Girl on the River
Girl on the River
Bernie Hollywood OBE on Love Rowing and charity adventures
Ep 8. Most of us have done a little bit of charity fundraising at some point in our lives - we've maybe run a 5K or given up alcohol for a few weeks or completed an erg challenge. Most of us haven't raised £42 million for charity. My guest this week, the amazing Bernie Hollywood OBE, has done just that alongside an incredibly demanding career as a banker. This extraordinarily driven man has run 150 marathons, trekked to both Poles, crossed deserts, and is now planning to row the Atlantic on his own.
Equally importantly, he's just taken up the position of Foundation Manager of Love Rowing - British Rowing's new charitable foundation aimed at increasing diversity and inclusivity in rowing. I was so delighted when Bernie agreed to come on the show as his values align so much with those of Girl on the River, and I was keen to quiz him about exactly what Love Rowing is all about.
In this episode we discuss:
- What motivates Bernie to be such a prolific fundraiser and how it all began
- Why he always refers to his charity challenges as "adventures"
- Bernie's ethos
- Love Rowing - its aims and objectives and how it will work
- How rowing makes a difference in young people's lives
- Bernie's next adventure - the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic challenge
- The innovations Bernie is introducing to his Atlantic row
- Bernie's ambitions to raise £1 million for Love Rowing and the Samaritans
You can find out all about Love Rowing on its website, here, and on Twitter at @LoveRowing_BRCF. All enquiries about Love Rowing and Bernie's fundraising should be directed to info@loverowing.org.
Bernie's website is here.
The British Rowing Inclusive Club Guide that Bernie refers to can be downloaded here.
The artist who is designing the artwork covering Bernie's boat for the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge is Justin Eagleton.
The number for the Samaritans is 116 123 (it's free, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year). They also have a self-help app where you can keep track of how you're feeling, and get recommendations for things you can do to help yourself cope, feel better and stay safe in a crisis.
This is Girl on the River, the Podcast. Whole crew, come forward to row. Hello, and welcome back to Girl on the River, the Podcast, for episode eight. Before I introduce you to this week's guest, I'd like to say particular thanks to everyone who has shared, rated and reviewed the podcast this week and to everyone who's commented on social media as well. I've had so many lovely comments, and I honestly appreciate every single one. So thank you. I'm also really grateful for the brilliant suggestions for guests for the podcast and I'm pleased to say I've already booked a couple of the people you suggested to come on the show. So I really do listen to what you want. If you're on Apple don't forget to leave a review - I'll put a link in the show notes - and keep sharing the podcast. You can contact me anytime on social media at@girlontheriver or by email at girlontheriverpodcast@gmail.com. Now I know this month is proving particularly difficult for a lot of people. This deeper lockdown, combined with the cold and dark, means that a lot of people are struggling with their mental health, even people who don't normally have mental health issues. Please do keep checking in with your friends. And if you're struggling yourself, please don't suffer alone. Reach out to someone. try and explain how you're feeling however difficult that is. And if you need to talk my DMs are always open. The Samaritans are also a brilliant resource, and I'm going to put their details in the show notes. This subject is of particular significance to today's guest. Bernie Hollywood OBE has already raised a phenomenal 42 million pounds for charity, alongside a career as a banker. He's trekked to both Poles, climbed the highest mountains, hiked across deserts, cycled across continents and run 150 marathons including the notorious Marathon des Sables. He's set up and advised charities, built schools in Africa and addressed the United Nations and the Houses of Parliament. He's also a member of Grosvenor Rowing Club in Chester and I'm delighted to say he's recently become Foundation Manager for Love Rowing, which is British Rowing's Charitable Foundation dedicated to improving accessibility and diversity in rowing - and frankly, I can't think of a better man for the job. In 2022, he's going to row solo across the Atlantic as part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge and he plans to raise a million pounds to be split between the Samaritans and Love Rowing. He's an absolute force of nature. Well, a very warm welcome to the podcast, Bernie Hollywood.
Bernie Hollywood:Thank you, Patricia. Thanks for having me today.
Patricia Carswell:Well, it's an absolute pleasure. And I'm particularly delighted to have you on the show because you are involved in some in a new endeavour, which I think will be of very great interest to people in the rowing world. Now, you are not someone who does things by halves. I think it's probably fair to say...
Bernie Hollywood:That... oh, well, I would say that that's fair. Yes.
Patricia Carswell:Now, most people have done a little bit of fundraising in their lives - most of us have done a 5K or a monthly challenge or given up alcohol for a few weeks or whatever. Most people have not raised 42 million pounds for charity and really devoted their lives. So I'm really interested to know what it is about you that has driven you to do all of that. And you've done that alongside a proper job, you know, a very demanding job. So tell me what it is that's driven you to do this? Is it nature or nurture, or a bit of both?
Bernie Hollywood:I think it's really a bit of both, to be fair. I mean, it goes back to sort of when I was, what, 20, 25 years of age, really when I... it's like you have a pivotal moment in your life when something changes, and it sets you on a different path really, to be fair. So at the age of 25, I lost my both my parents relatively close to one another with cancer, and emphysema, and it really sort of shook the foundations for me personally, because I was very close to both of them. And we came from a very poor background. Although I didn't know it at the time, you know, we were relatively poor, and not a, not an awful lot of income coming through to the house. But we were extremely happy because we had everything else in our lives. A lot of love. My mother and my father used to give an awful lot of their particular wages away, which I really couldn't understand seeing as we were quite poor. But my mum was a giver. And the whole family just gave everything of time and money and resource and it was just in our DNA, to be fair. And then when mum sadly passed away, my three other brothers and I decided to actually run a marathon. And now at the age of 25, which is what was 30... 36 years ago, to run a marathon was quite something. And so the family got together and the four of us decided to run, what's no longer there now, it's called the Piccadilly Manchester marathon - it's now defunct. And we ran it and it was absolutely atrocious. We trained for it and we walked halfway round it, to be fair, any why we were doing it at the end of the day, but we were doing in memorial for Mum. And we raised, we raised some money for a great charity, a cancer charity that we gave that money to. And that's really where my journey began, because I really found out that Mum was right, that it to actually give something away, whether it's money, time, resource, you get so much back in return, and to give is to receive and really that's been my mantra ever, ever since, to be fair, so that my journey started way back then. And I really haven't stopped since, to be fair, I saw the enjoyment that we got out of the events and we saw the joy that we got with basically raising the funds at the time. And then it just snowballed from there to be honest with you. I then became quite a prolific runner. I ran all over the world and ran numerous marathons.
Patricia Carswell:So how many marathons have you run?
