The Jump

The sun was smiling on the us the day 19 BoobyBirds - and one BoobyBloke - jumped out of a plane 10,000 ft in the air. I knew we were 10,000 feet up because I checked the altimeter on Dave's wrist before Dave and I, attached together, slipped from the side of the plane into thin air!
It was a long day. Two Birds went up at a time. On the ground, there was the most amazing spirit. Everyone cheering all who set off in the really small cessna. And then more cheering and celebrations when everyone landed.
So many things went through my mind. Watching a tiny plane up in the sky and waiting until your eyes picked up a tiny figure, then another. The suspense was tight.
Here were the people who took part: all of them amazing becase some were facing real fear. But they were doing it because facing the fear of jumping out of a plane may be a little something like the fear of cancer. And perhaps this might go to show that fear can be conquered. And maybe, with the £400,000 the BoobyBirds are raising, breast cancer can be conquered too.

1.Tina Korup and Irene Grant

2.Debbie Mitchell and Harry St Clair (on behalf of her mum Anna)

3.Katrina Malone and Alison McGregor

4.Alison Demarco and Elizabeth Baker

5.Issy Warrack and Sally Tyrrell (a mum and daugher team. Really sweet)

6. Karina McTeague and Linda Birkbeck

7.Bernadette Murphy and Kate Reid

8.Angela Paterson and Erikka Askeland

9. E Korup and Allison Willis

10. Paul Tyrrell and Elaine McKean

You can tell by my face how pleased I am. What an amazing experience. But it's rather nice to be back safely in the arms of loved ones.

Here's me with Angela Paterson, my jump buddy. Such a laugh. And such a transformation. Born in St Andrews, she was looking to be reborn. And if the transformation from terrified jumper to 'wanna do it again, I feel great' is anything to go by, I think we had a pretty good day...

Here's Karina McTeague and Linda Birkbeck preparing to jump. Don't they look like they've got the Right Stuff?

All the jumpers got a big hug from Christine and Tina. And a glass of champagne. Mine went down in nearly a gulp. Best chmpagne I've every had. It took all day but yet the excitement never flagged. Pretty good hug too!

Some jumpers had a tell-tale glow after the jump. Here's Irene Grant, grinning fabulously, with her friend celebrating. Irene along with Tina Korup were the first jumpers!

How proud

I love this picture of Alison McGregor after her jump. Some people were enjoying the anticipation of jumping more than others and Alison looked worried! Here she looks truimphant. And her wellwishers look so proud.

Jumping tomorrow

Oh God. I'm jumping out of a plane tomorrow. What kind of stupid person thinks that is a good idea?
I've not been at all fazed by it - until today.
But I'll do it. I will think about my uncle, a former paratrooper who jumped out of a thousand planes. (I won't think about the fact he refuses to step foot on a plane now...)
I won't think about one of my sponsors, who wrote wishing me good luck and then mentioned he tried it once and broke his leg!
And I'm really sorry about this, I didn't want to bring it up. But I won't think about my friend Jean Guy.
I might say more about Jean Guy later. He really loved skydiving. I'm certain of one thing, he'd think it's a great idea what we were doing tomorrow

The Gala

Ever since we all joined to become a Boobybird, original Boobybird Tina Korup and Elaine McKean from the Indigo PR have been planning the Gala. It took place last Friday and what a gala dinner it was! I took some pictures, but as I was participating as well as observing, I didn't take 'the shot' which would have captured it all.

This is a cause for regret in retrospect - I regret I didn't take a picture of Tina, a vision in pink satin and precious jewels from Hamilton & Inches, which we realised were up for auction (the jewels, that is). Nor did I get a picture of her game Danish cousin, (whose name I will insert here when I refer back to my notes...), who modeled a racy, lovely basque - on stage - to demonstrate another auction prize donated by those purveyors of fine lingerie, Boudiche. Nor did I get a pic of Fred Macaulay, who acted as compere and auctioneer. I've been to a few charity auctions in my time, but seldom are they as funny and entertaining as Fred's are. Takes some thinking on the feet - well done, Fred.

