Fife GP Bob Grant - “Dr Bob” to his friends - recently completed an impressive 100 mile “Hop Across Scotland” to raise money for Maggie’s Centres. With the aid of his trusty crutches, Dr Bob walked from Bowling in Dumbartonshire to Kirkcaldy in Fife, visiting Maggie’s Centres in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Fife along the way.

This is Dr Bob’s third walk for charity and his second for Maggie’s Centres, which help people adjust to living with cancer by providing patients, families and friends with support in carefully designed centres located close to an NHS hospital.

Dr Bob’s influential career in the field of cancer has been intertwined with his own experiences ever since he was diagnosed with a non-Hodgkins lymphoma in his thigh bone at the age of just 15. In 2001, after a bad break, his leg problems returned, culminating in eventual amputation in 2002.

Cara Dodson, the Community Fundraiser for Maggie’s Fife had this to say about Dr Bob’s amazing achievement:

“Dr Bob is a phenomenal fundraiser. His enthusiasm and love of a challenge has encouraged people to get involved and join him on his ‘Hop’, raising thousands of pounds for his local Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre in Fife. We rely on public fundraising to run our network of Cancer Caring Centres across the UK. Dr Bob not only raises funds for Maggie’s, but also spreads the word about the free support we offer to people with cancer and their carers, family and friends. We are very thankful to him for his ongoing and tireless work.”

You can view Dr Bob’s JustGiving page and make a donation here, and you can see his photos and blog posts from the event at: www.bobswalk.co.uk.

It’s probably a bit of an understatement to describe social media consultant Christopher Thorpe as an “early adopter”. Chris recently returned from a four-day walking holiday in Austria during which he was raising money for the Child’s i Foundation, “lifestreaming” all the way. That is, Chris was using new technology - including an application he wrote himself - to update his donors with photos, tweets and his GPS location. You can view the results on Chris’s blog here.

Now, you might not have Chris’s technical expertise, but his story is still a great example of how you can use new technology like mobile phones with Internet connectivity to provide your donors with a more interactive fundraising process.

We asked Chris to give us the benefit of his experience.

JustGiving: What inspired you to do four walks in Austria for charity?

Christopher Thorpe: I really needed a holiday and so started planning one, but I’d also been deeply affected by some of the themes of the Activate Summit which I’d helped to set up at The Guardian. The summit was all about the deep societal impact that technology can have if it’s done well. However, the summit also had discussions about the challenges we must face up to such as disease, poverty, oppression and climate change. It struck me that there were many people in the world who would never know what a holiday was, so I wanted to do something good with my time as well as relaxing.

JG: Could you explain a bit about the technology you used on your walks to let people track your event from your website? What are some of the gadgets you used?

CT: I’ve got a couple of mobile phones which I was using for this. One is an Android phone for which I wrote a really simple application that sent my GPS location to a service I’d written, which in turn powered a live-updating Google map. I also used an iPhone 3GS to send and receive Twitter messages, and to send geotagged photos, and to collect GPS trails  - although it crashed as I was walking for so long! I also had Nike+ to give me an idea of how fast, slow, far I was going. The live map, tweets and photos were all pulled into the website as they were uploaded so people could see exactly what I was doing, seeing and feeling. I also used one of the JustGiving widgets so people could see my fundraising progress.

JG: Was it difficult finding signal strength to transmit your location data while you were on the walks? How often were you able to update your location?

CT: Signal strength actually wasn’t too bad. Getting a GPS fix was sometimes a bit tricky, especially in the shadow of some of the mountains, but on most of the walks I could update about once every ten minutes. It was reasonably well automated, but the software I wrote for the Android (in about 3 hours) was a bit crash-prone! I’ve now bought a book and will write it properly this time for the next fun project.

JG: Can you tell us a bit about Child’s I and why you chose to fundraise for them?

CT: They’re a totally wonderful charity for a many reasons. First of all, what they’re trying to do, to build a transitional babies home in Uganda is amazingly worthwhile. In Uganda violence, poverty and HIV/AIDS causes hundreds of babies to be dumped by their desperate mothers. As a father of a young son I just can’t sit still and not do something to help better the chances for these children. Second, I love Child’s I for being powered by volunteers. They’re a “crowdsourced” charity essentially. This keeps their costs and overheads very low which means they can do more with every pound you raise. They’re also great believers in the power of their supporters to be the charity’s voice rather than spending money on advertising. Finally, I love the way they’re using blogs, video, Twitter, Facebook and amazing bits of home grown technology like their totally amazing Buy A Brick website to raise awareness, build community and momentum, and raise money.

JG: Do you think using technology has helped you to raise more money?

CT: I think it did. I’d decided to do the walks a while ago and do them for charity, but due to a hectic work schedule I hadn’t had time to ask for sponsorship or build any of the tech until the week that I left for Austria. Many people sponsored from seeing what was going on live on the site and from me updating on Facebook and Twitter. It think it also raised awareness of the charity, which is important as it brings more potential helpers and donors into contact with the cause.

JG: If JustGiving could implement one piece of cool fundraising technology what would it be?

