h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Maggie,

Very long time no speak! - so much has happened in the last few months - we finally got charity status in early April (these departments can work very slowly!), got together a team of fundraisers and raised some funds for project work...we're now funding some preparatory health and environmental development work in Madagascar so the Mobile Health Clinic will be able to operationalise within a wider health network, and everything to do with the mission is getting very exciting!

I hope bbc 360 has been enjoyable recently...and once again apologies for not keeping our corner active for a while - we wanted to be sure we could use the site to the full, for the benefit of 360 as well as for the Madagascar mission.

We now have a website - donated by a great American company, charity Finders, which is moving into the UK market soon and is using us as an example of what can be achieved with their services.
Go to www.madagascarfoundation.org

However, we still wish to keep our 360 presence active, and have a great way we can further encourage further involvement with our mission through your site!
We already have a link from our site to your homepage. However what we'd really like to do is have a link from our homepage to our space within your site, encouraging people to engage and interact with the issues surrounding our work - much like we were doing last summer, except this time visitors would be coming for our site as well as the rest of the BBC.

I think it's a great idea and will benefit both of us immensely! All we need to do to get the ball rolling is edit the info on our site (we're now The Madagascar Foundation, not MAF), then set up the links.

Let me know your thoughts - my email is [email protected]

Regards

Simon

Hi Simon,

Good to have you back! Your email address may get moderated but you could send it to me at the 360 email address which is [email protected]

No problem linking to your 360 home page...just use the URL when you are there. It will have a U number rather than an A number.

I'll come back and chat more when I've got more time...just off home now because the (soon to be ex)boss and his wife are coming to dinner

Thanks Maggie -

Shall I send the edited version of our mission to Ashley so he can update our 360 page? - It will be a bit more succinct than the last stuff we sent him, so shouldn't take too long. Anyway let me know. Hope the meal went well - why soon to be ex-boss? Are you leaving?

Hi Simon,

Big changes around here...best thing would be to send the changes to me (at the [email protected] address) and I'll do them with pleasure. Ashley and Sam stopped working on 360 about 7 months ago.

The site is changing BBC departments which is why Richard is the soon-to-be ex boss. It isn't currently looking as though I will be staying after July either... however, nothing is final yet.

Hope all is very well with you.

Hi Maggie,

Things at TMF are still moving nicely - we're expanding our volunteer and supporter base and have another couple of companies interested in sponsoring the mission! Our skydive was a success - in fact we raised over £10,000 in one jump - if you or anyone else fancies hurling themsleves out of a plane for a good cause do let us know and we'll send you some info!

We'll get the new content over to you by the end of the week...By the way, do you have a logo in 300 dpi so we can publicise the forum on our communications? Also, when you set up the new site will it be possible to put a link on each page saying 'to get back to TMF's site click here' so people dont get lost/confused?

Hope you're well, and look forward to hearing from you,

Simon

Hi Simon, great to hear your news!

The 360 logo will be changing pretty soon and, as I won't be here to sort things out after the end of July (shame, but the R&E department haven't got the funding it seems) you'll have to sort the rest of it out with them.

I'm not in at work today but I'll send you the links to talk to them on Wednesday - and I'll get my brain round what you need then too (got a code in de hed right now so have a brain like cotton wool!)

Thanks Maggie - will check on Wed.

Hi Simon,

Jen (U228350) will be in charge of 360 as from August 1st. She's also working on the redesign.

You can talk to her on her space.

I've also forwarded on your email to the 360 email address so she can check in on this thread and to the foundation itself.

Hi Maggie,

Shame you're leaving. Are you staying in the BBC or moving to pastures new? I wish you the best of luck whatever you're doing.

You said Jen will be taking over from August 1st. Does that mean I send the new text/pictures to Jen now, or shall I deal with you until then? Also, i've pretty much finished the new text - shall I send pictures seperate as jpegs with the titles as captions or within a word document?

Speak soon,

Simon

Well I'm happy to put them up when I've got the time (JPEG is fine) but it might take a week or so.... When you were last here, there was Ashley, Sam and myself and now there's just me.

In theory, nowadays, you should do the Guide ML yourself...you can find out how to do that by looking for GuideML on Search if you want to (that will take you over to H2G2).

However, I doubt you'll have time to do that...and I will still have to put the pictures up for you anyway so feel free to bung it to my by email.!

It might be an idea to let Jen know what you're doing by email so you can get her in the loop.

Yes it is a shame...I'll still be around in the Beeb though in one way or another - I also work for the World Service anyway and there are lots of other opportunities available.

Hi Maggie,

Thanks you're a star! The text wont be as much as last time as most of the info's on our site now..i'll only include a couple of illustrative pics aswell just to break the text up. I'll write a note to jen today too.

Anyway, keep well, and I'll pop you an email with the content later today.

Thanks,

Simon

Ok Maggie - the content's with you now. Pics'll be with you by Monday. Have a good weekend!

Simon