Bernie Hollywood:Well in excess of 150. Well, to one extreme, it's 150, but I did 30 - sorry, 41 - back to back, consecutive marathons in 20 days. I ran around from John O'Groats to Land's End. And then I ran the London Marathon at the end of it. So I did...
Patricia Carswell:What sort of shape were you in by the end of that?
Bernie Hollywood:I lost around two stones in weight, Patricia. So it's a great way to lose weigh!. So anybody wants to go in on a crash diet, run the country. But I have an amazing support team behind me and really throughout the whole of my life, everything that I've achieved in fundraising, setting up charities, running charities, basically, mentoring, collaborating, running them, has all been done by an amazing group of people that I've got around me, I mean, I'm not great at many things. But bringing people together with the right resource, and networking, and making it fit is really a real good strength of mine. I know where to pick winners, and put people together that make it really, really happen very, very well. And really, it's benefited me so well over the last 35 years, not only in my charitable work, but also in my career as a banker, corporate banker, has led me down the charity route as well, because obviously, my peers within within the banking organisation I used to work in saw it as a strength. And we in the previous banking group that I was in looked after over 100,000, charities, clubs and societies. And so they basically gave me that responsibility to look after that, that group of important customers that the bank looked after, but also gave me a free rein to actually go out and see if I could make those particular clubs, charities and societies more profitable, more successful, more sustainable. And to that end, I created a lot of banking products that basically raised millions of pounds for those organisations through very innovative products that I put through for them. So yeah, it's been a great journey, it really has.
Patricia Carswell:And just logistically, you were working as a banker, and that's, that's not a low level job. That's a very demanding job. How, really, did you hold down a serious job, raise a family and do all that stuff for charity? And actually, you know, still be fit and healthy and able to function?
Bernie Hollywood:Sure. Well, it's not easy. You know, sacrifices do have to be made along the way. But I think the sort of ... to be up there with the last question I answered was, it's really about delegating an awful lot of what you do to other people to actually come in and do it with you. So I couldn't do everything. I knew that from the get go, to be fair. And so what I did is that where I needed some help on a project, or where I needed some... really sort of some direction, on a charitable idea or a thought or for trusteeship, or whatever the case may be, I quickly reached out to people that I could actually rely on within my network. And they're always there to help me - that network that I've got is absolutely invincible to me. And, you know, even way back when when I first started in banking, my, my original bank manager, in the days of no facsimiles, and no computers, all came up to me said, you know, your network is your net worth. So the more that you can actually build up great people around you, the more that you'll flourish as you go on in life, and whether it's in sports, whether it's in business, whether it's in charity, whether it's any, any aspect of your life, the connections that you have, are really the key to your success. And that's really how I kept that balance. Behind every great individual is a great family and a great support structure. And none of it could have been done without them. They were totally behind me and everything that I've done. And we've shared great times together, we've shared, you know, moments of joy and moments of not so good times. But yeah,a great family. I have great structure from regards to the managers that managed me over the years when I was with the banking group, which I left in February. And I've got a great team, where I am now, which is with British Rowing and their charitable foundation. So yeah, it's it's good to have great people behind you, you can't be successful wtihout a great team of folks.
Patricia Carswell:Were there ever moments in any of your charity challenges, where you just felt, I've bitten off more than I can chew, I've actually overdone it here.
Bernie Hollywood:I think every single one I've done, Patricia, to be fair. There's times when I'm halfway through a challenge or an adventure and I'm thinking, you know, what the hell am I doing this for? Well, you know, it's, it's funny, though, that I think everybody gets to that stage, you know, even if you're training for, for a particular event, and, you know, the training is so arduous for whatever you do, it's boring, it's tedious. It's really heartbreaking. But without that hard work, you really sort of really won't perform to your optimum level when you get into whatever you're doing, and when you're doing an adventure. that's really the crescendo of everything that you've put into it, trying to do an adventure, a major adventure will take about two years of planning from start to finish, there's a huge amount of work that gets you to the start line of anything in life. And that's really where at times you really do question yourself, whether you're doing this, why are you doing it, you know, why am I wasting my time? What am I going to see the the outcome of it? How many people have said no to me when I've asked them for stuff, because that happens more often now than it did in the early days. In the early days, when you were doing an adventure, for example, where I went to the geographic North Pole unsupported 30 years ago, to do something like that was quite extraordinary. Now, it's the ordinary. All of the things that have been achieved in the world have been done. So all that can be done is you go faster, quicker, or do it in a novel way. So it's difficult for charities, to be fair, because when you look at charities performing today, how they raise their money is really key. And innovation now is coming into charitable giving in such a way that you've never seen before. So people doing challenges and adventures is now standard for everybody. And nothing tends to shock anybody anymore. So you're knocking on the door of a corporate and asking them for you know, if you look at that boat up here, that boat, 60,000 pounds worth of boat for a single rower. And it's about 80 grand for a double or...
Patricia Carswell:This is an ocean going rowing boat.
Bernie Hollywood:This is an ocean going rowing boat that cost 60 grand, and it's a lot of money to actually go out of any particular sponsor or corporate. And it's, it really i...s that's the hard work. The actual row is the enjoyment of it, because you've actually achieved all of the actual pain that you've had to go through to get everything right to get to the start line. So I'm a little way away from the actual start line of the Talisker Whiskey adventure challenge, which... well, I tried to get into it next year, but it's fully booked.
Patricia Carswell:Is it really? Gosh, you're right, then, people really are lining up for it.
Bernie Hollywood:They are, honestly, it's such an amazing event. And you can see that the quality of the event is exceptional. And they put safety right at the beginning of everything that they do. And it really is it's an exciting event, well managed. well looked after. And yeah, there's 30 boats going next month on the 10th of December. We've got 30 boats in for 2021. And they've already got 20 boats in for 2022 which I'm one of.
Patricia Carswell:Wow. Well we'll come on to that in more detail later on because I definitely need to ask you about that. I'm very interested in the fact that you refer to the things that you've done for charity ss adventures rather than challenges. Is that how you prefer to look at them?
Bernie Hollywood:Yeah, I do, because a challenge is a is a really difficult word to get your head around, because sometimes it can be. We all face challenges in life, all of us basically have a story whereby we've got issues going on. And we've got various challenges that come up with us every single day. Me included. So yeah, I tend to look at challenge as adventure. Because to do an adventure, it opens up the scope of what you're doing, it makes it a brighter, and more sort of forthcoming word, as opposed to a challenge - challenge is very negative in my mind,
Patricia Carswell:I suppose it's like the difference between saying I have to do something and I get to do it.
