Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust: April to June 2017 |
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The last few months have been both busy and extremely positive for the charity. As well as some fantastic fundraising activities, we have been concentrating very much on raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of childhood cancer and support of families affected. We have now given out over 150,000 awareness cards to schools, health visitors, childcare settings, accident and emergencies and GP surgeries. |
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In addition, we have also formed a partnership with the Institute of Health Visitors to produce information documents for Health visitors and also parents on the symptoms of childhood cancer and how it may present. The aim is for this information to reach health visitors and filter down to parents as well to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms. These resources have recently been published. | | |
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We were delighted for two of our trustees to represent the charity at the annual childhood cancer conference in London (CCC17) in June, helping build on our contact base and form ideas for our future work. It was a very successful event. |
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We have been so pleased to welcome Michelle Nolan to our team, particularly to help with community fundraising, events and also our awareness projects. We have also welcomed Matthew Hepplethwaite as our trustee and treasurer to replace Kate Hall who will soon be stepping down. Thank you Kate for all your help with the charity over the last 18 months and welcome Matt, it is great to have you on board. |
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In January, we invited applications for £50,000 research grant in partnership with the expertise the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG). After a rigorous application and assessment process, we are delighted that the grant of £50,000 is in the process of being awarded, and we will release the details of this when it is finalised. |
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During the grant assessment process, it came to light that a second research proposal was also extremely promising. As such, we have formed a funding partnership with the CCLG and between us we have made the decision to jointly fund the second £50,000 research programme as well. We are therefore delighted to announce that two £50,000 projects will be funded as a result. |
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Fundraising The London Marathon is always an incredible event. This year we were delighted that 4 runners who had places in the marathon decided to donate some of their funds raised to the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust despite us not having a charity place. A fantastic effort by Simon Peter Edwards, Phil McGrahan,and Liz Acaster between them raising in excess of £3,000 for the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust that day. Amazing. |
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May the 20th was a family fun afternoon raising funds for GKLT. Despite extremely heavy rain keeping some away, it was a fantastic event for all who came. We raised £2,900 from the event, all funds going to help continue our work. Thank you to all our fantastic volunteers and all those who gave up time to help or to attend the event. We could not have done it without you. |
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Michelle Nolan and Ellen Boaz’ 31 mile challenge was another big highlight of this quarter. The pair of them running 31 miles down canal paths from Birmingham, raising over £2,000 in the process. Absolutely incredible. This has since been followed with an even bigger event, with Michelle and another friend, Shelley Jay-Lewis completing the inaugural 100km Cotswold way challenge just yesterday. An amazing effort and funds are still rolling in so this will be fully reviewed in the next review, simply incredible. Thank you so much all of you. We have also had Emily Haslam and Judith Willis in the Manchester 10k, Jo Geals in the Worcester Half Marathon and James Rees in an incredible event of a 10k Great North Swim to name a few. Thank you to everyone that has helped and fundraised for us in any way. We rely heavily on the work of our fantastic fundraisers to help fund the work we do. In early May, there was also the Crowle 10k and its associated fun runs. This year, the profits from the fun runs were kindly donated to the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust. It raised £585 for the GKLT. Thank you so much to all that attended the event. A thank you also to members of staff at the Coop in Ronkswood, Worcester. As well as helping supportus as part of their community charity funding scheme, they also helped by holding a fundraising and awareness day for the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust in store raising over £440 last week. A big thank you to Richard Allen and Rachel Robinson in particular for this fantastic fundraising. |
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Upcoming dates for the diaries 17th September is the Worcester City 10k and half marathon. We are delighted to have charity places in this event if anyone would like to join us! It will be fantastic to see so many Ladybird Trust running vests! We are also delighted to say that we have a confirmed charity place in the London marathon – please drop us a message if you would like to apply for this fantastic place! |
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It may be summer, but the winter term will soon be upon us, and then our annual Christmas Jumpers event on 15th December will suddenly be very close! It is worth getting in early at work or school to see if you can reserve the date. Last year, we had well over 50 events taking place, both big and small. It would be wonderful to see if we can beat that this year! |
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Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust Regular giving appeal for Grace's 7th birthday Sunday 9th July 2017 should have been Grace's 7th birthday. Instead, Grace will remain forever 4, and this will be our 3rd year without her on her birthday. Sadly, Grace's story keeps on being repeated. In the last 4 months, devastatingly, 5 more children from our rhabdoid families support group have passed away. Grace would have wanted to stop this happening to other children, so this year on her birthday, we are asking you to consider helping. |
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Could you give just £3 a month (or what ever you can spare) on a regular basis to help us continue our work in Grace's memory? The easiest way is to set up a direct debit via virgin money giving then we can reclaim gift aid as well. To do this go to www.virginmoneygiving.com/charities/GraceKellyLadybirdTrust and select ‘set up a regular donation.’ By giving a small amount each month, it really does mount up and in turn will enable us to fund more research programmes to help save lives. Thank you so much. Thank you to everyone reading and following the Grace Kelly Ladybird Trust. By sharing the message and helping when you can can make all the difference. |
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Legacy giving Writing your Will is an important way of looking after the future of your family and friends. After you’ve taken care of loved ones, you may wish to leave a gift in your Will to your favourite charity. By remembering charities in this way, you are ensuring that their good work lives on. If you would like more information on this, please do not hesitate to contact us. |
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