Wow, what a start!

We really have been blown away by the amount of support and awareness we’ve had regarding the Our Space Appeal so to start with we’d like to say a HUGE thank you to each and every one of you that have helped us so far.

The Our Space Appeal was launched in June 2011 and is raising funds to create a world-class Children and Young People’s Cancer Unit for 0-24 year olds at Leicester Royal Infirmary.

There’s so much to tell you all about since the last newsletter in the Autumn, it’s going to be hard to fit it all in this newsletter but here we go…

Great news- with existing pledges of support and donations already in, we have £1million towards the £1.4million target ! Thank you so much to everybody that's donated so far and to those that have pledged money to us.

Let's keep it up, there’s still a way to go!

The actual money we’ve received into the appeal to date is over £260,000.00!!

Major Gifts:

Since the last newsletter, we have had several substantial and very kind donations- The Robbie Anderson Cancer Trust donated £50,000. Fiona and Kevin Anderson from the Trust, presented the cheque to us at our Trustees lunch meeting on the 4 th of November. High Street store Next donated £25,000, The Glenfield Hospital Support Shop donated £10,000 and The Ross Family Trust donated £10,000. These donations have been a huge boost to help us try and reach our target and we are so very grateful to all involved.

What some of our Fabulous Fundraisers have been up to….

Kam, Robert & Amber Palin have raised £4,478.75 to date by selling Christmas cards, swimming to an island at Market Bosworth Water Park on Christmas day 2011 as well as fundraising since 2010. Telford & Wrekin Bowling Club raised £100.00 at the annual president’s day competition as Amber Palin's Grandparent is a member of the club.

Craig Buzzard has raised £1,250.30 to date by taking part in the Peaks Challenge, donations from Corby companies and donations in memory of his sister, Siobhan.

Craig’s friend, Gaz Roche is also raising money in Our Superb School Support memory of Siobhan Buzzard. He did an event with Fairfield Preparatory School - During the autumn music/bands/DJs and a raffle and has raised term, students raised money through many £3,554.20 to date. concerts and performances over the Christmas period plus other activities. Elaine James completed the Leicester Half A cheque for £2,000 was presented to Dr Emma Marathon and managed to raise a wonderful Ross and Dr Fiona Miall. £2,415.50. With the joint fundraising she’s been Ravenhurst Primary School raised £700.00 doing with Judy Jones this takes their fundraising total to over £3,400.00! Kibworth High School Held a non-uniform Day on the 1 st November and raised £625.52 Tangent House Day Nursery- Approximately 30 children ages 1-4 Loughborough Grammar School donated £600.00

made spaceman and alien Brookvale High School raised £500.00 from the costumes of different designs, they pupils’ summer charity challenge wore them at their sponsored ‘Moon Walk’- a walk around the Leicester Grammar School donated £98.80 nursery garden 10 times (which they did twice on St Joseph’s RC PS donated £108 .00 16-11-11 and Long Field School raised £451.22 from a school fete continued Newbridge High School raised £1,179.83 from a to do for sponsored run in December 2011 the rest of the week Thistly Meadow Primary School donated £60.00 so that all Hallbrook Primary School raised £54.79 the children could be included). They decorated their garden with painted papier-mâché planets, Crown Hills Community College donated £1000 balloons, moons and stars. They also held a raffle, Stoneygate School donated £1000 sold wristbands, made and sold cakes and collected donations in one of our buckets. So far Manor High School raised £944.60 at a dress-down including the sponsored walk, raffle and donations day. they raised a fantastic £900.00! Roundhill Community College donated £327.52. 125 Winter Fund - the fund donated nearly £4,000 The money was raised at end of term non-school uniform day and Christmas card collection in January. The 125 Fund was set up last year by Paul and Sue Newman, of Glenfield, when they Meadowdale Primary School raised £229.87 over decided they did not need their annual £125 fuel the Christmas period allowance from the Government. This year, they decided to support the Our Space Appeal. St Thomas Moore County Primary School raised £103.50 via a non-uniform day Pukka Pies raised £1,850.55 from a collection over the year and a xmas raffle Joshua Curtis In his own words- “The reason why I decided to do my 20 miles sponsored swim was because my friend who I learnt to swim with is not well and has cancer. He has spent a lot of time in hospital and so do other sick children, so I wanted to get some money to help make the hospital a better place for them all. Next year I hope to do another sponsored swim which is a further distance and to raise even more money! I want to thank everybody who has sponsored me and to also say a huge thank you to all my coaches and friends at Leicester Sharks Competitive swimming club and the City of Leicester swimming club for all their support and encouragement.”