But the pic that captured the fun of the evening is this, of Anna St Clair, goofing around with the special BoobyBird themed dessert - catch what they were getting at? It was such a fun event, and more importantly it raised £40,000 for BoobyBirds.

The last picture I missed was of Christine Tulloch, handing a bouquet of flowers to Tina, thanking her for all her efforts, and cheering the fact that, with the night's takings, we'd reached the £400,000 over-all target they had envisioned all those months ago when Tina met her friend recovering from breast cancer and wondered 'what can I do to help?'...

The new WI - that's Women's Informal

The second time was even better. I have to admit it wasn't easy getting such a fabulous group of Interesting and Influential women together in Edinburgh at the fag end of festival season - even with the lure of generous wine and canapes provided so kindly by Radisson SAS Royal Mile. But it was a great night, and added another £650 to the pot. It also gave me a chance to talk about my next fundraiser event - my curry and beer night at Britannia Spice in Leith on the 30th of September (pencil it in your diary) as well as my final campaign - the 100 in for 100, where I get 100 wonderful, generous people to donate £100 to a very good cause - Boobybirds!

But the WI puts the fun in fundraising. Here's some pics. This one, to me, is the essence of why I'm making to effort to drive the new WI. On the left is Susanna Freedman whom I met very early on when I arrived in Edinburgh three years ago. This lively managing director of design and brand management company Tsuko took me to a cracking French restaurant for lunch, and we've kept in touch ever since. She's talking with Anna St Clair, founder of 50-strong franchise The Ceramic Experience. I just knew that given the chance to meet they'd get on like a house on fire. And I don't think they'd mind me reporting here that they did!

On the left, Denise West, ad director for Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail - Insider's sister publications in Scotland. She and her friend Kai McCabe, head of one of Scotland's biggest and most successful recruitment agencies, Search, together made the winning bid for the evening's prize (glamorous Kai somehow managed to avoid the camera!). That was the trip for two to Reykjavik, hotel courtesy of the Four Star Radisson SAS Saga in Iceland and plane tickets courtesy of Icelandair (many thanks to the hotel and the airline for the donation!). I loved Reykjavik when I went there last year with my sister. Denise and Kai's winning bid was £400 - all for Boobybirds. Plus they pledged to join the 100 in for 100 club! Next to Denise is Carole Ann Massie who does personnel training for the oil & gas industry, and next to her is Joan Cradden, a partner at law firm Brodies. I met Joan at an Insider round table, where she shared her crack employment law expertise with us on a panel debate. I also found out she's an expert shopper and I might try to lure her away from the law to become an Insider retail correspondent!

On the left is Jen Lang from PWC. We had lunch the other day after long last, so it was great to see her out again. In the centre is Charlotte Pyk, glowing from both her recent holiday and her pregnancy. She's been a real gem in all this. I sent her a wee note to her thanking her for all her help and for marshalling the full strength of the Radisson's hospitality. They provided drinks all evening and some moreish canapes in order so that all the proceeds donated at the door could all go to Boobybirds, which is impressive. And if my Interesting and Influential women got a chance to look at the Dicksons Bar which is available for Christmas parties, then so be it! And of course, next to her is Christine Tulloch. That woman has a real talent for good spirits, which is even more impressive considering her fight with cancer is the inspiration for BoobyBirds.

From the right, there's Zoe Redhead who works for the Bank of Scotland press office and next to her is Clare Logie. Clare is the director of Women in Business at BoS Corporate. She has relocated from Bristol which should save her a lot of time travelling from there to Edinburgh. She's also chair of a rather impressive organisation, the Global Banking Alliance for Women, which is a worldwide group of banks that work together to accelerate the growth and development of women's businesses and women's wealth creation across the world. And she's a big fan of networking - a woman after my own heart. Next to her is Elaine Piggot, a solicitor with Tods Murray. I met her golfing at Archerfield Links, a cracking event earlier this summer organised by her colleague Debbie Atkins. Elaine's pretty good at networking too as it's the second time I've clinked glasses with her in the same number of weeks!

