A powerful, painful and yet beautiful campaign for Amnesty International, directed by Pleix for TBWA Paris.

This weekend Nick, Debbie and I together with a group of 16 other brave adventurers, trekked up Snowdon in aid of local charity Climb Your Mountain (CYM), which supports people who suffer from anxiety, stress and depression.

The hike up the mountain was also a great way for Debbie and I  to do some last minute training for our trek along the Great Wall of China for CYM (on the 1st May!) and for Nick to get ready for his own adventure, up to the summit of Mont Blanc in July.

We arrived on Saturday and were blessed by glorious weather as we made our way up the Miner trail to some of Snowdon’s most beautiful lakes. After that it was back to the B&B for some well deserved R&R before our hard ascent the following day.

On Sunday, once again drenched in sunshine, we pushed our way up The Llanberis Path towards the summit and the melting snow, up some tough scree strewn tracks and steps big enough to compete with the Great Wall!

Everyone did brilliantly and we reached the top of Snowdon just in time for some lunch and plenty of celebratory photos before we began our descent back down to ground level and the mini bus waiting to take us, aching but exhilarated, home to Milton Keynes. 

www.climbyourmountain.org

Milton Keynes charity Climb Your Mountain gains national TV exposure as part of Sport Relief. If you look closely you may spot me in the running group! This is the charity Lottie and I are raising money for with our Great Wall of China trek.

If you would like to support us and this charity, visit:

www.justgiving.com/lottieanddebbiechinatrek

There was blood, sweat and tears on Friday when the Milton Keynes business community got together to play out their lunch break on the MK Lions basketball court in Middleton Hall, thecentre:mk, in support of the Milton Keynes Community Foundation’s Heart Campaign.

Managing Director of Interdirect, Nicholas Mann, joined forces with Robert Goodman, Centre Director of thecentre:mk, and  Charlie Wardle, Founder of Milton Keynes mental health charity Climb Your Mountain,  to form the Ambassadors Team for the Milton Keynes Community Foundation.

The MKCF Ambassadors, helped by MK Lions Coach Vince Macaulay, fought through 2 hours of tough, 10 minute battles. However it was the team from Ramada, with some ingenious shots  that stole the top spot, whilst Nick, Robert and Charile’s efforts (with just a little help from Vince) put the Ambassadors in an admirable third place.

www.mkcommunityfoundation.co.uk

Here at Interdirect we are very proud to support local charities both as a company and through our team’s individual efforts. This year is no exception and along with Interdirect’s support of Willen Hospice, MKCF, MK Snap and NCF to name but a few, members of our team will be supporting their own charities and causes close to their heart.

This May,  Debbie and I will be trekking and scrambling our way along some of the most remote areas of the Great Wall of China to raise money for Climb Your Mountain, a mental health charity based in Milton Keynes which supports those who suffer from depression and anxiety.

The trek, though an adventure, is going to be tough, with gruelling days up some of the most remote areas of the Great Wall.  Debbie and I will be conquering our own challenges as well as helping others conquer theirs, by raising money for this great charity and helping local people battle this terrible and often misunderstood illness.

If you would like to help us please spare just a little, (or a lot!) and sponsor us at

www.justgiving.com/LottieandDebbieChinaTrek 

What impact is the iPad going to have on the Media Industry?

Can what The Economist called “a giant iPhone on steroids” really save this sickly sector from obsolescence?

With piracy and free downloads gradually letting the lifeblood from the Music and Publishing Industries, an easy-to-use touch screen device at a significant but still portable size, is likely to dramatically improve the users experience of reading, watching and listening online.

However as much as apple leads the way in technology, the failure of the Palm Pre and other touch phones  to successfully compete with the iPhone demonstrates that their core asset is the iStore. It is this which will again block out competitors in the touch tablet market.  With the ability to easily, not just download, but more importantly purchase and download high quality music, magazines, books and films, the media Industry should succeed in plastering the wound of piracy for while, as the benefits of quality and ease of accessibility encourage people to purchase media.

But can anything bought really compete with something that’s free? It may stop the bleeding temporarily but only time will tell if  the iPad can really help the media industry heal the wound and fully recover.