Joshua, aged nine, swam 20 miles- that’s 1280 lengths of a 25m swimming pool in only nineteen hours!

Joshua has raised a massive £830.75 by completing his sponsored swim, which he has donated to the Our Space Appeal.

Jamie Dronfield , brother of George Dronfield did a MCC- Jo Hudson sponsored walk as George was suffering from cancer. He also took part in did a 10 mile walk for the Our Space Appeal from the LRI to the 10 mile walk Stoney Stanton. Sadly, George passed away in January. You with Jamie and can still donate online- others and has justgiving.com/jamiehelpsgeorgeandthedragons raised a further Jamie has raised a mighty £2,455.63 to date. £1,264.03.

Christine Norton had an open day at her house where people came and sold cards, cakes etc to raise money for the Appeal in support of George Dronfield (George's Grandma is Mrs Norton's best friend). She raised a wonderful £650.52.

The Stanley Family- Julie Stanley and family have been very busy fundraising in Memory of their mum who raised over £6,000.00 for the Chemo Suite and LOROS during her illness. They have decided to continue the fundraising in her memory and have chosen the Our Space Appeal as they feel she would have liked the money to benefit children and young people with cancer. On 1 st October 2011, 6 family members did a sponsored bus ride from Leicester to Skegness on local buses raising an amazing £1,494.68 for the Appeal.

Eve Kelly and her cousin, Alex Moran held a cake sale at Eve’s house and raised £134.00

Christine Culpin & Margaret Leach raised £688.55 at their Coast to Coast walk in August

Tanis Reeves runs trips out of the village for pensioners like herself and over the year has raised £150.00

Sarah Jardine raised £908.75 by completing the Worksop half marathon with her friend

Kathy Lucas who raised a further £396.50 for the Appeal

Frances Durrant did a coast to coast bike ride to raise money for the Our Space Appeal £141.25

Scott Selden - In his own Alan and Maureen Meredith - When 90 came to words: “ A few years Tea: 8-year-old Will Meredith of Barrow upon ago I was diagnosed Soar is a patient in the Children’s Oncology Unit with cancer and of the Leicester Royal Infirmary and his received treatment for grandparents, Maureen & Alan Meredith, when it at the Leicester Royal. visiting the unit learnt about the Our Space Thankfully I’ve now Appeal. finished my remission They decided that they’d like to help and to raise period and would like to give a little bit back to funds, invited their friends and neighbours for the people who helped me recover and get Sunday Tea & Cake at their home. The response through the difficult time.” Scott took part in a was amazing, with over 90 people turning up on charity boxing match on the 18th November at the day and many more sending donations. Sheffield United's Bramall Lane football ground. Fortunately, it was a beautiful October Sunday This show is run yearly and is taken seriously by and guests were able to spill over into the garden all the participants and whilst other participants and Will and other grandchildren organized raised money for other charities, Scott decided to competitions to raise even more for the Appeal. raise money for the Our Space Appeal and raised In all, the afternoon raised £1,348.50 for the £100.00. Appeal!

Julie Pegg-Moffatt raised £1,125.00 at Morrisons in Coalville when children played music and collected money on Christmas Eve.

Lee Mann raised money for the Our Space Appeal via the Manchester 100 after his sister, Lindsay Mann who works on the unit, told him about it. He has raised £220.00 to date.

Claire Esler did the Leicester Half Marathon (the week she returned to work after Maternity Leave!) & raised £650.00.

Gary Lowe & Lee Bloxson raised £672.00 in support of patient, Lucy Betts.

Philippa Waite & Louise Hammond raised £650.00 by selling hand-painted pots and bulbs

Ben Kennedy took part in the Rolex Fastnet race around the Isle of Wight and raised £627.50

Woodlands Day Nursery in Birstall raised a whopping £2,286.97 last year at their Christmas Extravaganza on Sunday 4 th December.

Leicestershire Constabulary raised £535.00 from money in leiu of Christmas cards and cake sales to staff, baked by PC Sarah Hogan’s mum.

F1 Manufacturing raised £530.00 for the Appeal at a sponsored cycle ride- thanks to the Landdlord and Landlady of The Malt Shovel and all family, friends and colleagues who helped raise this fantastic amount.

