The Forty Ninth of my Forty donations goes to the Church of St Leonard the Less in the village of Samlesbury, Lancashire, England.
The Church of St Leonard the Less is an Anglican church in the village of Samlesbury, Lancashire, England, situated close to the banks of the River Ribble. It is an active parish church in the Diocese of Blackburn. It dates predominantly from 1558, with a tower added 1899–1900, and is protected as a Grade I listed building.
The majority of my family is buried here, my parents got married here and I was christened here.
It’s times like these that we consider those who are no longer with us; I appreciate how well the current custodians of this mortal coil have navigated through this damn pandemic – I love you all x
The 47th of my 40 donations goes to the Manta Trust.
The Manta Trust’s mission is to conserve mobulid rays, their relatives, and their habitats, through a combination of research, education and collaboration.
The Manta Trust’s goal is a sustainable future for the oceans, where manta rays and their relatives thrive in healthy, diverse marine ecosystems.
To realise their goal, for the next five years the Manta Trust frames its activities and efforts around a core objective:
“To see all species of manta rays and their relatives protected or effectively managed for sustainable / non-consumptive use by the people closest to them, in a means that promotes wider ocean conservation.”
I travelled to the Maldives recently for some much needed R&R and took the opportunity to fulfil a life-long ambition to dive with a Manta Ray.
I was blown away to find myself freediving amongst a squadron of over 100 Manta Rays feeding in Hanifaru Bay:
As I was enjoying the spectacle, I noticed some fairly well kitted out freedivers in the water which was intriguing but I was too focussed on the Mantas to pay too much attention at the time. However, I kept seeing a group of people with oceanic survey equipment, cameras and one of the group had a shark tattoo and a PADI face mask so I finally introduced myself to one of them in the airport at Mali.
That particular individual was Henthorne the co-founder and Director of One Blue Ocean. He explained that the others were all from the Manta Trust and they were working together and indeed were the same people that I saw freediving, taking pictures and doing research amongst the Manta Rays whilst I was in Hanifaru Bay!
I then introduced myself to the rest of the group, commended them on the work they are doing and took some contact details.
I hope to be able to get in touch and share my videos with them, I hope they will appreciate them and they may even see themselves freediving with the Mantas!
Having been on well organised trips to see the Mantas and do some Scuba around Baa Atoll, I decided to simply snorkel from the beach where we were staying on Dharavandhoo Island and had an incredible experience with Eagle Rays, a Turtle, a Shark, a Barracuda and to top it off a lone Manta Ray!
I noticed the Manta above me heading east quite quickly in much shallower water but upon seeing me, instead of fleeing or just carrying on, it turned to see what I was and in doing so circled me before swimming off east again. This felt like a really personal interaction and one that I will treasure for the rest of my life:
Thanks to the lone Manta flashing his underside when he circled me as I freedived off @kihabeachmaldives the clever conservationists @mantatrust were able to identify him as ‘Mr. PADI who is one of the more common male mantas we see in Baa Atoll, his ID image is below’:
Incredible!
What an amazing experience and conclusion – I reckon he did it on purpose, the show off! 😂
You can submit pictures of Manta Rays for identification purposes to: www.mantatrust.org/IDtheManta
info@mantatrust.org
http://www.mantatrust.org/
So it is with great pleasure that I can make a donation to this great organisation, it was a pleasure meeting and dealing with them; respect to the work they do!
The 46th of my 40 donations goes to the Dharavandhoo Health Centre who helped me when I needed it in the Maldives.
The funds will go toward the infrastructural development of their Health Centre and to facilitate community health awareness programmes.
I really appreciate their friendly, cooperative and progressive approach. We also did our pre-flight PCR test at this facility and they were professional, hygienic and swift.
Thank you!
Pre-donation
Mid-donation
I paid $53 into the fund so based on the exchange rate below, in the right ball park!
For the avoidance of doubt, I did not graffiti the outer wall…
The 45th of my 40 donations goes to the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal, on Remembrance Day.
The Royal British Legion are the United Kingdom’s largest Armed Forces charity, with 180,000 members, 110,000 volunteers and a network of partners and charities; helping them give support wherever and whenever it’s needed.
The Forty Fourth of my 40 donations goes to Amnesty International UK Section Charitable Trust to stand up against injustice and help defend human rights for all.
I’ve seen some incredible stuff over the past few days at the ITU World Triathlon Championship, none more so than the ‘People of Determination’ as the UAE refers to someone who is less able than others, for whatever reason.
I really like this terminology and will adopt it going forward.
Who are people of determination?
Under the National Policy for Empowering People with Special Needs, people with special needs or disabilities will be referred to as ‘people of determination’ to recognise their achievements in different fields. As explained on the Abu Dhabi portal, the law defines a person with special needs as someone suffering from a temporary or permanent, full or partial deficiency or infirmity in his physical, sensory, mental, communication, educational or psychological abilities to an extent that limits his possibility of performing the ordinary requirements as people without special needs.
The UAE Government runs long-term targeted campaigns to help people of determination and they do not seem to be looking for donations.
The Forty-first of my forty donations goes to the Gabby Petito Foundation. The Gabby Petito Foundation has been established by Gabby’s parents in the memory of the Van Life Blogger who went missing while on a cross-country road trip across the United States of America.
The mission of the foundation is to address the needs of organizations who support locating missing persons and to provide aid to organizations who assist victims of domestic violence situations, through education, awareness, and prevention strategies.
Gabby’s parents wish to turn their personal tragedy into a positive by bringing these important issues into the forefront of the public eye to the benefit of all our communities.
The site must be down as it won’t let me donate via credit card or PayPal but I will continue to try.
I’ve been following a number of ‘van life’ stories and this one in particular came to my attention when it was reported in mid-September by the BBC that The couple had been stopped by police after what sounded like a domestic violence incident a couple of weeks before but the police determined they simply needed some time apart to cool off.
Following this, her Fiancé Brian had returned to his parent’s home from the road trip on 1st September in Gabby’s van but without Gabby! No one had heard from Gabby and Brian and his Family (who Gabby had lived with for over a year) were refusing would not talk to her Family or the Police. Her family reported her missing 10 days later.
After returning home, Brian then proceeded to go camping with his Family as if nothing has happened and upon being named as a person of interest, he took off on a lone hike which ultimately led to his disappearance. His parents even went and collected his car for him afterwards!
Unfortunately, Gabby’s remains were found about three weeks after Brian had returned home without her and this was almost a week after he disappeared.
I find it incredible that Brian and his Family can get away with saying nothing and him simply disappearing. It could appear that his very calculated actions got him a head start on the authorities. A warrant for his arrest was only issued for his unauthorised use of a debit card in Gabby’s name in late September – by this time he was long gone!
Sad as it is, I have become captivated by this story. What makes this story stand out from many others of a similar nature are some of the following considerations:
The internet aided by modern technology has responded in a way I have not ever seen or appreciated before. Some other Van Life bloggers Red White & Bethune happened to remember driving down a trail and seeing a white van that when they checked their dash cam turned out to by Gabby’s van and proved to be a crucial lead in locating her body. Even more incredible was that this happened on what would have been their Son’s Birthday but the Son was killed a few years back in a car accident and it was as if their late Son had somehow influenced this.
Even more incredible is that when the incredible internet sleuths analysed the footage they speculated about all sorts of things that do seem to appear in the video like the van’s back door closing as the Red White & Bethune van gets closer, Gabby’s flip flops and a book and pistol at the back of the van and various figures that seem to be walking in the woods close to the van – this could suggest that Gabby was still alive at this point, which I think was August 27th.
Brian was seen to be hitchhiking on the 29th of August when he was picked up by two different women. The second named Jalovec said she didn’t realize who she’d picked up until she saw a video posted on TikTok on September 17th by Miranda Baker, who claims she and her boyfriend picked Laundrie up on Aug. 29 when he was hitchhiking at 17:30 – Brian got out of the first ride after starting to act strangely for some unknown reason. Jalovec ended up taking Brian back to Spread Creek at 18:40.
When Gabby was found on the 20th September, the Coroner subsequently conducted an autopsy and classed her death as a homicide and determined she has been throttled. He also said that she had been dead for three to four weeks. Remember, by this time, Brian had been on the run for almost three weeks!
This and the fact that Brian was back at his Parent’s house IN GABBY’S VAN on 1st September suggest to me she was killed on the 27th or 28th and Brian took off on a hike before deciding he needed to use Gabby’s van to get back to his Parents.
During Brian’s drive back to his parents he created a new Spotify play list and this included a track with some suspiciously relevant lyrics.
Some internet sleuths have also speculated that Brian is hiding in a bunker under his parents house after his parents were spotted by a drone seemingly talking to a flower bed when what looks like a hand reaches out to pass something to his Mother!
There seem to be so many stands and avenues and characters involved in this story and so much information on the internet as people generate videos and analysis, many of which conflict that it is difficult to know what is current and what the truth is.
The only thing I know for sure is that even if Brian didn’t kill Gabby, what kind of person would leave another person, let alone someone they love and care for, alone without any of their things to be able to survive, it’s a death sentence in itself!
