Burger King (and Queen)

Some more pictures...

It had been a long long day....

No one had noticed that Tom had shrunk during the course of the day...

Stockport Market revisited

Well when they said they had a big cheque for LRF they certainly meant it, the traders down at Stockport Market had continued the fundraising after the Bananathon and proudly handed over a cheque for £932 to Tarzan and Jane on Friday afternoon.

This ceremony was swiftly followed by a shopping spree at the veg stall and in the fishmongers, where local shoppers where aghast to see Tarzan being given special treatment with a 'special' lettuce being found under the counter - I wouldn't have wished to be a guest in either Tarzan's or Jane's household this weekend as the shopping list included duck eggs, sword fish, pears, grapes, onions and other well known bowel looseners !

Look out for the pics in this weeks Stockport Express !

Here comes the Bride...

A bizarre moment from Tarzans Bananathon came shortly after leaving Coop Travel in Denton and headed down the A57 towards our next stop at Gala bingo.

Perfect timing meant we passed a church just as everyone was assembling outside for pictures - with no time to stop for autographs or posing Tarzan, Jane and The Banana headed off into the distance.

However, quick fingered Lisa Trenell (sister in law of the bride) managed to take this excellent action snap of Tarzan and The Banana - where is Jane you might ask ? Probably too quick for the camera !.

Beware of the snake

Some pics of some lovely chicks !

Not a patch on the lovely Jane.

Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken... lay a little egg for me.

Tarzan, Jane and The Banana coming down the coast road to the finish.

Tarzan, Jane & The Bananana go to Toon - (05/10)

As if taking the streets of Manchester three weeks ago wasn't enough the LRF boys (debatable I know) too to the streets of Newcastle this weekend in the world famous Great North Run.

Posting a time of 97 minutes (sounds quicker than 1hr 37 minutes) the team shouted waved and high fived their way from the centre of Newcastle to the brisk shores of the North Sea at South Shields.

The weather was perfect as was the response from the thousands who lined the route to cheer us on (well they were cheering others as well, but we all know why they were really there).

I'm not sure which got the loudest cheer; Tarzan with his snake, The Banana sneaking off to water some nearby vegetation or Jane flashing her 42DD's - either way it was a great experience.

The race was rounded off perfectly with Sue Barker interviewing the boys at the end to discuss amongst other things how Jane's make-up hadn't run. This was followed by an interview with Setanta TV from Ireland who were most impressed with Tarzan's Frank Carson impersonation.

Great support form everyone at Team LRF throughout the weekend especially that legend we all know as Ken Lomas who once again had arranged perfect weather and a flying disply form teh Red Arrows !

Watch out for some great pictures of the day later on in the week !

You are my Sunshine.... Studios !

With most of the venues we pretty much knew what we would have to be doing to 'earn' our donations, not so at Sunshine studios - as we raced upstairs with the clock ticking followed by hoards of fab teenage dance students we had no idea what fate lay ahead.

Pole dancing - never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed - we gave it our best shot and after 8 hours of running I think the result was brilliant - as were the pics of Tarzans cheeky pants !




Check out those cheeky pants

Defying gravity - with a helping hand from Fay

Fay came to the rescue in Piccadilly Gardens leading our impromptu gym class with team LRF and Team emo seeing who could work those abs !

Sunshine studios what a great bunch !

Fancy that!

American Graffitti offered to dress us for the red carpet and what a great job they made of it, with Tracey spending many a long hour getting her head around how to make a bow tie for a banana.



The Hilton Street shop is an Aladdin's cave of camp fashion and kitsch and after posing for a few shots we headed on to Oldham Street to hand out flyers for the store. After a couple of minutes we realised that the pitch that worked best was something on the lines of "Good afternoon sir, do you like fancy dress?"........."We do"



A lady who does amateur dramatics tries to find out where tarzan keeps his monkey nuts



What a genuine surprise it was to have this photo taken

We've saved the best till last, just like Vanessa Williams did in her sultry 1991 ballad with this picture of the trio with the fantastic support runners from Stockport Harriers. They took over a grand between them on the day and carried the buckets throughout the run which ended up being about thirty miles. Top job. For that reason I will not take the mickey out of them in the caption below the picture.

