Events and fundraising Highlights
A huge thank you to everyone that has helped support the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust in any. We are unable to mention everyone by name as there has been so much help, but here are a few highlights.
A new fundraiser: someone special, in memory of Esther Edwards
Esther Edwards, also from Worcester, passed away a few short months ago. She was just 4 and a quarter, and passed away from a rare soft tissue tumour. Esther was exactly the same age as our beautiful Grace when she flew to be an angel. I am very privileged to have met Esther’s mother, Lara, and was delighted to hear that she and her husband have decided to choose the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust as one of the 3 charities they want to fundraise for in memory of Esther.
In October, Esther’s father, Simon and other family members ran the Cardiff Half marathon in memory of Esther, donating a third of funds raised to the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust. We are so honoured to have this support, especially in memory of beautiful Esther. They have also helped organize Christmas jumper events and have more activities organized for this year. Thank you so much for your support Lara and Simon, and a really positive way to help remember Esther too.
Fundraising events and activities
In October, we were contacted by Claire Wilmot who wanted to help fundraise for the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust. She held a large bake sale and then held a big charity door collection at work a few weeks later. Her employer, Barclays Bank in Nantwich 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 has managed to raise and incredible £2598 for the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust. Absolutely brilliant Claire, Rachel Foo, Louise Ollier and anyone that helped thank you so much.
In November, we were delighted to hear that a social media vote resulted in Puddle Ducks, Worcester nominating us as the recipient of their annual charity pyjama week. They raised a fantastic £550.90. Thank you for your kind support.
We have been grateful having the ongoing support of Thomas Guise solicitors who named us their charity of the year, and have been carrying out a range of fundraising activities including cake sales, a Christmas jumper day, guess the sweets in the jar and a couch to 5k, run by Jo Morgan as well.
On the 1st December, the Bank House Hotel in Bransford held a Winter Wonderland family shopping evening, including a chance for children to visit Santa. They raised a wonderful £660 that night - a brilliant effort. In addition, they held a Christmas jumpers event for us too. Wonderful support, thank you.
Christmas Cards
A big thank you to one of our trustees, Ange Robinson for designing our Christmas cards. They really were lovely designs this year. Thank you so much in particular to Barbara Britt – Compton, Liz Dewhirst, Michelle Nolan, Emma James and Hannah Cornwell for their help and wonderful card selling. In addition, thank you to Alison at Crowle Post Office and also the Crowle Preschool for selling Christmas cards for us as well.
Christmas Jumpers for Grace 2016
This year was our second Christmas jumper event, and we had a brilliant 61 events taking place. So far we have taken in just under £5,000, with quite a bit more to be collected. It really has been an amazing response. A huge thank you to everyone that organized events or took part.
Of particular mention, thank you to St Peter’s C of E First School who raised a wonderful £500.73 by wearing Christmas jumpers, selling gingerbread and also carol singing in the town centre as well.
Michelle Nolan held a Christmas jumper party for her birthday party and sold cards for us as well. The combined total of these activities, a fantastic £577! Just brilliant. Her sister, Emma James has worked so hard too selling cards and holding a series of events including the Worcester Crown Courts and Worcester Magistrates courts raising £320 as well.
The Glebeland surgery in Belbroughton raised £289, and a further £226 was raised by Stapenhill Medical Practice as well. Both a brilliant effort, thank you so much, and great for spreading awareness of the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust as well. In addition, we had so many other events taking place including Crowle Preschool, Woodgreen Nursery and a number of other Worcestershire GP practices too. A huge thank you to everyone that took part!
Education, awareness and Action
Following childhood cancer awareness month in September, we have continued to work to help raise awareness.
In October, we were pleased to have the work of the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust, and Grace’s story told in The Guardian newspaper. This was in conjunction with promising new research work being carried out at the Institute of Cancer Research on Rhabdoid tumours. It was great to be contacted by the Institute of Childhood Cancer in this way. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/25/scientists-find-chink-in-armour-of-aggressive-childhood-cancer
On the 28th November, a childhood cancer petition was discussed in parliament. Over 116,000 signatures resulted in the debate. The response of the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust to the parliamentary debate can be seen below:
http://www.gracekellyladybird.co.uk/response-to-parliamentary-debate-11
In summary, 15 MPs attended out of 650. Those who attended spoke of their own and their constituent’s experiences, and the need for changes to be made to improve funding for childhood cancer research. However, when summarizing, Nicola Blackwood, spoke about advances that were being made in cancer research as a whole, rather than childhood cancer in particular which has the big disparity. The outcome was a disappointment, showing the need for our work to continue.
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 to make pharmaceutical companies less able to avoid the obligation of developing drugs for children (children sadly are less profitable than adults). The Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust is a supporting organisation of Unite2cure, working as part of the communications team. On the 15th December, members of the movement were in European Parliament, pushing for a support in a change to this legislation. We were delighted that European parliament voted to adopt the resolution seeking to improve the current EU Regulation on Paediatric Medicines. 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.
For more information see the Unite2Cure website for a summary:
unite2cure.org/2016/12/15/european-cancer-community-welcomes-european-parliament-support-for-children-with-cancer
Signs, Symptoms and awareness
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.
The second awareness card is for parents and carers – early recognition of signs and symptoms can save lives: think LADYBIRD.
These awareness cards will be available in print in the New Year.
In addition, we are also in the process of building up a series of online resources for clinicians and parents to increase awareness of the signs and symptoms of childhood cancer, and information about te specific types and treatments too. Please do have a look at our website to see what we have added so far (there are separate resources for clinicians and parents). Educational resources
We have had a busy few months, but have also made a lot of progress.
Thank you so much to everyone that has helped us any way.
With the New Year soon upon us, we are looking for new fundraisers, businesses offering charity of the year and people wanting to do personal challenges. To continue our work and also to continue to work towards funding research grants, we need to strive to continue our fundraising efforts. In addition, we are also looking for volunteers, be it occasional or a couple of hours more regularly.
If time is a problem but you are keen on helping, how about an easy New Year's Resolution of starting up regular donation to the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust. Easy to do on our online payment page, and can make a real difference and can be beneficial for tax purposes too. Even a small amount a month can really add up. If you are interested, go to our Virgin Money Giving page and click on "make a regular monthly donation."
Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information.
We will be continuing to produce a quarterly newsletter with updates for the Charity. We would love it if you signed up to join our newsletter that can be emailed to you. We will not use your details for any reason other than the newsletter.
Wishing all our fundraisers, followers and supporters a
Happy and productive 2017.
The Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust
