A fitting tribute to Freddie

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Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

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2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic death in an accident of young Freddie McGuire, the infant son of Scorpio Distributors Managing Director Stuart McGuire and his wife Joelle.

To mark that anniversary, Stuart (above) is embarking on an extraordinarily daunting fund-raising effort on behalf of the Freddie McGuire Charitable Trust and I’m going to be impudent enough to ask the travel retail industry to make a special effort to support him. Any funds raised will benefit a national children’s air ambulance project in the UK (see below for details) and save many young lives.

Stuart has always – always – been first in the queue to support others’ causes and charities, such as The Smile Train, the various DFNI Charity Balls, Hand in Hand for Haiti and so on. He’s also one of the kindest individuals one could ever hope to know. In this poignant landmark year it’s time to support him, honour Freddie’s memory and help save tender young lives.

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[Stuart (left) with fellow runners Martyn Westbury and James KFouri at the 2008 ‘Miles for Smiles’ run in Dubai].

The Freddie McGuire Charitable Trust aims to increase awareness of potential accidents around the home and vehicle; to help family members cope with the tragic loss of children; and to provide funds for children’s hospitals, emergency paediatric retrieval units, and paediatric intensive care units.

Since the Trust was founded, over £50,000 (US$74,000) has been raised in donations, mainly through sponsorship of sporting events in which the family have participated.

Stuart himself must have pedalled more miles than Lance Armstrong, run more kilometres than Abebe Bikila and swam more laps than Michael Phelps in his various fund-raising initiatives down the years.

Now he’s taking on his toughest test. I’ll let Stuart take up the story from his Just Giving website (http://www.justgiving.com/stuart-mcguire0)

“I have grouped together with 2 good friends to raise money this year, and between us we are taking place in 2, possibly 3 events.

“Andy Rink and Scott Davies are taking part in the Etap stage of the Tour de France on 18th July – this beast of an event is one of the most gruelling challenges possible on a bike, covering over 150Km of hills and mountains to the Col du Tourmalet.  All this to be achieved in one day, and within a certain time!  You can either sponsor them via me through this page, or go to their Just Giving accounts also.

“Once they have recovered from this task, we are all undertaking the Helvellyn triathlon – one of the 10 hardest triathlons in the world! This involves a 1 mile swim in Ullswater, a 40 mile bike ride through the Lake District including the famous ‘Struggle’ up Kirkstone Pass, followed by a 9 mile run up Helvellyn, the second highest peak in England.

“If we are still moving after that, we are considering a cycle from Crawley to Cannes this year in time for the exhibition in October – this will take around 5 days, but we have not finalised yet.

“Our main aim this year is to raise funds for a national children’s air ambulance project, which will help save the lives of hundreds of children each year in the UK. More information on this excellent project can be seen at www.tcaa.org.uk.”

So please, make a special effort on this one. Please visit: http://www.justgiving.com/stuart-mcguire0 and donate generously.