CT: I think making things a bit more real-time and bidirectional. There is a magical time when you are actually doing the sponsored event, where your supporters can send you messages of support and you can tell them exactly what you’re doing, either through sharing your location or by sending updates. I gained so much from talking to my supporters many miles away. Because I was sending messages and they were replying, it felt like they were with me when I needed them most.

On Tuesday night, at Plymouth Albion’s Brickfields Recreation Ground, teams from the Royal Marines and the Peninsula Medical school faced off in the Medics Rugby Challenge. In the crowd of around 1,700 people were the team’s respective sponsors, Scott Quinnell (ex-Llanelli Scarlets and The Lions) and Will Greenwood (ex-Harlequins and The Lions), as well as local celebrities including Plymouth-born actress Emma Pierson.

For added fundraising value there was also an Under-16s warm up game between Devonport Services and Ivybridge RFC, a raffle and an auction.

The event was organised by Surgeon Commander Anthony “Doc” Lambert. As surgeon in the Royal Navy, Doc has patched up his fair share of the casualties of war and is always amazed at the resilience of those servicemen and women wounded in the line of duty, as well as their drive and determination to recover.

Amazingly, the event has already raised nearly £21,000 - almost £6,000 more than Doc’s target! - which Help for Heroes will use to provide practical, direct support to military personnel wounded in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You can view Doc’s JustGiving page and donate here.

You can find out more about Help for Heroes here.

Here a quick competition for Bonfire Night. Send us a photo of your Guy - before you burn him please! - and the best one will win a £50 donation to the charity of your choice.

What makes a impressive Guy? Well, it could be size, clothing, a humorous facial expression… Let your imagination run riot. This is one instance where nice Guys finish first.

When you’re ready, e-mail your photo to featured@justgiving.com with ‘Guy Fawkes Competition’ in the subject field. The closing date for entries is Wednesday, 11th November.

It’s been away a while, but the email tool in the JustGiving account is back.

So you can now go to your JustGiving account to send emails about your fundraising to all your friends. If you’d still like to use your own email system (like Hotmail or Gmail) to contact people, that’s fine too.

Remember there are all kinds of ways to spread the word about your fundraising. As well as email, there’s the JustGiving Facebook application, Facebook Connect on JustGiving, our JustGiving widget and of course Twitter. And if you’re looking for an alternative to all those web options, Moo cards are really handy.

So take your pick or try them all - use whatever works best for you!

Two year-old Sophie Atay was on ITV news today. She’s waiting for treatment for a high risk neuroblastoma and her parents have launched an appeal to help fund it.

Find out all about the Sophie Appeal, which is raising money for Sophie’s treatment through the 2Simple Trust, and make a donation on JustGiving now.

You might remember the news stories in the Telegraph last month and back in May, about the tragic accident that happened to Sarah and Christopher Hope’s family two years ago.

Sarah Hope lost a large part of her leg when a bus crashed into her, her mother Elizabeth and her daughter Pollyanna in Mortlake. After Elizabeth died in the accident and Pollyanna lost her leg, Sarah has spent the past two years making sure some good comes out of such a horrific ordeal. Pollyanna has since been fitted with a prosthetic leg, and Sarah has devoted time to supporting The Limbless Association to help others who are less fortunate.

Maria Jones from The Limbless Association nominated Sarah as our fundraiser of the month, after Sarah completed the Great South Run, the second of her two fundraising runs for the charity. We find Sarah such an inspiration that we’ve awarded her the humble title. Maria’s response was “This is wonderful news! Sarah us such a wonderful lady and she and her family have been so supportive of our charity.”

Maria kindly put us in touch with Sarah, who tells us a bit more about her fundraising here.

Hi Sarah. Congratulations on the Great South Run! How was it?

Hello! the run was fab, I had a wonderful team of seven friends including Pollyanna’s prosthetist running with me. Such amazing support, like on the Run to the Beat. It was lovely running by the sea but hard work in the wind!

What was going through your mind as you were doing the race?

The first two miles and the last two miles were really hard work and I was really aching, but I thought of land mine victims and people who do not have the same access to new legs like my daughter and I told myself to stop whinging!

You’ve got an amazing and moving story behind your fundraising. What spurs you on to keep going?

My mother died in the same accident as me and the one in which my daughter lost her leg. My mother was an amazingly kind person, always helping people. She did Meals on Wheels, Save the Children, helped fundraise for the Shropshire Hospice and many others besides. I need to help the Limbless Association, because it ‘helps me to help’. May be the whole wretched thing does not have to be so pointless.

How did you find and get in touch with the Limbless Association?

I found out about the Limbless Association when my daughter was having her first prosthetic leg made at Roehampton Hospital.

Can you talk a bit about what the funds you’re raising will go towards?

I am hoping the Limbless Association will use the funds to help run their charity whose profile needs raising . There are about 70,000 amputees in the UK who lose their limbs through illness or trauma and the Limbless Association is the only charity to offer desparately needed guidance, support and advice for the amputees and their families.

We hope to give money towards research into better quality legs. We would like a leg to be developed that has toes that move so my daughter can point her toes in ballet like all her friends. My surgeon after the accident, who is also my daughter’s surgeon, is giving me the details of a hospital in Vietnam where I would like to spend a lot of the money in improving the lives of many land mine victims.