From left to right: Brian (to wear anymore fancy dress would have been ridiculous), Jane (when you are stood next to a gorilla/bear in a flourescent t-shirt you have to make an effort and not only is there a pirate hat and ra-ra skirt combination in evidence but a very saucy facial expression and a 'subtle' cupping of the right breast, superb), Lee (smiling because he thought the cubicle had a toilet in it), the Banana (what's that smuggled in the bottom half of the costume?), Andy (Penelope Keith), Steve ("If I pretend I'm posing for a football team shot, maybe they won't notice"), Tarzan (another dignified pose) , Sharon (just before she turned into a butterfly)

Photo request

We are still short of any photos for Dan's House, Chisholm Hunter, Manto, The Midland Hotel and Moon Under Water. I know we posed for some so if anyone has any or knows anybody who might please send them to bananathon@hotmail.com and we will post them up.



Naomi Makeman sent us this lovely shot from Tiger Tiger, commenting on how nice it was that Sean's eyeshadow matched his shirt. The more party pics, the better.

Double D

And we're not talking about the size of Jane's falsies, even though they were as firm as a pair of coconuts dipped in vinegar, no this Double D refers to Dimitri's and Debenhams who both donated fantastic raffle prizes for Tarzan's Bananathon.

Harley Street

We arrived at Dimitris on a real high having just won £1000 at Manch235ter and were invited by Nuno (back right on the photo) to go and chat to his customers. We met a group who were on a works do from Leeds and serenaded some friends celebrating a birthday before posing for photographs with a few Emmerdale fans. One chap in the bar donated £20 in exchange for me posing on his Harley Davidson, it was just like being Marlon Brando....er dressed as Tarzan..... with a banana drinking lucozade sport in the background.

1st Floor- Perfume, 2nd Floor-Ladies Wear, 3rd Floor - Idiots

When we arrived at Debenhams we made our way straight up to the Childrens department where we were going to be signing flyers; unfortunately the staff were waiting to meet us on the ground floor and didn't spot a half naked man, a transvestite and a six foot banana working our way towards the escalators (security saw us but assumed we were Manchester City's midfield on a shopping spree). My wife, Ruth, took some pictures and presented us with some buffet pork pies which had been the one food I wanted to eat en route. It didn't seem right to eat pork pies in Debenhams so we decided to save them till later in the run when we would really appreciate them. Once we arrived at Tiger Tiger, the first thing I wanted was one of those succulent pies, alas they had been scoffed by Ruth and her mates who aren't even that keen on pies. Once the staff joined us we signed a few photos and then made our way back to the ground floor where Jane was in her element.

That's why Ladies cross their legs.

With Tarzan and The Banana utilising the store's inner sanctum, Jane was given a full makeover and the opportunity to compare having make up applied by a professional artist whilst sat in a softly padded chair in a well lit room with her previous method of slapping it on whilst jiggling along in a moving car.

My, what big lips you have, Mr Wolf

The former won hands down and for the stretch along Market Street to Chisholm Hunter, Jane was beating testosterone fuelled Mancs off with a gnarled stick.

Moneybags

With the total at just under £11,000 it's time to revisit Manch235ter and Morrisons for some more pictures from the bananathon.

Money

Bags

Knocked Out!

I have been knocked out by the fantastic photos Dave and Darren Nelson have taken of the event, which I will put up over the next few days.

Totals from some of the venues are still to be totted up so rather than wait to show the photos, we will post that information as it comes up. Brian and Sue Holland filled in the gaps of Morrisons and Wickes for us, Tim from Sunshine Studios has contributed some beauties too and there was some cracking coverage in the local papers over the last couple of weeks.

