Would You Like To See An Impersonation Of A Giant Smurf?

This isn’t normally our thing but seeing as the season that is in it and the person involved we have to highlight this.

On Christmas Day long time Culch.ie commenter, Peter will brave the Irish sea in aid of Crumlin Childrens Hospital.


Unfortunately my oldest son was born with a medical condition which needed a number of operations to try to fix things. During my time in Crumlin Childrens Hospital I came to appreciate the dedication of the people there but also see the severe limitations and budgetary constraints they work under. In times of recession the cut backs hit even harder on those that need it most. So it’s a cause very close to my heart.

Every single donation is fantastic - no matter how small.

The swim will take place on the North Beach in Rush at 12 noon and there website for donations is here.

Every cent collected goes directly to the charity but Peter is happy to accept any gifts of hot whiskey or warm blankets for after the swim.

If Peter reaches the €500 mark he has promised to upload the whole chilly event to You-Tube.




22 Responses to Would You Like To See An Impersonation Of A Giant Smurf?

  1. Peter Balfe says:

    That will more than liekly be a neutered giant smurf!
    Thanks Liz for the shout out - much appreciated!
    I am quite frankly amazed and touched by the responses I have had to this charity and event. Its the first time I have really understood the true power of social networks.

    As my job brings me in contact with a large amount of people (I am an IT services manager BTW) I sent out an email in work to a large number of people I knew directly (I don’t generally send unsolicited emails to people I dont know) The topic of conversation for the week in work seems to be how kind/insane I am to be doing this. I have people I would only have a passing relationship with stopping me in the corridors for a chat and I have met some people I work with who had a similar situation with their children. Its be a lovely experience so far.
    Talking to our HR manager yesterday she has said that the charity comittee here will provide a matching donation up to €500 of what I raised. So fair play to my company!

    I also put up the link as my status on Facebook during the week and had an amazing repsonse in posts and personal messages - loads from people again I would not have huge contact with.

    I guess with this all in mind I plan on making this a wee bit more of an event. So I will be doing at least one pre-swim video which I will be uploading to yourtube of my preparation for the swim. I’ll let you know when I have this. Expect it to be very tongue in cheek!
    There is loads of talk these day about cut backs and savings to be made etc etc. I wish it could be done faily but I am pretty sure that Crumlin will be hit and hit hard.
    Its a great charity I firmly believe in - and having lived through some very tough times and spending more time in Crumlin than at home I see how much they could do with support.

    That’s worth being turned in to a giant neutered smuf in my book!

  2. sharon says:

    Good Luck Peter :)

  3. Emlyn says:

    Again, you’re a brave man Pete. But fair play to you :)

    You should make a few (rather than one) pre-production diary videos, like Peter Jackson did for ‘King Kong’…except the end result will be a giant smurf rather than ape! Will build up the anticipation!

  4. Peter Balfe says:

    @ Sharon - Thank you very much. And also a huge thanks for your very generous and kind donation!

    more pressure for me to actually video tape the entire thing ;)

    @ Em- now all I need is a video camera ;)

  5. Niall says:

    Good luck to ya matey.

  6. Peter says:

    @ Niall - Cheers mate. And thanks to you for the very kind donation too!

  7. Lottie says:

    No problem at all P. Its a great cause. I hope you get lots of support.

    I’ll be wishing you luck from the warmth and comfort of my fire side in my PJs.

    And “Talking to our HR manager yesterday she has said that the charity comittee here will provide a matching donation up to €500 of what I raised. So fair play to my company!” That rocks!

  8. Annie says:

    Best of luck! Left a comment with the donation that says ‘don’t wear whie pants!” that should be white haha

  9. Peter says:

    @ Liz - I think it rocks too! They are very good that way I have to say.

    @ Annie - fair play to you and a big huge thanks for that. Very kind and generous!

  10. Peter says:

    And can I just say - I wish to god legging it into the Irish sea on xmas day looked aything like the photo with this post! Chance would be a fine thing!!

  11. Lottie says:

    @Everyone - Well he did refer to the picture. HEre’s what the real thing looks like:

    http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2581/4160261917_ec990156c3_o.jpg

  12. Peter says:

    Ya fecker!

  13. Lottie says:

    @Peter - ba ha ha ha ha! Nice abs though :)

  14. Peter says:

    @ Liz - you leave my abs alone young woman!

  15. Peter Balfe says:

    A quick update on this. We are filming the preparation scenes for the swim this week.
    My director and editor (Emlyn) having not only broken a rib, caught a cold, got a sore throat all just to get out of this may not film the footage and direct - but will hopefuly do some editing for me.
    Depending on how embarressing it is - I will hope to post it up next week….

  16. Peter says:

    Jaysis - the things I do for charity:

    Download Video with Vixy.net | YouTube to MP3: Vixy

    I promised I would do something if I got good sponsorship - and bloody hell have I!

  17. Emlyn says:

    Here’s a wee companion piece to Peter’s vid…cobbled together whilst i was (and still am) recovering with the aforementioned rib. This will be up on YT until the event itself ;)

  18. Lottie says:

    OMG you’re only €5 off the €500 mark. Well done!

  19. Peter Balfe says:

    @ Lottie - Actually I have an extra €300 or so on the sponsor card in work - so over €800 right now!

  20. Emlyn says:

    Great stuff Pete :)

  21. Peter says:

    Well I promised:

    Thanks to everyone. We are totaling up all our donations but it looks as though we will be over €2,000!

  22. Peter says:

    And the link (in case it does not embed)