Thus, I can only assume he already knew she was dead.
Two other women who had complained about a ‘creepy guy’ near their campsite were shot to death and found in a creek similar to how Gabby was, only about 40 miles away. Coincidentally, following the traffic stop, the Police dropped Brian off at a motel only a few minutes walk from the last place these two women were last seen! Further, these two women were linked to Brian and Gabby as one of them worked in the Moonflower Community Cooperative where I understand Brian was seen arguing with Gabby outside.
Strangely enough, the day after these poor women were killed, Brian flew back home to clear out a storage unit with his Dad to ‘save money’ (a story which was changed by their Lawyer a few weeks later as frankly, it didn’t make sense). Why he would’ve been doing that? Wouldn’t the flight alone cost more money than he would have saved?
Brian then travelled back to meet Gabby and within a few days, she too was dead (and the pattern of travelling home repeated before his disappearance).
Further, the remains of a guy called Robert Lowery who supposedly committed suicide by gun shot wound in an area relatively close to where Gabby was found was only found because they were looking for Gabby and whilst this may be not be directly related and remains very sad for his family, it is at the very least notable in this case for its timeliness and proximity to where poor Gabby met her fate.
Some videos get published and are quickly taken down as these are ongoing investigations so I’ll continue to follow them closely.
#JusticeforGabby
Brian found dead, 21/10/2021:
Remains found in the Carlton Reserve – Popcorned Plant’s is a very good summary of the situation
They knew Brian was ‘GRIEVING‘ before he set off and yet, said nothing
Brian Laundrie claimed responsibility for Gabby Petito’s death:
Brian Laundrie claimed responsibility for Gabby Petito’s death in the notebook that was found by his body, FBI says 20/01/2022. He supposedly died from a single self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In the spirit of positivity, I am concluding this post with a link to Gabby’s ‘Nomadic Statik’ YouTube and her blog in memory of her and to show that she was a talented individual. It is eerie that only the one video that was published on August 19th exists as that is all she was able to complete before she was killed and also that it has now been viewed so many times – rest in peace Gabby, you did a great job!
The Fortieth of my 40 donations goes to the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).
CALM are united against suicide. That means standing against feeling shit, standing up to stereotypes, and standing together to show life is always worth living.
CALM help to make sure everyone gets the support they need, no matter what.
125 lives are lost every week to suicide. And 75% of all UK suicides are male.
CALM aim to change that by provoking conversation, running life-saving services, and bringing people together so they reject living miserably, get help when they need it and don’t die by suicide.
The Thirty Ninth of my 40 donations goes to Level Up. Level Up is a Feminist organisation based in the UK whose mission is to build a community of people who can work together to interrupt all forms of gender injustice.
Level Up’s vision is a world where people of all genders are loved and liberated from the systems of oppression that lead to bodily and systemic violence.
Level Up want a membership from all walks of life. Our race, class, sexuality, gender identity and ability affect our experiences of sexism, and Level Up run campaigns that take that into account.
Level Up want feminism to be easy to understand: Plenty of people care about gender equality who haven’t read lots of feminist theory or been involved in activism. Level Up is the place for them.
Level Up want to have fun: Living with sexism can be tiring. Level Up want to make campaigning as fun and enjoyable as possible and Level Up try not to take themselves too seriously all the time.
The Thirty Seventh of my 40 donations goes to the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust. The Battle of Britain Memorial includes the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall at Capel-le-Ferne. The Memorial wall lists the names of all the aircrew known to have flown with a recognised squadron during the Battle of Britain, which took place between 10 July and 31 October 1940 – just under 3,000 men in total.
Sponsoring one of the names on the wall allows you to form a special bond with one of the individuals who flew to preserve the Freedom of the United Kingdom in 1940.
Coincidentally, you can sponsor one of those names for a donation of just £40!
I posted this today as the 15th September is also known as Battle of Britain Day, an annual commemoration of the battle in the United Kingdom. The 15th of September date is significant as a large-scale aerial battle (some say the climax of the Battle of Britain) took place on the 15th September 1940; the German defeat proved to be a turning point in the whole war.
The wall is named in tribute to the late Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, a Hurricane fighter pilot in 1940. He was the first President of the Battle of Britain Memorial Trust and, together with Lady Foxley-Norris, provided the funds that allowed plans for the wall to go ahead.
By sponsoring a name on the wall, I will receive a commemorative folder containing a certificate marking my donation and a copy of my airman’s entry in ‘Men of the Battle of Britain’, the recognised guide to the men who took part in the RAF’s critical defence of England’s shores.
I will update this post with the details of who my chosen Airman is and hopefully, some of his story.