Lucie Mummolo asked guests at her son's Nat Iredale and Chris Taylor took part in the Christening to donate to the appeal instead of Goodwood Rollerblade Marathon and raised buying gifts. A lovely £292.12 was raised. £223.75 Angela Inskip of The Brookside Inn in Barkby Chaplains Caroline Roe and Kate McClelland held a Halloween BBQ night at the pub to raise sold CDs of Christmas songs sung by them and money. They raised £252.50 raised £300.00 Helena Gleeson raised £2,658.75 by cycling from Kerry Rose raised £177.50 by taking part in the Land's End to John O'Groats Great North Swim Lars Moeldrup raised £357.75 by competing in The Keyham Open Gardens event raised £125.00 the Experian - Robin Hood half marathon for our Appeal Graham Hall raised £242.00 via the Great North Dale Heathcote held a pool tournament and Run 1/2 Marathon on 18th September 2011. charity boxing tournament and raised £589.54 Sarah Pinner raised £321.25 at the Adidas Darrel Abeysundra organised a Charity Cricket Women's 5k Challenge Match and raised £587.25 Alexander Fryer held a Music, Beer festival and Di Gill raised £175.00 at a Birthday wine tasting family fun day and raised £1,415.00 party

Our Marathon Runners:

We have 8 dedicated fundraisers competing in the London Marathon in April and we wish them all the best of luck! All are raising money for the Our Space Appeal.

All of their details are below, please support them and donate online. You can also donate via the Appeal JustGiving page- justgiving.com/cancerappeal-londonmarathon2012

Sam Jones , Consultant in Emergency at the LRI- justgiving.com/Sam-Jones9. Raised £1,395.25 to date.

Helen Parry , Health Care Assistant in Oncology- justgiving.com/Helen-Parry100. £337.50 to date.

Claire Willday , Project Support Officer at Leicester General Hospital- justgiving.com/Claire-Willdaycancerappeal-londonmarathon2012. £266.25 to date

Matthew Dacombe , Student- justgiving.com/Matt-Dacombe. £102.50 to date

Paul Gowdridge , Divisional Finance & Performance Manager at the LRI- justgiving.com/OurSpace-Marathon-PG. £600.00 to date

Colin Esler , Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon- no online facility as yet but donations can be sent via the Appeal JustGiving page (above) or via post.

Ian Stringer , BBC Radio Leicester Sports Reporter ( football commentator for Leicester City)- justgiving.com/foxesfoundation. Ian is r unning for LCFC's One in a Million Campaign, of which we are a nominated Charity. £4,564.50 to date

Kevin Mannion, Trainer for Leicester Tigers- justgiving.com/kevin-mannion. £325.00 to date

What the fundraising Team and Ward 27 have been up to….

UHL’s Got Talent

It returned!! We held another UHL’s Got Talent evening in December last year, the 3 rd one we have done. It was held at Athena in Leicester and raised money for the Our Space Appeal.

The evening was introduced by comic duo David Millward and Mayur Waghela, both 17 and past cancer patients at the LRI and also featured a guest appearance from fellow cancer patient, Matthew Bluff, aged 5 who was one of the winners of the Christmas Card Design Competition.

David Lloyd, consultant liver surgeon, hosted the competition and the judging panel included BBC Radio Leicester’s Ben Jackson and cancer patient, Danielle Robinson.

The contest was won by the Physio Girls. Other acts included Rich Gooding & the Oncology Thrillers!

The evening managed to raise a fantastic £1,500.00 and we are so grateful to everyone who took part or supported us.

Visit from Martin Corry MBE

Former Leicester Tigers and England Rugby legend, Martin Corry visited Ward 27 on the 11 th of August. He kindly talked to patients, posed for photos and even had the prints sent to his home so that he could sign them for the children on the ward. It was a wonderful morning and really boosted spirits.

BigBopaloola

The BigBopaloola night organised by Drs Barton, Levy and Miall and hosted by Stoneygate School in July raised £5,000. Guests were entertained by Rich Gooding on acoustic guitar and local band Suzy goes Commando filled the dance floor. We were supported generously by the local community and friends of the organisers including donations of fabulous prizes for the raffle.

Christmas

Ward 27 held raffles and donated money instead of sending Christmas cards to raise funds.

Santa Canter

The Santa Canter event was a huge success and raised over £5,000! It was held at Mallory Park on Sunday 11 th December. Thanks to all involved in organising and taking part.

Staff Christmas Lunch Collections

Every year, Leicester Hospitals Charity pay for staff to have a Christmas lunch. This year, we decided to ask for a voluntary £1 donation from staff taking part in the meals for the Our Space Appeal. During the Christmas period, we collected over £2,000.00- thank you to all that donated! Christmas Cards The Our Space Christmas Cards went down extremely well. We had 4 designs; 2 pre-designed and 2 that were designed by our cancer patients- Eve Brant & Matthew Bluff. We made a profit of £2,000 over Christmas & have some in stock for this year that are all paid for! Special thanks to the following- Alison Bluff for raising £866.50, Danielle Brant for raising £1,296.42, Kam, Robert & Amber Palin for raising £476.25 and Roz Barnes for raising £111.07.