Bernie Hollywood:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So it's the way that you're looking at it really, Patricia, to be honest with you. It's the glass half full, half empty type of scenario isn't it, really. Well, every challenge that I do I look at as an adventure. And it it really, really is. Because everything that I've done in my life has been so different. I've met so many amazing individuals - I've seen, really the world in such a wonderful way. I've seen, you know, great diversity, inclusion. I've seen nature is best and its worst. So yeah, it's, life is an adventure. And if you get out of bed every morning, and you look at life, that way, it just makes it so much better for you from a mental wellness point of view as well, because we're all suffering at the moment with the pandemic, we're all going... we're all getting, you know, we've all got cabin fever, too, to an extent. And it's difficult for everybody. And so the way that you look at things from a day to day basis is important. And please don't get me wrong on this. You know, there are days when I have wobbles. And there are days that basically I feel vulnerable, there are days when I feel really that life is getting on top of me, I've had a few sort of tears for no reason, I just know, I just sit there and just bawl my eyes out. But I think that's just being true to yourself, to be honest with you. Everybody has times in their day or in their life whereby... My mum always used to say that you can't have your ups without your downs. And you've got to go down that, that chasm and then come back out of it. Again, it's cyclical. And every time you go down one of those chasms, it's a great opportunity to actually kind of grip yourself and try and sort of understand why you've gone down there. But also with great people in the background to actually support you when you're having that little dip. And there's no shame in that whatsoever. The... I call it being human. And I don't think, you know, if you look around the population as a whole, how we've all come out, or God willing, when we come out of covid, we'll all be stronger for it.
Patricia Carswell:And there's another thing that your mum said that I picked up from a talk that you gave, I think this kind of leads us into Love Rowing. And correct me if I've got this wrong, but she said that everybody in the world, no matter what their background, what their gender, what their colour, privileged, underprivileged, they all have a gift and they all have something to offer - is that the gist of it?
Bernie Hollywood:It is, Patricia, you're absolutely right. One woman told me that I really ... you have to sit back and think about it. And if you think about it, she's absolutely right. People are incredible, in so many ways and I've met so many people in developing countries around the world. And I think everybody does have a gift. Really what the key is to actually open that particular door is to create the right environment around the individual. Once you've done that, the magic really happens. And I've seen that for myself, because I've got three schools in Kenya that I support, and I built up. I've got a school over in Nepal that we actually built as well in the Himalayas up in the, up in the mountains. And in developing parts of any community. When you create the right environment for really the magic to happen, you see wonderful things have started to occur. Children that have never had an education that get one and then become different human beings all together. When you create social enterprise for, for people within again, in developing communities whereby they've never had a job before and you create some employment. And then that employment then basically sort of... I call it the ripple effect that ripples out throughout the community. When the profits start coming back in and you basically see the seeds of what you've grown it's just unbelievable. It really, really is. and education is really the key to it all. If you educate an individual, you give them the opportunity to grow and learn. Anybody is capable of anything in life. And one of the charities that I've worked for for five years now is a charity called World Merit. And it's a youth activation platform, which enables young people from around the world to actually come onto the platform and gain skills to deliver the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which were put together by the United Nations about seven or eight years ago. And those goals are basically put in place to ensure that the planet is saved by 2030. And it's not really going to happen through major business, businesses are not going to change the world as we know it. It's actually the youth of today that are going to do that. And we've seen that really come to life with, you know, Greta, and lots of other amazing young people. But it's the young people of the world that are changing the way the direction the planet will go now and in the future. And what our platform does, is gives those young people the opportunity of putting a framework together to deliver a small project in their community, under the actual framework of the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations. And that's had a major impact. I mean, over a million children go to that ... go to that platform every year, for help and advice and delivery of those particular programmes. So big business is going to lose out because there's the small businesses in particular, and then young children, as I call them coming through that really are going to be the change makers of today and tomorrow.
Patricia Carswell:Do you think that's something inherent in this young generation? What strikes me when I talk to youngsters - I've got, I've got two kind of young adults of my own - but what really strikes me about this generation is they seem particularly conscientious and keen to make a difference. And what I can't remember is whether my generation was like that, and we've just got jaded or whether actually, there's something really quite special about today's young people.
Bernie Hollywood:Yeah, that's a really good question. I think that the game changer in all of it really for for children was the advent of the Internet, that basically opened up the world, to everybody and everything with a computer, or a tablet, or a telephone, whereby, in my day, we had none of that, you know, we were very sort of, we were in a bubble. And, and effectively, I didn't really go past my front door, I just went to a local football pitch and play football. But when, when the internet came about, and there's a vast amount of knowledge became freely available, and people started to converse around the world on issues and thoughts, and so on, and so forth, I think the world woke up to really what was actually happening out there, because you can actually at the touch of a mouse or button on or a swipe on the phone, you actually find out what's going on in the world. And more importantly, it brought people together in such a way that you've never seen before. So I think the kids of our generation were amazing change makers - it's just that they didn't really have the platform to actually get out there and have their say and do things differently, and didn't really have the knowledge that young people of today now have in their in their grasp. Now, they always say that knowledge is power and power is knowledge. You know, those young children have done great things with that knowledge that they've had. And when you look at what Greta has achieved in a short space of time, she's become a major activist. She's changed the attitudes of many grown ups, because they thought children really didn't have a say, and, and because children don't vote until they're 16 or 18, depending on what part of the world you live in, they don't really matter to politicians. But now they do, because they've got a voice. And if nobody won't listen to them, they will actually shout until they are listened to. But they do it. Now, many young activists really blow me away with how articulate they are, how professional they are, and really how they actually get things done. And the great thing about young activists as well, is it's equal that you see young girls and young boys coming together. And it's about time to that we actually the girls got their say and more to be honest with you. I'm a huge feminist.
Patricia Carswell:Now, tell me about Love Rowing. Since September, you have been Foundation Manager for the Love Rowing Foundation. So tell me what it is and what you're all about.