My daughter has been unable to wear her prosthetic leg for three months now and I have become more aware than ever of children who may not be able to get new legs at all. Pollyanna has wonderful care and the idea of her using a stick for the rest of her life, like lots of land mine victims do, is just unthinkable.

What would be your number one fundraising tip to other people on JustGiving?

Just keep on giving out your details and ask everyone you know to email everyone they know and spread the word!!

Put on some lovely photos too!

Have an achievable target too! I have told a lot of people that just £20 buys a new leg in a third world country, which seems like a reasonable amount, so a lot of people have given me £20 and it all mounts up.

Is there anything in particular you like about JustGiving?

Yes, it is quick and easy!

We’re glad you’ve found us so helpful. What message would you like to give to people on JustGiving?

I am very touched to be fundraiser of the month. I do not deserve it at all and I would like to say a very big THANK YOU!!!!!!

Thank you for telling us your experience and tips Sarah, and all the best to you and your family.

You can support Sarah’s fundraising here.

Yesterday our very own Community Manager Heather set off on an intrepid adventure through South America with her friends Dave and Andy - the challenge being to make it from Hyancayo in Peru to Asunción in Paraguay in two weeks… by mototaxi.

Here's Heather cheering at the Great North Run last month

As a dedicated JustGiver, it was about time that Heather had her first JustGiving page, so she, Dave and Andy will be motoring across the continent (at anything between a barely-moving 1kph and a slightly more exciting 70kph) for Operation Smile. If you haven’t heard of the charity before, it’s dedicated to providing free reconstructive surgery to children with facial disfigurements in the developing world and you can read more about its work here.

We’re wishing Heather, Dave and Andy the best of weather conditions, driving stamina and luck in the challenge - and wondering where exactly they is at the moment… if we’re lucky Heather might tweet an update soon…

We announce the winners of our PayPal Food-Film-Pun-Off

How on earth have we managed to judge the ten *best* puns from this wonderful bunch?

Well, it’s been tough, especially as a few of the funniest puns are variations on a theme and very, very similar…

In the end, a panel of four of us picked the ten puns that made us laugh out loud the most (yes, in the end it came down to the lols).

So massive congratulations to our ten winners! You each receive a £1,000 donation to the charity of your choice, courtesy of PayPal:

1. Pitta Pan (Guy Mills)

2. Quantum of Sausage (Colin Greaves)

3. Educating Raita (Nigel Speight)

4. The Naan in the Iron Mask (Frances Jones)

5. One Flew Over The Couscous Nest (Linda Burbridge)

6. The Texas Chainsaw Moussaka (Kat Lacy)

7. Dude, Where’s My Carbonara? (Ben Townsend)

8. Lawrence of Arrabiata (Jethro Brewin)

9. A Few Good Menus (David Wood)

10. Butch Casserole and the Sun Dried Squid (Jacqui Noon)

We’ve already contacted each winner individually, to find out which charity - or charities - they would like to benefit from their £1,000 donation prize.

Benefitting charities so far include Meningitis Research Foundation, Evening Chronicle Sunshine Fund, Great North Air Ambulance Service, Disasters Emergency Committee, Crisis, Maggie’s Centres, NSPCC, Kick 4 Life, Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust, Nsumbi Trust and the Big Issue Foundation.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already, we urge you to take a tea break and enjoy all these puns for yourselves…

JustGiving at the Cardiff Half

Last Sunday, runners from all over the world - fundraising for hundreds of charities - came to South Wales for the seventh Cardiff Half Marathon. More than 11,000 people ran this year’s race, making it one of the Wales’ largest international sporting events.

JustGiving’s Felicity was there to cheer the runners on and got some great photos too. So over to Felicity to tell you more about the day:

“We enjoyed the blue skies and sunshine as the runners enjoyed one of the flattest and most scenic races in the UK, on a route through the heart of the historic city centre and Cardiff Bay, taking in the Millennium Stadium, Welsh Assembly, Castle and Parks - raising money for good causes along the way!

Around 800 runners were raising money for Barnardo’s Cymru – the event’s official charity and co-organisers. We spoke to Aga from the charity who told us they were both proud of event’s achievement (putting Cardiff on the autumn running calendar and bringing so many fundraisers together) and excited at the prospect of the event growing over the coming years. Having started out in 2003 with a modest 1,500 runners, the Cardiff Half Marathon is going from strength to strength.

The Welsh capital had an amazing atmosphere this year, and we met loads of smiling runners at the finish line – some of you had beaten personal bests, others had competed for the first time, and loads of you had raised fantastic amounts for your chosen charities.

We loved the fab superhero outfits for SOS Africa, big smiles from ‘Peter Andre’ and friends for The Neuroblastoma Society, and it was great to hear that local boys Torchwood’s Rhys (Kai Owen) and The Automatic’s Robin Hawkins were both running this year, raising money for CLIC Sargent.”

Check out the JustGiving Flickr stream for more photos from the weekend, and please get in touch with your stories - we’d love to hear how the rest of you got on!