North Lanarkshire adds some glamour to the WI - on the right is Louisa Mahon, brand manager for North Lanarkshire and her colleague Shona. If that part of the country could use a little polish these are the people to do the job.

Irene Grant (left) head of HSBC Corporate in Scotland is wearing a stunning red blouse. Last time I saw her at lunch she'd just come from dropping her son off at school for the first time - although she might have found it a more fraught experience than he did! Next to her is Fiona Riddell, PR woman extraordinaire for property agents King Sturge. And she's a pretty good skiier too. Tall, graceful Sadaf Din of solicitors Anderson Strathern is next to her. She was the first to join my elite group of donors, the 100 in for 100. Bless her heart! And next to her is the lovely woman from Radisson SAS.

Another Bagged

Hurrah, another has joined the 1000 Metre High Club - British Polythene Industries. If you can't quite remember, BPI is the largest manufacturer of polythene film, bags and sacks in Europe. And they are generous too. Thanks! I need it if I'm going to hit that £20,000...

Big spenders

There's yet more coming in - dontations and pledges that is. Alasdair MacConnell (no relation to our former FM, I don't think) managing director of Cala Properties and his marketing manager Susan Macrae arranged to donate £100 on behalf of Cala. Thanks, guys, and Susan, hope to see you at the next Women's Informal (more on that later).

I've also had pledges from Jane Wood at Alliance Boots, James Will at top law firm Shepperd & Wedderburn and from Roger Pitt, head of Insider's faithful, longstanding Kent-based printers Headley Brothers. Apparenly Roger himslef has jumped out of a plane twice. So thanks for the cash and thanks for living to tell me about your skydiving experience (!).

So it's official, the second Women's Informal networking event is going ahead at the Radisson SAS Royal Mile at the end of August. It's very simple - I invite some of the interesting women I tend to meet day to day and we drink some wine - so kindly supplied by Radisson SAS and voila - fun! Plus the tenner I charge goes to reducing the £20k I owe to BoobyBirds... If you are reading this and I missed inviting you, give me a shout - easkeland@insider.co.uk. There might still be capacity.

Transports of joy

Just like busses, two new excellent and discerning corporates have joined the 1000 Metre High Club at almost the same time.

Ken Hillen, Scotland's regional director of the Bank of Ireland, signed up to help support breast cancer care and research by donating £1000 to my BoobyBirds fundraiding drive. Scottish dealmakers he works with know he's one for saying the word and getting it done ASAP - as he did in this case! I will take a leaf from your book and get your receipt back to you, Ken, as soon as possible too!

The other new joiner is David Lockhart, executive chairman of Stockland Halladale. It just so happens that David remains at the helm of the property company that owns our fine new offices, One Sixty in Fountainbridge. So top landlord marks for David and a big thanks to the chaps at Stockland Halladale.

Albeit I did have to clear up some confusion. David wrote: "Mind you I thought the 1000 Metre High Club meant something else." When I admitted the name of the club was designed to raise I smile, I asked him if my strategy succeeded. "It did," he admitted.

Awesome Women

Being a language magpie, I sometimes have trouble with adopting, then overusing, certain words. On my recent trip to Canada, I seem to have picked up (and am currenlty over-using) the word 'awesome', like I'm some sort of recycled teenager.

So that is why I have to say that the inaugural Women's Informal network event last night (Monday 16th July) was awesome. Not in the sense of 'inspiring dread', rather in the sense of 'marvellous, excellent'.

Having organised the thing I certainly had more fun than I expected to, but then again the people who came were all women I'd met before and thought - they're rather cool (or awesome, as the case may be...). Not only this but the hospitality provided by the Radisson SAS on the Royal Mile was awesome. I've often thought that it's perfectly feasible to make a balanced dinner out of red wine and canapes, and I certainly wasn't disappointed this time!

