2016 was an incredible year for the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust. We started the year as a small, but rapidly growing appeal and ended the year as a registered charity with over £120,000 raised since we began.

Charity Highlights

This year, there have been so many highlights, but in this review we will endeavour to cover as many as possible.

The biggest highlight was on 22nd June 2016 when after a great deal of work, the Grace Kelly Ladybird Appeal formally gained its charity status; receiving the title of the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust. We are now registered as a Charitable Incorporate Organisation, registration number 1167783, something we are so proud of.

Fundraising Highlights for 2016

On the 28th February 2016 was the Perdiswell Family fun afternoon. This was the first major event that the Grace Kelly Ladybird Appeal held, and over £4,500 was raised. A big thank you to Nathalie Hothi and everyone else that helped in any way – it really started to get our name known and people wanting to help.

The 16th May was the Crowle Searchers football tournament. Members of Crowle WI (wine institute) organised and led by Nicole Jones and Kirsty Fisher put on cake displays to rival Mary Berry’s! They took in an amazing £1,262.75.  

In addition, Birmingham University medics raised £1,000 by holding a raffle and voluntary donations at their 10 year reunion and Hannah Cornwell raised £1,300 by getting 11 inches of hair cut off for the Little Princess Trust. Amazing!

The 9th of July 2016 marked a hard landmark, Grace’s birthday. The day that she should have turned 6 years old. To mark the day, we held an event over the preceding week to ‘Let it Go for Grace.’ Adults and children let of balloons, bubbles, seeds or even rockets in Graces memory and text donated. This raised over £450 as well as creating a wonderful way to remember Grace and mark her day.

Also on the 9th of July, the men of Crowle, Worcestershire undertook a huge challenge. They completed the epic Man Vs Lake endurance course. The team of Jon Purves, Alistair Stokes, Paul Chase, Ben Rogers and Stuart Knott raised a fab £1,200, thank you so much.

The 13th of August was the day of another huge challenge. Hugh Savage, undertook a 32 mile coastal Cornwall run raising £953. An amazing effort, especially as Hugh has only been enjoying running for a relatively short time.

At the Garden party, we were delighted to award free passes to see Katy Ashworth and to attend the garden party to 6 children and their parents and carers from Acorns Children’s Hospice. A further oncology family and two other families of children with special needs received free family passes to the day as well. The children thoroughly enjoyed the event and it was wonderful to give them this experience as part of the work of the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust.

In November, Claire Wilmot held a large bake sale and then held a big charity door collection at work a few weeks later. Her employer, Barclays Technology Centre in Radbroke  runs a price match funding scheme that agrees to match the funds raised by any of their employees for charity. Including this price matching, Claire raised £2598 for the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust. Absolutely brilliant.

This year, there have been a number of other excellent personal challenges that have taken place, and not enough space to mention them all. In addition to the above, many thanks to James Rees who completed the 10K Great North swim in an excellent time, raising a wonderful £1,400. Also, Tom Cornwell doing the cycle leg of the Blenheim triathlon, Katie Harrison running the Birmingham 10k and Jo Geals running the Crowle 10k. Other fundraisers of special mention include:  Rachel Stokes, Danny Jackman, Sophie Corkhill and Kelly Jackman, Jacqui Hunt, Samni Rhone and so many others. Thank you so much to each and every one of you.

The Christmas period started with our annual Christmas cards. A big thank you to Angela Robinson of Angela Robinson Photography who designed and produced our beautiful cards for the second year running (as well as all our posters, tickets and designs throughout the year). This year, they proved popular, and have helped raise funds and awareness for the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust.

The year was rounded up with our annual Christmas Jumper Event. This year, we had an incredible 64 events taking place. The support we received was wonderful, with events taking place from all round the country. For a full list of everyone that took part please see the website.

Some of the highlights included St Peters CEVA First School raising an incredible £500.73 by wearing Christmas jumpers, selling gingerbread and carol singing. Amazing. Other events of very special mention for their efforts included Glebeland Surgery (Belbroughton),  Stapenhill Medical Centre (Burton), Woodgreen Day Nursery (Worcester), Crowle Preschool and Toddler Group, Also to Michelle Nolan and Emma James who between them were responsible for organizing 7 events, which raised nearing £1000 on their own. Absolutely incredible! We are unable to mention everyone that participated, but a huge thank you to every single event that took place, we hugely appreviate it. We have already raised £6,000 from this event this year, and there are still more funds coming in!

Our Christmas jumper event will be back for Christmas 2017 as a great way to fundraise and help people feel festive in the build up to Christmas! Be sure to  write it in the diaries and ask schools and work if they can do the same - the provisional date is Friday 15th December!