Bernie Hollywood:OK. Briefly, Love Rowing is the charitable foundation for British Rowing. And British Rowing wanted basically to move to a situation whereby they could bring rowing and make it more accessible to under-represented communities around the country that have never basically been involved in rowing before. And there are three categories that they wanted to actually reach out to, and make a huge difference, because they know what difference rowing can make in the lives of an individual. So there are three areas that they wanted to focus on, there was the community programme that they wanted to actually go through, there's adaptive, which is disability, visual impairments, and other disabilities. And the final one is schools. So what they want you to do with regards to their charitable foundation is make funds available within those three particular sectors, for clubs or any other bodies that want to actually come and deliver those programmes for us, can approach us for grants. And we will then basically... we've got the framework together for all three programmes. So you don't have to think about how are you going to do it, we have the framework available, we will then give you your blueprints, you will apply for your grant. And then we will obviously then help you deliver that programme, which will have an impact in in one of those three areas. Now we're a very, very young charity, we've just started out, we're just out of the blocks. And to start a charity in the middle of a pandemic - a lot of people would say that that is a bit crazy. But it's not crazy. It's the right time to do it. Because what we've been doing is we've been getting a lot of things right, we've been getting all of our programmes, sorted out all of our governance and everything else that we needed to do to get in great shape. So when the starting pistol goes off, when effect lockdown is taken off, and we do see some more normality coming back into our lives, hopefully next year, Patricia, we're going to be in amazing shape, to actually go out and deliver all these three programmes and make a huge difference in those particular communities. So to the rowing community out there, we are open if you want to basically drop me a line, very, very simple email address I can give to you at the end of this, whereby I'm contactable - delighted to listen to anybody that really wants to talk to us. If there is anybody out there that wants to help funding for us as well, because we're.. we need to, we need to get money in to fund these programmes nationally. So I'm looking for any corporates, any philanthropists, any person that wants to come on board and fund the programme for us, we'll be absolutely thrilled to hear from you. And let's make the magic happen within rowing.
Patricia Carswell:I think this is really exciting. Because I think for a long time, there's been a will to make a difference. You know, we've all been aware that rowing is not a tremendously diverse sport, that it has an image problem, but it's it goes further than being an image problem, because it's not a cheap sport to run. But it's attracted people with certain amounts of money. It's not a fancy, it's not as fancy a sport as people, perhaps outside it might imagine. But nevertheless, it's solidly middle class sport. And up until now, I think we've all as sort of general clubs had a bit in our constitution about how we're inclusive and don't discriminate, but I don't think we've really known how to go the extra mile. And we're also, I think, probably, to a large extent, not really aware of what the invisible barriers are. I listened to a British Rowing autumn webinar about invisible barriers, I think there were two there was one about socio economic barriers and another about racial diversity. And I was just so struck by the things that can hold people back from perhaps even considering rowing as a sport. So, you know, if you're dealing with juniors, you might have kids who don't own an alarm clock, so they can't make the early, the early call, or you might have ones who would love to go to an all day event, but they can't afford lunch. And just small things like that, which wouldn't even occur to a lot of us, you know, we just think, Oh, well, we'll lower the fees, but we don't think about all those other barriers.
Bernie Hollywood:Absolutely. And that's where that's where we come in, you know, we we are there when you think of all those barriers, where there's a break those barriers down and allow those children the opportunity to come and enjoy a day, you know, on the water or to watch an event to pay for their transportation to pay for a luncheon. And to actually think about putting a clock in next to them so they can get up or come to an event. There are lots of things that we can all do, that don't cost a great deal of money. That you know, that basically can help young people get engaged in the sport for the very first time. These are the future Olympians that we're talking about here. By the way, we open up our sport to as many people we possibly can, we've got a greater possibility of winning more gold medals than ever before. Because obviously, we're open the gene pool to everybody and everybody. And you know, we've seen with that there are amazing clubs out there in the United Kingdom doing incredible work like full and reach of the new throwing, a witness, you throwing, so Franconia, throwing back your partner, and lychee throwing this one is an amazing organisation, and there's many more, that are doing terrific work, basically, and being funded through many organisations, you know, heavily roller grass, as we know, Stewart system, a great, amazing job. So what we're trying to do here, love roaming is to actually bring all of that together under one umbrella, and really sort of emulate what those amazing clubs are doing. Trump the whole of the United Kingdom, as say, under one umbrella, we're here to support them be more successful as well. We're not here as a competitor. We're here actually to enhance what they're doing and get that message around the United Kingdom especially possibly can.
Patricia Carswell:So let's get into the nitty gritty about the three programmes that you've got so that people really understand what it is you do. So the first one, you've got a school programme, an adaptive programme and a community programme. So let's start with the school programme, what is it and exactly what will you be working with people to do?
Bernie Hollywood:Well, the with the school programme, effectively, what we're looking at is we're looking at new schools, we're not looking at private schools, we're looking at schools in very underrepresented areas around the United Kingdom, to actually come forward, that want to actually put a rowing programme into their school. And as a consequence of that, we will fund the programme with a number of rowing machines. And we'll put some British Rowing training behind it as well. So of course, you know, if you've got a PE teacher that doesn't know anything about rowing and rowing machines, it really is not not not that good. So we provide the training and the focus for the teachers so they can then train their children. Then we will connect that particular school with a local club, to enable them to actually come away from the erg eventually, because indoor rowing is a... is an amazing sport in its own right. If those children want to progress to going onto the water at some stage, we then have the ability to actually connect them up with a great club that's local to them, so that they can actually then go from that part of the programme, and then eventually go into a junior programme in a local club and get on the water eventually. So that's really sort of the school programme in a nutshell. And we replicate that into the community as well. So in the community, we're also looking for, you know, at the moment, they're actually looking for five community clubs, in locations around the United Kingdom, to actually put our programme in on a pilot basis to actually run five of these programmes. In again, under represented areas of the United Kingdom, we have one already in position in Wythenshawe in Greater Manchester, whereby we've actually funded three Concept2 rowing machines. We're just about to give them the training and unfortunately, the pandemic hit, so that the programme has been put on hold because nobody can go to it because of lockdowns and so on and so forth. But that will be reactivated when of course everything gets back to normal hopefully early next year. But we're looking for another four community projects whereby we can replicate what we've done with Wythenshawe, whereby we're going into communities that really would not even dream of thinking about rowing in any shape or form, but then showing them the benefits of what sitting on an erg machine can do for you. The camaraderie, the teamwork, the discipline, it just goes on and on and on. And then eventually what we'll be looking to do is exactly the same what we do with the community is actually to introduce them to a local club. And get the club involved with those young people to eventually get them onto a junior programme and back onto the, into the water. And again, it's exactly the same with our adaptive programme, which is very close to my heart because I've been working with a blind and visually impaired school in Liverpool City for coming up to seven years now. And we're just starting to put a programme in there with regards to adaptive rowing. We're looking to actually have a blind eight boat at some stage which will be fairly incredible. But that's what... that's our goal. We're looking to get eight visually impaired people into a boat and to row an eight and really, really sort of being mega successful at that level. And we're starting on a particular journey now but we are looking obviously for another three or four projects within that particular remit as well. So I'm waiting. If people want to write to me if they've got a project that they want to be funded for, we're here to listen. And we're here, hopefully, to obviously deliver those programmes for them as well.
Patricia Carswell:So if you're, I'm sure there'll be a lot of listeners who, like me are on their club committee. And perhaps they look around the club and think, Well, you know, this isn't fancy schmancy but at the same time, we're not terribly representative of the public as a whole. What, what might they do if they'd like to sort of make their club more inclusive?