The hotel's generosity didn't end there either. Leisure club manager Natalie Gallagher pledged 20% of any spa treatments booked on the night, and last time I spoke with her that was £65 towards the pot. Not that anyone there needed beauty treatments of course! But we are worth it...

The good news is as everyone paid a tenner (some paid more!) we also raised £300 for Boobybirds. Awesome!

Thanks Charlotte. Thanks Radisson SAS. Thanks Natalie - whom I hope very soon to be recruiting as my official Booby Buddy. Thanks to all of you who came. And we plan to do it again on August 28 - bigger and better - and still no effing bake sales. Pencil it in your diary, I'll be in touch soon.

L to R: Jenny Kumar from Liddel Thomson chats with our gracious host for the evening Charlotte Pyk who works for Radisson SAS.

Denise Gibbons of Turcan Connell and Ann Marie Shillito of Anarkik3d seem to having some serious talk.

Birds of feather smile together

L to R: Penny Haywood of PHPR, Sue Mitchell of Spotondata, freelance writer and broadcaster Lesley Campbell, me, and Gillian Campbell of MacRoberts all get grinning for this shot.

Blog from Canada #1

Hello out there.

If you read this blog you are likely in Scotland. However, I'm currently in Canada. Today it was 26 degrees celcius, sunny and the tour of the Southern Okanagan wine region couldn't have been bettered. More of that later perhaps...

So first of all a big thanks goes out to Mark Hunter at Hunter Property Fund Management (www.hunterpropertyfundmanagement.co.uk) for his wonderful and generous donation of GBP200. That is just the sort of thing that is realy very helpful. Mark of course, is a scholar and a gentleman and a property investment manager of distinction...

Some of you will likely have heard of the inaugural Women's Informal. The cleverest among you will have realised that the acronym for the event, the Women's Informal Networking Event spells 'wine'. How's that for subliminal advertising. Anyway, the response has been terrific. We're *almost* to capacity for the 16th so if you are reading this blog and haven't RSVPed to me at erikka_23@hotmail.com, there might even have to be a WINE waiting list! It is shaping up to be a terrific night and thanks again to to Charlotte at the Radisson SAS on the Royal Mile for offering their generous support!

Cheers from the Sunny Okanagan

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And another!

Thank my lucky stars. Another large corporate donation of £1000 although this large Scottish PLC wants to remain anonymous...

The First Member!

I'm so thrilled - and I'd like to extend a big, warm, heartfelt thanks to Raymond O'Hare and Lynda Walker of Microsoft Scotland. They are the first members of the 1000 Metre High Club! They have pledged £1000 in my fundraising effort for breast cancer research and care in Scotland.

"We can do something here for you Erikka and this very good cause," said Raymond.

I couldn't have said it better myself!

Boobybirds united

Went to a lovely event last week hosted by Booby Bird extraordinaire, Anna St Clair. She's the boss of The Ceramic Experience, a franchise network of, I think, some 50-odd stores nationwide where people go to paint pottery. It's good fun too - don't knock it till you've tried it. Although whether I'll ever show anyone my cosmos blue and lime green ceramic CD holder is another thing altogether.

About eight of us Booby Birds got together to paint, talk fundraising, eat lovely nibbles and drink wine. Irene Grant was there. She's the head of HSBC Business Banking in Scotland and was one of the first to sign up. She's raised her £20,000 - good for her! I'm so jealous.

But for my own consolation, there were others, like Bernadette Murphy, who like me has also recently joined the jumpers. She's an estate agent in Hamilton (see her website http://www.justthinkpink.com/ ), and her energy and ethusiasm was infectious. She started out as an estate agent with Remax, but has gone out on her own. Another intriguing character I met there, also a new recruit to Booby Birds, was serial entrepreneur Angela Paterson. She recently set up an online jobs board for the Highlands called hijobs (www.hijobs.co.uk).

No-one I've met yet seems to be doing this becuase they have extra time to kill. Even the woman who has worked tirelessly for such a long time to get this show on the road, Tina Korup, is MD of her own corporate perfomance management consultancy. Although she did admit to us she's looking forward to going back to having only one full-time job when this is over.

