then there was that moment where we all forgot how to read a map. By this point we were absolutely shattered and clambered onto the spine road and road off once more.

We finally reached Tynemouth in roughly 10 hours 36 minutes and 27 seconds but hey who’s counting…………

Let’s not forget all that meticulous planning, preparation and training by John, only for his father to need a serious operation on the day we were due to complete the ride. I won’t put his story into words, as I wouldn’t be able to do it justice. Instead John wrote his own blog here, it’s a great story.

The pain that was felt the day after the ride was incredible. My wife and I drove to Liverpool the next morning for a weekend break and passed a cycling time trial race, I remember commenting…

“Don’t ever let me near my bike again!”

Was it worth it? It most definitely was!!

Visiting the school has made us realise just how fortunate we are to have the ability to complete something as fun as a bike ride. It’s heart-warming to see just where exactly the money will go and what sort of things it will be spent on.

Behind the scenes our Senior Nurse Amanda has really driven the relationship between the Practice and the school. I’m sure without her we wouldn’t have been as successful as we were. I won’t forget her words of encouragement before setting off,

“What you got to worry about man, it’s all downhill”

In a way she was right and we did all make it back. My challenge is for her to do it next year, what do you think?

My final thought on visiting the school was that it was so fantastic to see how happy children could be when they were given the support, care and environment that they needed.

I commented earlier on in this piece saying that the hard work had come to end. Not on your Nelly! This is the start of a relationship and the Practice will look to support Gibside School in anyway it can.

Daniel Glynn, Practice Manager