Bernie Hollywood:Yeah, it's, well, we have an amazing guide, which is available free of charge, which actually is like, I call it the bible of inclusivit and diversity, it's incredible. It's really, it's a great piece of work that British Rowing have done and that's a free piece of resource. And it's something that I would encourage every sort of every captain, chairman and group of committee members to actually sit down and read. It doesn't take a great deal of effort to actually open your doors on the world out there. I've only been in rowing for a very short period of time, I've only actually been rowing for coming up to two years now. And I think I tend to agree with what you said before - the perception that people have about rowing clubs is they're very stuffy, they're very bureaucratic. And I've got to be very careful what you say here. I'll get into trouble with my club captain and chairman! But they do things in such a different way. And all clubs around the United Kingdom are always looking for money to improve their clubs to either buy boats, improve the boathouse, buy new equipment, etc, etc. There are a lot of profitable clubs out there as well. What we're saying is, is that by opening your doors to a greater community, and bringing in people from under representative communities, you're actually creating members for the future. Now, they may not be able to afford their membership fees just now, because of exactly where they are. Because they they're not, they're not having... they haven't gone through the school system and university and gone out and got jobs. But those young people are going to be the future memberships for every single club up and down the country. Now, I've spoken to a lot of clubs since I've joined Love Rowing, and memberships are under pressure at the moment, because of the pandemic. People are sometimes struggling to pay their membership fee or their quarterly fees because they've been furloughed, or suddenly they've lost their employment. So membership is really, really really... there's never been as much pressure as now. So what I would say to clubs is that look to the future, these young people coming through from under representative parts of the community, are your future winners to make your club successful, but also financially successful as well. Keeping an open eye to it. And what Love Rowing is saying to them is that it is to all of the clubs is that look, we know that your purse strings are tight, we know that you haven't got a great deal of money, but what we'll be able to do is we will be able to support you, if you can support us, we can't give you all of the funds to do it. But what we can do is we can come in and we can pass on something for you to make that happen. And that's what we're looking to do. And I will say to all of the clubs around the United Kingdom, anybody involved in rowing is that we've got our big day coming up next year, which is our National Row Day full of rowing, we want everybody to get involved. And the details will be coming out within the next eight, eight to 12 weeks about how you can actually get involved in one day, whereby it'll be your opportunity to actually raise a very, very small amounts of money. And as a consequence of is all coming together in one day. And a small amount of money from each person will make a huge difference nationally, which means that we're able to actually give more grants out to the clubs to actually get more people through the doors for them and get involved in rowing. So watch this space for our national day. I really, really encourage every single boathouse and have any individuals involved in indoor rowing, or anybody that's involved in coastal rowing, please make this their success for us. Because really is the future of us giving you funds to do what you want to do is going to be primarily through this national day that we have.
Patricia Carswell:So what will be involved in the National Day? Do you have any kind of plans yet?
Bernie Hollywood:Yeah, we do. We're going to keep it really simple, because the more complex you make it, the more difficult it becomes. But it's going to involve rowing in some shape or form whether that's basically on a machine or whether it's in a boat. And we're going to ask people to row a short amount of distance and pay a small fee for doing that. A very small fee - I'm not talking about a great deal of money here. So we're asking the clubs to get involved. So we're actually each chairman and each captain, to come together and commit to doing it and commit to basically raising a small amount of money for a club. And if every club raised over 250 pounds, we'd raise 100,000 pounds for Love Rowing, which will be immediately available after the event is finished. This is the pretty cool part. So that money is not going to go into a vault somewhere or going into reserve, that money is going to become readily available. After the event is finished, that money will be there for distribution for the clubs to come in and ask for those particular grants for those programmes straightaway. And that's why we're actually encouraging clubs now to actually apply for grants. So as soon as we've got the funds available from our national day and other events that we're doing as well, we will be able to fund those grants for them, obviously subject to the grants being approved.
Patricia Carswell:I think what's what's particularly appealing about this for a club is that we've, for a long time, we've wrestled with how you get people in and make it affordable for them without being really patronising. You know, how do you get the word out there, that there are funds, that that will, you know, reduce the fees or whatever it is subject to income, but then immediately, you're sort of suggesting to people that they can't afford it. And you don't want to patronise people. But if it's done as kind of part of a scheme, I think that makes it a lot easier for us to go out into the community and speak to people in a sort of equal way without kind of talking down to them.
Bernie Hollywood:I could not agree with you more. And also, we're not saying that our three programmes are set in stone. What we're saying is that we listen to what really sort of our donors tell us. So we go out, and we listen to clubs. And we've said to them, Listen, this is our framework. But if you think you can actually make that framework happen in a different way, tell us, you know, and we'll adapt to what you want. So we can actually give you something to make happen within your club or your particular group of rowers that you have, we haven't got all of the answers. You're the experts in the field, you're out there at the sharp end, and you understand the rowing community better than anybody before. So please, we're quite happy to be quite flexible within that framework, to actually give you a grant that may help that young person get their money to get to the club and get home, to pay for the petrol money, or pay for a taxi. Simple things like that, we will listen to and are open to. And again, our programmes will ultimately change once we've run them for 12 months and we've actually assessed the impact. And we've seen what difference they've made within the communities they've been put in, they'll morph, they'll change again. And if you look, again, at the great work of some of the clubs I've mentioned already, their programmes are constantly evolving. They never stay steady for one minute, they're always changing and evolving, and tweaking, I've had the privilege of speaking to a lot of these particular people, they've actually been doing this amazing work. And if we can, if we can just help them achieve more of that, then we can spread it around the country. I think Love Rowing will have served its purpose.
Patricia Carswell:I think that element of dialogue is really important. Because I think one of the things that's a bit sort of off putting for individual clubs is thinking, well, if we apply for this grant, we're going to be tied into something that might be you know, we might feel that it's too much for us, or we're being committed to something that doesn't quite fit our model and the way we do things in our clubs. So that's, that's really appealing.
Bernie Hollywood:Yeah, it is, Patricia, you know, I'm we're open to dialogue. I think what we've, it's not, we're not waving the stick at them. You know, what we're saying is that, listen, we'll listen to what you have to say, okay, and we haven't got a huge war chest of money, but this particular month, so that's our, our hope is that in the in the years to come, we will. And we'll be able to do this more frequently around the United Kingdom. But you've got to help us be successful for you. It's as simple as that. We are the framework, we are the conduit, to actually make this happen to give you the funds for you to actually be more successful in your community. Most clubs that I know that I've spoken to want to make a difference in the local community. They do, and many of them do, and they do amazing work. We just want to do that more often. We've just want to get out there and shout it as loud as we can, that rowing can change lives. But we've got to do it together. In fact, that's our strap line.