But then it's probably not going to be over, as the hard slog we're putting in this year will likely spill over to the next. And the next year after that. In fact most of us fully expect to see Booby Birds become a permanent fixture in mobilising funds for breast cancer research and development in Scotland.

Long live Booby Birds.

FAQ #1 - What the heck is a booby bird?

A booby bird is a tropical seabird, genus Sula, of which there are five species. These are masked, red-footed, and brown boobies, found the world over; the Peruvian and blue footed boobies, found on the West Coast's of the Americas; and the Abbott's booby in the Indian Ocean. In northern waters they are related to the more familiar gannet.

Like the more unfortunate dodo, it lacks the fear instinct. In fact this is how it got its name – from the Spanish bobo, or ‘stupid fellow’. Boobies became known by jumping into boats to be eaten by sailors. Hence the old expression, "A booby will never make a hawk," meaning that a bird easily duped by hungry sailors will never itself become a bird of prey.

It’s more nobler aspect is the spectacular dive, sometimes from great heights, it makes to catch its prey.

Of course, Booby Birds in Scotland are a small but significant group of women, also lacking in a fear instinct and who are planning to make a spectacular drive. They each expect to raise £20,000. Does that make them stupid fellows? I should think not.

Check us out http://www.boobybirds.co.uk/

Spinning top

And a big Thank You to Ian Spinney for his marvellous C-note. An all around good chap and PR man of distinction. www.spinpartners.com

Philanthropy factoids

The good news is, according to the Sunday papers, corporate philanthropy is growing at 10% a year in the UK. British companies last year gave away £1bn a year to good causes.

See: http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article2560014.ece

The bad news is more than a third that £1bn came from one company, pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.

Businesses in America contribute nearly 5 per cent of the total amount of money received by charity or good causes in the US, while in Britain it is 3 per cent.

I think we can do better!

Jump for my love

My sister, who lives in Canada, reports she did a tandem skydive on the weekend – and it was exhilarating! If she can do it, well I certainly can.

Flying over Vernon, BC, in a Cessna, her friend went first, then another sole diver, then it was her turn. When the moment came, it was sudden, with her dive partner shouting in her ear to Go! And she did.

Summersault out, 20 to 30 seconds of free fall as the ground screams towards you, cheeks rippling in the velocity like a tent flap in a windstorm. When the chute deployed, it jerked her back with a snap. But landing was terrific. Advised to pull up feet and land on her bottom, they both landed feet-first like a pro!

Jumping tandem appears quite an intimate experience with one’s tandem partner – they have to snuggle quite close in order to buckle up safely. I joked that some of the Booby Birds are quite looking forward to that part! However, Sis ended up strapped to a 50-year-old veteran of 3000 dives who lacked front teeth.

Nevermind. That’s not why we are jumping! We’re raising cash for an excellent cause. Please donate what you can here. http://www.scottishcf.org/page11748.cfm

Darling Darwin

I stand corrected, and a bit humbled, by a four year old. Following my munro bagging triumph last week my colleague left a cutout of the story of wee Darwin Bradley: http://heritage.scotsman.com/people.cfm?id=716012007. He's the four year old who has scaled 11 munros. Turns out there are 284 of them (I got the number wrong - new ones get addes, not because hills are growing but rather measurement is becoming more precise).

x e!