Children at St Peter's CEVA First School                          Crowle Preschool and Crowle Toddler Group

Fundraising Totals

Grace’s legacy has been growing since soon after she passed away, but her fundraising appeal began in earnest 14 months ago. We are delighted to share a breakdown of funds raised so far.

Funds raised so far to date include:

• £9,024 – for a number of charities including Clic Sargent, Birmingham Children’s Hospital,

                               Help Harry Help others and Children with Cancer

• £20,035 – Acorns Children’s Hospice
•  £44,480  - Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG)

On the 22nd June 2016, the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust gained charitable status, and since that date, the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust has raised a further £46,574.

This has taken Grace’s legacy now to a fantastic £120,113.

What are the plans for the Funds Raised?

Acorns Children’s Hospice, Clic Sargent and Birmingham Children’s hospital are in receipt of the funds raised and are already been putting them to good use.

The Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group work at the forefront of research into childhood cancer, and the funds they already hold in Grace’s named fund, along with some further funds the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust raises will be used to fund projects. Research is inherently very expensive, and dependent on research projects, materials, equipment and staffing can cost easily £100,000 a project. As such, the CCLG are we are waiting to ensure we have sufficient funds in place before inviting researchers to apply. This research is hugely needed, but it needs to be done in the correct way to ensure it is spent in the most beneficial way. The CCLG are keen to work with us to make sure the funds go to the most useful projects that really will make a difference to our children.

In addition, some funds the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust have raised will be used working to raise awareness of childhood cancer, in particular the signs and symptoms. We will be working with GP’s and other health professionals to aid early diagnosis. This will involve reaching as many GP practices as possible, and well as accident and emergency departments and other health care settings.

The Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust is also already working hard to raise awareness and help with education of General Practitioners and other health professionals in other ways, including work on educational modules and online resources. Currently we are also working on a study looking at symptoms that children present with at diagnosis.  In time, this will hopefully encourage review into the way children are diagnosed. Delays in diagnosis cost lives and we want to help change this.

The funds we raise are so incredibly important to continue to help make a difference to our children.

Education, awareness and Action - 2016

September was Childhood cancer awareness month.  We were delighted to be one of the backing charities and also one of the founders of the Glow gold Campaign for childhood cancer awareness. A huge amount of work was involved, resulting in over 180 landmarks in the UK glowing gold, including Gloucester Cathedral, the Arena at Worcester University and Old Joe at Birmingham University. Further afield, Canary Wharf lit up, the fountains at Trafalgar square as did Niagara Falls and even Scottish Parliament. Next year, we are hoping that the event will grow in size and continue to raise awareness.

Unite2Cure

December was a busy month for Unite2Cure as well. Unite2cure is a group of childhood cancer organisations and parent groups from across Europe that have been working to fight for change in the way that paediatric (childhood) medications are trialled. The Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust is proud to be a one of the organisations working with Unite2cure, working as part of the communications team.

On the 15th December, European parliament voted to adopt the resolution seeking to improve the current EU Regulation on Paediatric Medicines to make it harder for drugs companies to avoid investing in research in drugs for children.

What does this actually mean? Currently research into medication for children in general is limited sadly mainly due to the fact it is not as profitable as adult medicine. There is a long way to go, but it is the first step towards changes being made. The Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust are proud to have formed a small part of this step forwards. This really could be a huge step for childhood cancer. It will take time, but really is a hugely positive step.

Awareness cards

In December, we have also been delighted to release our first two childhood cancer signs and symptoms awareness cards. The first card is for General practitioners and other clinicians, for example in Accident and Emergency and general paediatrics. Named “Regional Red Flags for Childhood Cancer,” the aim was to create a simple, easily accessible card for symptom recognition that GP’s could easily remember or refer to. Please have a look at the website for our growing list of resources. This is a work in progress, and there is a lot more that is being added over the coming months.

Over the next months, we will be aiming to spread our awareness cards and other educational work throughout GP practices and with the public. This is a huge project, but it is so important that health professionals and parents are aware of the signs and symptoms. Early diagnosis can save lives and reduce disability, but currently in the UK, our children are being diagnosed at a later point and with more advanced disease than the rest of Europe, giving them poorer outcomes. We are hoping to help change that.

A summary note for 2016

The motto of the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust is: because the children of today all deserve a tomorrow.

Beautiful Grace did not get her tomorrow, but her kindness and wish to help others will hopefully give other children that chance. For this, we are so proud of our girl. Thank you to each and everyone that has helped her fulfil this wish in any way.

Wishing all our followers and fundraisers a productive and healthy 2017. If you can help us fundraise, volunteer time or even set up a regular donation (however small, it all really does help), please do not hesitate to contact us.