Patricia Carswell:So tell me a little bit about about that. You say rowing can change lives and I certainly firmly believe that from my own experience, but tell me what your kind of vision is if you have someone coming in who comes from, you know, a deprived background, what will rowing do for them?
Bernie Hollywood:I think, if you look at from the very, very beginning, I just want if somebody comes into rowing for the first time from an under representative community, if that makes that that individual feel wanted and a part of a team, that's a huge step forward for anybody. The next step is, is what rowing does for you both physically and mentally. So if you've got a young individual coming from an underrepresented part of the community that really has never exercised before, and as never eaten correctly before, because this is this is what we're talking about here. And they get a chance to actually have a look at how exercise can change their mental well being and their physical well being. But also, when you get the expertise of a coach coming along, talking about what you actually put in here, actually really does result in what you do here. That will then again, basically teach that individual about diet, what's good to eat, what's not good to eat, mental well being , will perform a lot better in school, because they're physically fitter, both in mind and body so their educational performance as a consequence will improve. There's no question about that, because we've seen that from the actual studies that all of the other youth programmes have done around the country. And then ultimately, it's down to the individual what they want to do, I think what we've got to say is that there's no pressure that I see on any misrepresented individual coming in your person coming in, to make them be a top performer. Okay, it's not about being the next gold medalist in whichever particular boat, you're actually lucky enough to actually row for Britain, for, it's not about that at all. If that ultimately happens, that will be an amazing testimony to the actual programme as a whole, if we get an Olympian out of this, that'll just be incredible. We just really want to make a difference to the lives of the individuals in a positive way. And that when that is in many aspects, such as health, well being mental well being, and again, when you've got a young, when you've got a young rower that goes back into a family and starts feeling good about themselves, that has an impact within the family as well, because they see what getting involved in sport does for you. And then that basically is a catalyst for change, or the people around that individual, not only in their family, but when they go back into school, and so the high school, and they look at Sarah or Johnny that's basically been to a rowing club and saying, you've been to a rowing club - yeah, we have. Wow, gosh, yeah, I can see the difference in you, you know, and the teachers will start to comment. So it's that simple. It's a pebble in a pond that basically ripples out and makes an effect everywhere. But it's down to the individual, we want to give young people the opportunity to come along and see what rowing can do for them. Now, it may not be for them. Let's be honest about it. A lot of people come into rowing, and then quickly have a look at it and are actually frightened off. Because if you want to be a half decent go, you have to put the effort in. There's a lot of discipline involved. But I think we will see more winners and losers if you give those people the opportunity. And you give them as I said before you surround those individuals in the right environments. And the environments that I've seen in the in the clubs that I've seen in the last two years. Rowing clubs are amazing people, amazing places to be - there's camaraderie, there's banter, there's happiness, there's joy, you see winning and losing. We know when you do your regattas, you see all the hard work that you put through on an erg throughout the winter. And that really is hard work when you have to go out to a club to do that. But ultimately, it's a family. And that's really what we want to be. We want to be one great big family to get - and that's what really Love Rowing is all about. It's actually one family coming together to really make a difference in the rowing community like never before. And we're going to do it together. I keep saying this. You know, I'm the foundation manager, but I can't make this happen. Without my family coming together and helping me do this. We will do it together, there's no question about that.
Patricia Carswell:I must say I've been overwhelmed by the rowing community. I've been rowing for about 10 years now and the support and the friendships that I've had through the sport, and not just in my own club, but in the rowing community and further afield is just amazing. I would have imagined that it was perhaps full of stand-offish people, very privileged people but I've been absolutely blown away. I mean, particularly when I had my cancer treatment, the way everybody gathered round was quite phenomenal. It really is fantastic. It's nice to be harnessing that to for a good cause, I must say.
Bernie Hollywood:Absolutely, certainly is.
Patricia Carswell:How did you come to be rowing?
Bernie Hollywood:That's a really again, it's good question. Just by chance more than anything, really. I was just walking down by the river in Chester A couple of years ago. And I saw a single sculler come down the river. And I just thought it was most serene, beautiful thing that I'd seen in a long, long time. It just looked absolutely effortless. And it... this this beautiful boat and person were just in beautiful harmony as it came down the river. It was just a beautiful day - there wasn't hardly a ripple on the water. And of course, when you put the paddles in, it leaves those beautiful swooshes as you're going along. And I just looked at it and I thought, wow, I'd love to do that. That's what I said. And my partner tapped me on the shoulder and said Well, why don't you - what's stopping you? And I said, Well, yeah, yeah, I don't see ... there's nothing stopping me. So we were actually walking past the boathouse. And there was a Learn to Row . And my partner Sharon wrote down the telephone number, and said, right, there's your number, you've got no excuses. Now, if you wand to do it, you need to ring that number. And then you can start your journey. And that's exactly what I did. And my coach is an amazing woman. I've moved up a few ranks since then. But Chris Fawcett, who's like a legend in the rowing community and Chester, and Chris became my coach, for six months, when I started to learn how to row. I think I'm dreadful still. But she really knocked me into shape really quickly. And I've now progressed to the veterans' team. And I'm just having a lot of fun. It's just so much fun. And in lockdown, actually, it's kept me sane to be honest with you, because we'd all be learning how to row a marathon on an erg. And that was our goal through lockdown one, and we became the Lockdown Marathon Rebels. And we all achieved that goal, which is great. So we all got, we did marathon training all the way through the lockdown, which is incredible. We're all fortunate to have a rowing machine at home. And in lockdown 2 I'm doing a small little programme doing 10 k a day for...
Patricia Carswell:That's not a small programme!
Bernie Hollywood:Sometimes I don't really know what is or isn't really, Patricia. So I'm up to my day is it? 25th. I've done 25 10 K's now, in consecutive, I've got another five to go. And I'm basically bringing my - for the rowers out there, you'll understand what this is - I'm bringing my rating down every day. But I'm keeping up my stroke rate to 24 to see sort of what I can do with it. So rate of 24. But bringing my rating down to as best as I possibly can. So I'm around about 43 minutes at the moment. So I'm heading down towards the 40 minute mark, which is my my ultimate goal. I don't think I'm going to get there, but I'll have a go.