Here are some more shots from Sweatshop .

They think its all over... (25/09)

Well almost a week has passed and your wondering where have the fabulous trio disappeared to.... well surely someone out there is wondering ?? well at least my Mum asked me !

Theres been plenty of admin stuff going on in the background - raffle prizes and auction prizes now with their rightful owners - American Graffiti outfits washed and ready to be returned - my muscles no longer ache.

What happens next ...

Well very shortly a plethora, lovely word not used often enough, of photographs will start to appear on this blog to round off what has been an amazing success, we will try and add suitably witty captions to delight you as well !

Would we do it all again ?

Wait and see......

x

Pics and Totals (Friday September 19th)

We will keep adding the money as it comes in, can you believe that it already stands at over £10,000. Fantastic.

It will take a while to get all the results up as there are rules and regs regarding collecting the money and physically counting all the buckets of coinage is a huge job in itself. It took me and my daughter over half an hour to count a portion of the half bananathon money so I can't imagine how long this is going to take.



Loads of pictures were taken on the way from various parts of the route by Dave and Darren Nelson, but we won't have them for a few days as Dave is off in Germany taking pictures of Metallica. To say these two gave up their Saturday free gratis is just amazing. Thanks gents.

Piccadilly Gardens Lucozade Stop

Rod Hull and Emo

The Lucozade Sport support van was a vital part of the bananathon, carrying fuel to keep us going throughout the arduous event. I for one drank five or six bottles during the day and it really helped the team of support runners to keep hydrated. Tom the banana would have flaked out had he not kept drinking as temperatures soared into the seventies ripening his yellow skin.

Foxy pays homage to Primark

The idea of a fitness class in the middle of Piccadilly Gardens had been a great one, but with complexities of gaining a licence, not being able to advertise in the immediate vicinity and unavoidably losing our fitness instructor with two days to go it didn't turn out quite as originally planned.

Fay wonders if she has slipped into a parallel universe

Sunshine studios came to the rescue in the shape of Fay, who hours earlier had taught us how to pole dance. She grabbed the megaphone and barked out orders to the crew whilst a crowd of over-excited Emos grabbed the only parts of me which were left covered as I attempted to work muscles that had been on the go for over seven hours. Fay did a brilliant job leading us through a routine comprising star jumps, lunges and, most evilly, situps.

We collected some money at this point also as we chanced upon Stockport Harriers Coaches Beav and Tooley who were on their way to watch Manchester's footballing version of the Harlem Globe Trotters.

Big thanks to Lucozade Sport and Sunshine Studios.

Tarzan

x

Morrisons (£650)

Reddish Vale on the recce

The route from The Fir Tree to Morrisons gave us our only glimpse of proper greenery as we worked our way through Reddish Vale. Stockport has a wonderful network of pathways alongside canals, rivers and lakes that are a haven for runners, If you know your way around you can run in the countryside for miles whilst always being close to a Greggs.

Last one through the arch gets walloped

Through the magic banana archway was the haven of Morrisons Bredbury where our task was to pack shopping into customers bags. The chap who bought a sliced white loaf, a bottle of vodka and two cans of Relentless was happy to make a donation as I realised that cashiers must be akin to doctors or hairdressers in their knowledge of their customers lifestyles. The checkout operators were decked in Leukaemia Research t shirts and one worker came in on his day off and dressed as a banana to join in. Whilst Jane and the banana continued judging the eating habits of Stopfordians I was lured outside and squeezed into a shopping trolley for the sake of art.

Rear right. Support driver Talib holds up a supermarket

A combined effort of staff fundraising and a tillside collection brought in a staggering £650. Thanks and well done to Morrisons Bredbury

Off my trolley

Tarzan

x

Sweatshop (£298)

Attacked by a pack of hungry Puma.