Erikka in Arrochar

I've climbed my first Munro - Beinn Narnain, just outside of Arrochar. And also, my first Corbett. All in the same day. And boy, a couple of days later, I'm still feeling it!
For reference, a munro is a Scottish mountain over 3000 ft. According to Munro's Tables (started by Sir Hugh Munro) there are 277 of them in Scotland. And then the corbetts are 2500 to 3000, according to J. Rooke Corbett. You can spend to long thinking about these things, but there you go.
My corbett, Ben Arthur, or 'The Cobbler', was actually the tougher climb. It required the use of hands and feet once near the top and the look down is scary, although on the day the cloud was low and thick making it difficult to see much. It was popular too - when we got to the top we found a family of Glaswegians picnicing there, one young women of which was on the phone to, presumably, one of her mates, saying: "I'm at the top and we cannae see anything"…
Of course, hill walking or climbing is a little like fundraising. You start out with firm purpose. Then perhaps you lose some momentum, get tired. Or you have a moment of fear - it's not possible to get there! Or, thinking you are there you have that 'oh bugger' moment, when you realise you aren't at the top, and instead the top looms above you in a steep, final ascent.
Right now, I'm not that far above sea level. But this will soon change.

I could use your help! Please make a donation at: http://www.scottishcf.org/page11748.cfm (choose me...)

Trickle in

My first clumsy attempts at chinking away at my £20,000 target are starting to wear it down. Got a £20 note in the post today, from a guest at the PLC Awards who had to dash away early and didn't get a chance to make a donation. Cool. Thanks, Bill Nicol. Anyone else? Please feel free to try out the new online payment system (see link below). And God bless.

Lots of stuff is happening as well. It seems I've joined along with a cohort of fellow jumpers -
Bernadette Murphy, an estate agent; Linda Birkbeck owner of House of Bruar (posh!) and Angela Paterson, MD of new recruitment company for the Highlands, Hijobs.co.uk. Apparently Angela has walked on hot coals. Crikey. Jumping from 10,000 feet should be a scoosh.

Donate online!

OK. Things are realy up and running. There's now a link where kind folk can make donations to my cause online. The Scottish Community Foundation is acting as the secretariat of Booby Birds, thus this link to the payment site is hosted on the SCF website. Just choose Erikka Askeland on the drop down panel and go!

http://www.scottishcf.org/page11748.cfm

And don't forget the Gift Aid declaration. It's the government's fiddly way of giving tax relief to charities, as the money donated from UK taxpayers has already been taxed! Hurrah.

My next ambition is to create a button at the side of the blog here so that by pressing it is goes right to the donation site. As I'm an HTLM illiterate, it might take a while, but like I said, small steps.

Fundraising spawn

Mondays makes that £20,000 target look vast. However I will not be daunted. One of the good things is people always come out to help - some from unusual places.

While placing at least some expectations to providence, there are folk from less unusual places stepping up to help. The seed has been planted for a potential event this summer, involving a film, cocktails and perhaps even celebs. Insider editor Alasdair Northrop, top chap, is getting the ball rolling. Stay tuned for more details!

The journey begins

My campaign to raise £20k for breast cancer was well and truly launched last night at our grand PLC awards. This event was described by the Scotsman today as 'arguably Scotland's top awards ceremony'. MC Peter Sissons announced my plan to jump from a plane to the audience of 550 odd top business folk.

With specially printed envelopes on the table (printed by those kind chaps at Minuteman Press www.mmpedinburgh.com) and me with a collection bucket outside the doors at the end, I didn't do too badly - £275. It's a good start! A good way to go yet - as the wise man says, a journey of 20,000 miles starts with one step. Of course, the original journey of the proverb was 1000 miles but that's inflation for you.

I'd like to thank all those guests at the awards who gave so generously - including Stuart Yuill, the regional manager Scotland West at the Bank of Scotland Business Banking unit. Also Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, the business manager at ASA International. And also to Hugh Stewart, chairman of Caledonian Alloys, who not only won the award for Outstanding Private Company but also kindly donated to the cause.

Next, I'll be getting in contact with those who patted their pockets and said 'I'll get you later'. You know who you are. I hope to announce very soon my online payment facility, which will be managed by booby Bird partner, Scottish Community Foundation. Watch this space!

Boobybird

Hi and Welcome to Erikka's Boobybird Blog.

Stay tuned for details of how much I've raised and pre-skydive nerves.

My fundraising starts in earnest on Thursday 26 April at the Insider PLC Awards. I'll also be listing members of my 1000 Metre High Club - for amazing donations of £1,000 or more.