Patricia Carswell:Well, this leads me nicely into the next thing I wanted to talk to you about because all this training on the erg is going to stand you in good stead in a couple of years' time. So tell me about your next big adventure,
Bernie Hollywood:Well, the next big adventure is to raise a million pounds for two incredible charities. One of them is Love Rowing. So I'm putting my basically my effort where my mouth is by trying to get half a million pounds into the pot for clubs to use. And I've started that journey already. And the other half a million is going to the Samaritans. Because mental wellness and awareness is really important to me from a personal point of view. And we're going to do something very special with that money, which I can't talk about at the moment, because we're just actually in the plans of putting it together. But it's going to have a significant impact on teenage suicide rates within the United Kingdom. So we're working on a project to actually lower that figure, which is really, really, really exciting from our point of view. So a million pounds for those charities combined. And I just really I've always had this, this dream to actually row across the Atlantic, I saw an amazing sailor, Ellen McCarthy, massive hero of mine. And for those who don't know, this is a an amazing woman that sailed solo around the world, but did it in the fastest possible speed in an amazing boat all on her own. And if anybody gets the opportunity to read the autobiography, I suggest you do. It's an incredible, incredible read. And Ellen inspired me with regards to what she did. And she went around the world, which was incredible, solo. And I thought well, because I've got a love of rowing and the joy of rowing and I've always wanted to actually cross a vast expanse of water in a boat - I basically just looked around for something that would sort of fit that remit really. And I just came to it by chance. One of one my friends said to me have you heard the the Talisker Whiskey Adventure Challenge. And I said, No, I haven't looked into it. And it just sounded, wow, this sounds great. Then I looked into the cost of doing it, which when I virtually fell off my chair. Because they don't, this does not come cheap. It's 60,000 pounds for boats. And it's 40,000 pounds in other fees and equipment and food and training, and so on, and so forth. And logistics, to actually get a boat to the start of this particular race costs about 100 grand, doesn't come cheap. But I didn't want to go out and ask people for money to pay for the boats, because I don't really do things that way. I've done it really, really innovative way. And I'm inviting other crews at the moment, who are actually looking to fund their boats to come and talk to me. So I funded my boat in a very innovative way, which actually has worked really, really well. So if there's any people out there that are thinking of doing it, and are looking to raise their funding, I'm more than happy to help them with regards to the way I've done it and give them some direction and some some networking for it as well.
Patricia Carswell:So what what was that way of fundraising?
Bernie Hollywood:Well, traditionally, if you look at... we're in a pandemic at the moment, and if you approach any company and say, Excuse me, Governor, can you give me 60,000 pounds, I'm thinking of actually rowing across an ocean, I can't really tell you what the actual impact of that is going to be. They're going to go and tell you basically say, you know, row on, effectively, which is what happens, the doors get shot, because marketing budgets in any business throughout, throughout time immemorial, when times get tough the marketing budget always gets cut. So people don't want to talk to you about sponsorship, as they call it. I call it partnership not sponsorship. Well I flipped that on the head. And I've said to my particular partners who I'm delighted have got on board, I said, Listen, I don't want you to give me 60,000 pounds, I'll tell you what I'll do, I just want you to give me the money to buy my boat on an interest free loan. And at the end of the adventure, I'll give you that money back. Once I've got over the actual finish line, and the boat's beeen transported back into the United Kingdom, these boats sell really, really quickly. Because they're in high demand, they do depreciate, but not by a great deal. So I've signed a contract with one of my partners, which is an incredible partnership that I've got. They've given me an interest free 60,000 pound loan, which they'll get back when I come back in, signed the agreements for this. And then any depreciation on the boat, which is then sold, I will make up the difference. So that's how I funded it my boat.
Patricia Carswell:Brilliant. Yeah, because I know talking to other Atlantic rowers, that's the sort of big hurdle at the beginning, isn't it, it's using that boat.
Bernie Hollywood:Oh, Patricia, it's the biggest of all, the biggest, biggest of all, and also about innovation in the boats as well as never been seen before. So this boat will be the first tap to doante boat in the world.
Patricia Carswell:The first what?
Bernie Hollywood:Tap to donate
Patricia Carswell:Ah, right.
Bernie Hollywood:You'll be able to come up to the boat with your smartphone and touch the boat, and you'll be able to make a donation.
Patricia Carswell:Oh, wow, that's amazing.
Bernie Hollywood:Plus there's lots of other innovation going into as well. And it's also going to be the first floating piece of artwork ever to sail across the Atlantic. So most boats are festooned with stickers about, you know, Auntie Mary's given me 10 pounds, or Joe Bloggs, the butcher or something about they've got logos all around the boat, this boat won't have one logo on at all - it's going to be an actual painting. And it's being painted at the moment by an amazing renowned artist called Justin Eagleton. And Justin is actually painting - it's called, it's called A Picture of Hope - it's the Boat of Hope, as you can see there. And he's actually painting a picture of the journey that a young individual goes through through their life, through their through their actual teenage years, or the pressures that they actually have to go under. And where they come out the other side. It's an amazing mural that's coming together so beautifully in association with the Samaritans. And that's going to be that's going to be wrapped around the boat completely. It's going to be a floating work of art. And the mural is going to be sold off again for the charity as well. It's a 24 foot mural, which will be sold off to charity as well, which we've already got somebody actually involved in actually wanting to purchase it and it hasn't even been painted yet. So that's coming along quite nicely. So very innovative ways of actually to, to do things. But more importantly, this is all about getting our mass message of hope out to young people, that you're not on your own. You may feel as if you are but you're not - there are people there to support you. And this is where our very unique programme with the Samaritans is actually going to come to fruition as a consequence of the money that we raised for the actual adventure.
Patricia Carswell:Well, that absolutely wonderful. How do you think you will cope on your own because you're relatively unusual in doing this as a solo enterprise, and you strike me as someone who thrives on connections with other people and being with other people. So how's that going to be? What, 90 days or so on your own?
Bernie Hollywood:Yeah, it can be up to 90 days depending on weather, and obviously fitness, and also mental well being. Do you know what, Patricia, that's the unknown. We're all built to be social animals, human beings are social animals by by their existence, we like to be around people. I think what lockdown has done is actually proven to everybody that you know, we do need contact human contact, we need to see people. Being on a boat for 90 days and 90 nights on my own, crossing one of the most dangerous oceans in hopefully some calm seas along the way, is going to be a challenge. There's no, there's no doubt about that whatsoever, but no reservations that that's going to be the toughest thing of all, keeping going day after day rowing for 16 to 18 hours a day, doing it in with the same landscape. Every single day, it's not going to be any difference from day one to day 90, is going to be a challenge. And there's really nothing that can prepare you for that because I've spoken to solo rowers already. And I think the key to any successful adventure or challenge is actually go and speak to people who've done it before. And they will give you the life lessons that they've taken on board that I can actually really sort of ... that would help me, that would support me. I spoke to two solo rowers already. And they give me some idea of what we can do- some ideas, tips. They've actually said routine is not really what you want to do. Although the routine of rowing the boat, what you're doing every day as well is do something different, have something different, have a good, have a good record list of tunes you want to hear along the way.