(Tarzan had asked for a pair of size 10 PUMA Complete EUTOPIA to cover up his modesty - however we found a size 3 was sufficient)

By the time we reached Sweatshop in Hyde at just after 1pm we had already covered around fifteen miles and passed the highest point of the course at Smith Knight Fay in Gee Cross. We were running a minute late at this point as we had stopped for a loo break at Woodley precinct (both traps were occupied much to the Banana's disappointment) and popped in to say hello at Bowlacre Home where bizarrely Emmerdale was on in the day room.

The Sweatshop team had done us proud with a table laid out at one end of the store with drinks and that well known runners fuel Jam Doughnuts. Des Gibbons, whose lookalike we had seen earlier at the entrance to Stockport Merseyway Centre entertained us with a rap:

"After over three hours on your feet

This Homer food will be a treat

Hey pretty lady, take a seat

Do you shave your legs or do you use Veet?"

You will go to the ball - only PUMA Complete INFINITUS would fit !

We pulled a raffle for three fantastic prizes (if you haven't heard then I am afraid you didn't win), there was much hilarity when East Cheshire Harriers legend Harry Kelly won second prize as he had coached 'Jane' when he/she was in his teens.

The Nelson brothers took a load of great photographs, including the two shown here and we went on our merry way with Leukaemia Research having an extra £298 to spend.

PS I made it up about the rap.

Tarzan

The Fir Tree - £1050

On the recce the week before

Well the legs are well on the road to recovery and Tarzan, Jane and the Banana have already been out running again (Jane stupidly doing a recovery run at 10pm on Sunday night).

One of the noisiest parts of our epic journey was through the busy street of Reddish - a combination of a bear on a motorbike, Tarzan, Jane and the Banana and a plethora of volunteers following brought the centre of Reddish to a standstill - this called for a dual strategy of collectors on both sides of the road getting the cars as they stopped at the traffic lights - it worked a treat - with people shouting, car horns beeping we saw our next stop The Fir Tree and were greeted by the amazing Bananathon Cheerleaders.

Inside the the pub the place was hotting up as preparations for the two big football matches of the day got underway, we even found time to share a quick pint of lager !

A fantastic amount of money was raised over Friday and Saturday night (£1050) as the pub donated the door takings for both nights.

Lots of photo opportunities with Tarzan sprawled across the bar, one lucky punter positioned herself stage left to have a good gawp at his chimp-pants (was it Stotty in disguise?) , 10 minutes later we were on our way again....

Lets hear it for the The Fir Tree Reddish !!

Manchester Casino - £1000

Well the money has now started to roll in good style - over £5,000 with only a couple of the venues included so far.


One of my favourite stops on Saturday has to be Manch235ter Casino - real James Bond stuff (not like any of us were dressed like or looked like James Bond).

In through the smoked glass door, with what looked like an excellent restaurant to our left, and then upstairs to find out what our task would be - remember by this time we had run approximately 30 miles so we were hoping for something not too hard and difficult.


We were led by Miss Moneypenny (I cant remember the ladies real name, but Miss Moneypenny fits...) - she led us to a roulette table and asked the croupier to hand each of the three of us £250 in chips (A big of fish and chips would have been welcome at this stage of the day also).


So with £750 in chips we were told we had one spin of the wheel and could bet on evens bets (red or black, odd or even numbers) - after much deliberation we opted for Tom putting his on black and me and Tony on red (Tom Holloway suggested Red because it was LRF's colour)... the wheel was spun, the ball expertly thrown in and with the magic clunking noise the roulette wheel makes as the ball jumps around it landed on........ red !!!


One thousand pounds in the bank !!! Ooohh yes !!! Result


It was counted out for us in crisp new fifty pound notes.

Thank you Manch235ter Casino.

Ebay auctions (15/09)

We have two ebay auctions on the go for two fantastic donated items. Both are boxed and new.

Verity Rushworth aka Emmerdale's Donna Windsor Dingle Modelling The Watch

Auction One is for a Versace Fabourg Watch donated by Chisholm Hunter. This retails at around £750 and is currently without a bid at a reserve of £400, an absolute bargain for such a beautiful timepiece. There are a number of pictures and a full description on the ebay page.




