Dear everyone ~ I’ve finished my Fun Tri Challenge. Today at 4.30pm I emerged from kind Mrs Burtenshaws’ bungalow near the Beck. I was amazed to see so many friendly faces who had gathered to watch my little bit of fun. Everone so kindly cheered & clapped me I was quite overwhelmed. However I was there to fulfill my final promise ~ a surprise element to my water challenge, so I composed myself & did a little twirl to show off my shark fin! Mr Risebrow our lovely senior teacher at the Primary School encouraged all the children in a countdown & the lady from the good neighbour scheme had kindly given the children little hooters to use. I enthusiasticly plunged into the Beck & immediatly filled my snorkel tube up with water and had to surface coughing & spluttering up water. I panicked for a moment ~ all these people watching & my snorkelling was going wrong already. I emptied my snorkel & mouth of water and remembering what I had practiced in the swimming pool, set off once more. This time I managed to breath successfully through my snorkel & started to do circular laps of the pond. Even though it was not very deep I was able to float & use my arms to do a gentle breast stroke. I could hear the children & everyone encouraging me and especially the hooters even when my head was under water. Spurred on by this I continued to snorkel for several minutes enjoying the veiw underwater ~ it was mostly just murky and gravelly but I did have an exciting moment when I saw half of a brick! After a while I decided I’d been a shark for long enough & climbed out to see all my friends. I put on my beloved Scottish hat for a photo shot & then suddenly feeling dreadfully cold tried to put on a blanket & dressing gown to keep warm. Unfortunately this was tricky because of my fin! But my husband & friends kindly wrapped me up as I couldn’t stop shaking with cold. A lovely lady from the Good Neighbour Scheme presented me with a beautiful plant & flower arrangement ~ I was so surprised. After posing for a few more photos it was time to turn back into a human & return to the bungalow for a hot cup of tea to warm me up & take away the taste of the Beck ~ ho ho. Thank you to EVERYONE for your amazing support. I wanted to make people smile with my Fun Tri Challenge & I’m so happy that everyone seemed to enjoy my antics! Now I will be working hard to collect in all the sponsor money for the two good causes & I will let you all know when I have a grand total. With love from Mandy xxxx