Patricia Carswell:That is gonna be a hell of a playlist - a 90 day playlist.
Bernie Hollywood:Abba has always been one of my favourites. So So yeah, and put a different picture up every day before you row. So when you're rowing in your seat, you can actually put a nice picture up of somebody or some person or some place that you want to be. So you can visualise that place. So if that gonna be the biggest challenge of all, whether I'm ready for it, I only know when I get there. I am very resilient. I have done some adventures on my own before and I do like my own company and that's one of the good things that I've got coming with me - I do get on with myself really well. When I do get down I do have really the willing to get up and keep going. Even when times do get tough and there'll be many tough times up there on the water there's no question.
Patricia Carswell:Do you have any specific fears about it other than being on your own?
Bernie Hollywood:Not particularly. I'm not... I can't say I'm looking forward to you know, waves of 30 foot high and the potential of the boat capsizing you know. I'll be going through all my training programme with with the folks down in Burnham upon Crouch. In the next 24 months, I've got to go through a full full week of training programmes and safety at sea and navigation. All the other bits and bobs I've got to go through. I can't say I'm looking forward to the boat capsizing but, you know, if you're trained and prepared for it, you know how to cope with it best. And that's the great thing about the organisers, they will not allow you to get to the start line until you're fully prepared and you fully certified in in all of those particular aspects of boat management's and seamanship. So, yeah, it's I know it sounds a bit stupid, but you know, I'll miss the toilet, I guess. Because it's a bucket. And it's a bucket for 90 days and 90 nights.
Patricia Carswell:And at least if you're on your own, you're not having to do that in front of other people.
Bernie Hollywood:Well, that's a bonus for everybody. But and yeah, then again, I'm making, I want to make sure that my my crossing is eco friendly. So all of the all of the lovely human waste, but all of the physical wastes from the food, etc, etc. will be stored on board and be disposed of in a nice eco friendly way by the time they get across the ocean which is also a big tick in the box I'm looking to achieve as well.
Patricia Carswell:That's brilliant. And what are you most looking forward to in it?
Bernie Hollywood:Oh, my goodness. Well, I think really, the wilderness always excites me. Being out there against the elements is always something that I've loved in everything that I've done in the past. So I'm looking forward to you know, wild seas. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing, you know, some marine life. There was a beautiful story from last year's race, whereby a young female rower was rowing on her own. And pilot whale actually kept her company for five days. And this whale just came alongside, and basically just followed her all the way in such an amazing way. So I'm looking forward to the wildlife because occasionally you have to get off the boat. And then you have to clean the hull of all of the barnacles, because the barnacles make the boat unstable. So you do have to routinely get out of the boat and go underneath and scrape the bottom. So I would imagine I'll see some marine life as I do that, hopefully no sharks.
Patricia Carswell:Well, my friend, Elaine Theaker, who was my second guest, she painted a beautiful picture of a night when they they'd had a really rough time. And they were all at quite a low ebb. And then they had this beautiful moonlit night and the dolphins appeared. And so I think, you know, there are those incredible moments, which very, very few people in the world have ever experienced, which is quite a thing, isn't it?
Bernie Hollywood:It is, Patricia it is I mean to, to experience that is just, it's just unheard of, isn't it? Really. But yeah, I'm sure I'll have many memories to take back with me when it gets to the finish line, which will be just be wonderful.
Patricia Carswell:So if anyone wants to look into this, with a view to supporting you, I'll put all the details in the show notes. So they've got Love Rowing and all of that kind of thing. But is there a website at the moment? You've got a hashtag- #boatofhope - is that right?
Bernie Hollywood:The hashtag is#boatofhope. We're not taking donations just yet. Because we feel it's just a bit too early, because we want to be very specific on what the money is going to do. Because for any donor, if a donor knows exactly the impact the money is going to have, they're more likely to give. So we're going to hold back until we actually get 12 months out, we'll actually do a full launch in a very, very cool way, which I can't talk about at the moment, but we've got something really, really really crazy coming up with regards to launching this this initiative.
Patricia Carswell:I like the sound of that already.
Bernie Hollywood:Oh, honestly, it's, it's just gonna be so, so out there. So left field, you're not believe it so. So that's gonna be a lot of fun, by the way, as well. And people can get involved in that as well. So if they just go to Berniehollywood.com, they'll see a page dedicated to the row. And they'll see the countdown clock. And basically what it's all about. I talk about Love Rowing, I talk about the Samaritans. But again, it's it's coming shortly. So next year, when the boat gets launched, she's being built at the moment, she'll be launched in July of next year, there's going to be a special naming ceremony for her as well, which is very unique. And then there's going to be a secret launch, which everybody will hear about in a very, very unique way. And then we're going to have a national tour with the boats as well, in early January 2022. We're doing a national High School tour. And we're touring with Samaritans and Love Rowing, I'm going to be talking about teenage suicide awareness training in quite a number of high schools around the United Kingdom. And then hopefully, we'll have our programme in place whereby we'll be able to talk about what we're going to be doing next.
Patricia Carswell:Well, it all sounds absolutely amazing. And with innovation at every step, which is particularly exciting. And I have absolutely no doubt that you will achieve your fundraising goals. But you know, you must let me know what you're doing at every step so that I can keep everyone updated through the blog.
Bernie Hollywood:Yeah, no problem at all. I'd be delighted to do that for you.
Patricia Carswell:Well, thank you so much. It's been an honour and a joy to have you on the show. And I can't wait to hear what comes next.
Bernie Hollywood:Oh, thank you so much. And, as I say, completely inspired by what you've achieved in your life and what you've gone through Patricia, you're absolutely inspiration to everybody. Thank you for what you've done.
Patricia Carswell:Oh thank you. Wow, well, I really feel that Love Rowing is in good hands with Bernie at the helm. And I can't wait to hear more about the work that he's doing there. I'm going to put details of everything we talked about in the show notes, so if you need any of the links, you'll find them all there. Thank you so much for listening. If you're enjoying the podcast, you might be interested to know about my Patreon scheme. As I've said before, I think running a podcast is an unexpectedly expensive business. I have to pay for hosting as well as various bits of software for recording editing and transcribing it on top of all the equipment and setup costs. With the Patreon scheme you pay anywhere between three and 10 pounds a month to go towards my costs and in return in addition to the warm glow you get from keeping the podcast to float, you'll get perks like early access to all episodes, some bonus content, including video peeks behind the scenes that go along the river, and the occasional bit of much all the information is at patreon.com/girlontheriver and I'll put a link in the show notes. Let me know how you're getting on and what you'd like to hear on the show. And until next week, next stroke easy oar.