Auction Two is for a Farida Bass Guitar donated by Dawsons Music in Manchester. This item currently has one bid at £100 but bought from Dawsons would go for £160. Another bargain. Again, details on the ebay page.

If you are interested or know anyone who might be, please bid.

Tarzan x

Silence is golden... (16/09)

Tarzan head over heels at the auction results

Well the first results are starting to roll in so lets start with the silent auction at Tiger Tiger, some excellent prizes donated by some wonderful people. Initial bidding was slow but as the evening wore on and the drink started to flow so did the bids.......


Laptop - £150 - John Hulse
Man U vs Bolton Wanderers - £70 - 'Jane'
Blackburn Rovers vs Man City - £300 - Mike Jackson
Gold Guitar - £120 - John Hulse
Emmerdale script - £151 - J Abbott (Blue Rainbow)
Fine Dining at the Midland - £105 - Tom Holloway
Lucky Voice Pod at Tiger Tiger - £30 - Andy Murphy
Coronation Street Tour - £151 - Will Hannah (Blue Rainbow)
Blue Rainbow - £60
Signed picture of Joe Jordan - £5 - Andy Murphy
Signed picture of Bryan Robson £20 - Chris (Badger) Craig


An amazing total of £1162 - outstanding !

Send us your pics and thoughts

If you have any photos, videos or thoughts about the day, that you would like to share on the blog then please send them to us at bananathon@hotmail.com. Whether you were involved in the event as a volunteer, venue, partner or just enjoyed party at Tiger Tiger your input will help us find out what you thought of it and maximise the effect of the event.

Keep watching

Tarzan

x

Bananatastic! Saturday September 13th 2008

Wahaaaaaay! We did it! What a day! What a night!

During the week we will fill you in on all the stories and events from the day and let me tell you, there are many ( one of my favourite moments was talking to Dominic as he DJ'd, he suddenly shifted his gaze to outside the window and shouted "look at that guy" as a man dressed as a gorilla/monkey/creature off Doctor Who passed by on a motorbike, "Oh, that's Brian, he's with us" I replied).

We don't have a total yet, but will have by the end of the week, so keep reading.

So for now it's just a list of Thank You's. If I miss anyone off, I'm sorry, there are so many people to remember.

Thanks to everybody from the half bananathon and all the support we have had from the Media in the build up to the day.

Thanks to everybody from all the venues, we will name people individually in the reports during the week, you were all fantastic, thanks so much for embracing the event as you did (I know two venues who have raised £1,000 so far, amazing!).

Thanks to Suzy Dee and all at Tiger Tiger for a great party. To White Van Man, Lee, DJ Grimesy, Drase (the Manchester Beatbox Champion), FTAV Sound of Harrogate, Charlie & Dom.

Thanks to Puma for the sports wear, Lucozade sport for the support van and product, to Dave and Darren Nelson for photographing the whole event and Channel M for covering the early stages. Blue Rainbow for the beautiful apartments.

Thanks to Talib and Brian for the support vehicles and all the fantastic support runners from Stockport Harriers who carried buckets and collected on the day, some of them running the whole distance; Steve, Gerry, Simon, Andy, John, Sharon, Tony and Lee who also designed and printed the tickets and drank the most Cider at Tiger Tiger.

Massive thanks to the Leukaemia Research Team and all the volunteers who collected, especially Gill, Tom, Serena, Sally, Kate and Alex who took the brunt of the many jobs that needed doing in the build up and on the day.

Thanks to Sean and Tom who have worked so hard for this event over the last few months and to our partners and families who have had to put up with obsessed strangers for the bulk of it.

Thanks to everyone who donated to LRF. You did yourselves and Manchester proud and your money will be well spent.

Now, time for more sleep

Tarzan x

Blue Rainbow the morning after, In Steve Jones' pants.