THROUGHOUT June a local photographer will be taking on a great voyage around the UK to raise money for charity.
Mark Cosgrove, from Monk Bretton, set sail from Whitby on Thursday along with his son Alfie and friends Graham Crowler and Eugene Campbell as they hope to raise £10,000 for Weston Park Cancer Charity.
The four will be stuck on Mark’s 30-foot-long yacht Brieli for a three-week, non-stop voyage around the British Isles.
He told the Chronicle: “In 2012 I had a tumour removed.
“Then my mother-in-law got diagnosed with cancer six years ago and she went to Weston Park Cancer Charity.
“When I visited her everyone from the charity was so kind and compassionate - they’re amazing.
“They’re funded entirely by charitable donations, so I realised at that point I wanted to do something to help.
“I’m not 100 per cent fit and well myself, I’m still struggling a bit from my own surgery and recovery, so it affected what I could do.
“I put a post on Facebook saying that I wanted to do a charity sail and in only three days it got half a million hits.
“I realised I was onto something here.”
A seasoned sailor, Mark has 30 years’ experience on deck, however has been landlocked since his surgery.
Last year, he decided to buy a boat again and rediscover his beloved hobby.
“Once I had the idea I had to figure out who’d be joining us,” he added.
“I was getting people offering to donate and join from all over the world but I realised that a lot of them were just looking for a cheap sailing holiday.
“I wanted people who had some connection to the charity, or a real reason to support.
“Graham had been messaging me every way he could right from the beginning saying he wanted to join.
“I knew him in advance and just responded saying: ‘don’t worry, you’re coming’.
“Then we spent a lot of time looking for someone else to join.
“Eugene messaged, he’s a photojournalist who went up in an RAF Hercules above the clouds to get footage of the eclipse.
“Everyone will have seen some of his work, and Alfie was instantly interested.
“He said it meant a lot to him and he wanted to help us out.”
With the crew ready, all that was left was organising fundraising.
Mark set up a page with the charity and has been planning various other options to raise funds.
They plan on posting regular updates, documenting the trip, as they encourage people to donate.
“With cancer it’s not just about raising money.
“It’s also about raising awareness about checking yourself, knowing what to look out for and catching these things early.
“We’re going to live stream into the charity while we’re away and talk to the patients about how everything’s going.
“We’re going to have an interactive map so people can see where we are along the trip - we want to let everyone see what’s happening.”
* You can donate here: https://wpcc-register-fundraiser.raisely.com/t/voyageforhopebrieli?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3m8Q0IkUrEOWpFyD7oo—5irSoy2V3cJuvzQ3ZRATB2FFGSY7TqPkGwHkg—aem—AZ7JyRKgNirK6FM6hJwFz4ihqta9—6mUHY-6M80d22——oHZLbFoF7PjsOQe4DtaNmgwfIJrivYzmrjxrHxJK1-kE