Leicester Tigers

We have been nominated as one of the charities of the season and have a scheduled match on Friday 30 th March where we’ll have interviews with our guest of honour and others regarding the Our Space Appeal on the pitch at half time along with bucket collectors collecting for the appeal.

Tigers Christmas visit

Players from Leicester Tigers visited Ward 27 in December- they really put a smile on our staff and patients’ faces!

LCFC One in a Million- one of 10 charities

You may have heard about Leicester City’s Foxes Foundation One in a Million Campaign where they’re hoping to raise £150,000.00 to boost Alan Birchenall’s £850,000.00 fundraising total to £1m by the end of the current season. The £150,000.00 (or more!) raised will be split equally amongst 10 local charities, the Our Space Appeal being one of them so please support the campaign where you can.

Coming up Thanks Look out for the next big events for the We would like to say a big thank-you to Sharon Wattam Appeal- the Century Cycle Challenge for helping with mailshots for the appeal. organised by Chris Jee and others. This is a We’d also like to thank Grace, 102 mile cycle ride from Nevill Holt to Tasia, Richard and our other Brancaster Staithe on Saturday 5th May. wonderful volunteers that Cancer Charity, Brown Dog have organised helped with the supermarket a charity walk and cycle. The High Peak and collections. rd Low Peak Challenges take place on 23 Thank you to Debbie Delbridge June. Contact the Fundraising Dept for for the assemblies she did with further details Debbie Adlerstein at Robert Smyth School & Kibworth High Regular fundraiser, Martin Isaac is kindly School and to Elaine James and Judy Jones for their donating money raised at his huge th ongoing support and fundraising. Leicester to Skegness cycle ride on 16 June 2012 to the Appeal. Contact the Last but not least, we’d like to thank all the staff on Ward Fundraising Dept for further details. 27 & in the Osborne Building for their continued help & enthusiasm for the appeal.

Look out for our upcoming Fundraisers

Prematie Balroop- is raising money for the appeal Ladies at Priesthills Nursery have signed up and through her dept, AICU (collecting tins and started training for the 3 Peak Challenge- climbing sponsor forms). the 3 highest Peaks in the UK, all having to be completed in 24 hours. justgiving.com/Priesthills- Ellie Roebuck & BPTIC 83 are a group of PTI's Nursery3 under training and are planning to cycle from Workington to Newcastle Upon Tyne- a coast to Laura Willcocks is doing the 3 Peaks Challenge in coast cycle route (approx 138 miles). April this year.

Beth Bodycote - Beth works at LRI and is running Clare Benson - is doing the Loughborough half the Edinburgh marathon in May in memory of her marathon on 25/03/12 mother with her sister, Theresa Dennis. Money is coming in from their JustGiving sites already- Derek Hunt - is doing the Century Cycle Challenge justgiving.com/BethBodycote and justgiving.com/derek-hunt0

justgiving.com/theresa-dennis James Weaver is also doing the Century Cycle

Ratcliffe College Parents Association is holding a Challenge justgiving.com/james-weaver0

fete/raffle/craft sale on 24/03/12 A team of nurses and doctors with family and

Mark Gibbard is holding a Charity Football match friends from Cancer & Haematology are donning on 18th Feb for the Our Space Appeal their cycling shorts (and Vaseline) to ride the 102 miles of the Century Cycle Challenge Jenny Clegg - AC Clegg is doing a sea to sea cycle justgiving.com/Fiona-Miall ride with 10 other course members in Feb/March 2012 Kerry Hulley is doing the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge in April.

There are just too many fundraisers to list in this short newsletter but we’d like to give special mentions to: Mrs C. Angraves Lynne Van -Zutphen Friends of Leicester

Liane Ashberry Grammar School E. Rankine Ladies Satsang Maud Elkington

Limbach Group Fernie Hunt Charitable Trust Yvette Sakhi Mandal Inner Pony Club AR-Razi Taylor Wheel Club Medical Centre Newton Harcourt RBS - Leicester of Kettering White Stuff, Poorsland Charity Retail Customer Muxloe Leicester Service Centre Leicestershire & Stanley The Leics & Mrs Myra Rutland Provincial Opera Rutland Mark Marylin Gisborne Cooper Grand Lodge of M.M.M Benevolent Fund of Hairtrend Keyham Open Charnwood Gill Belton Job Centre Plus, John Lewis Gardens Fifty One Club Wellingborough Partnership The Catholic Margaret Lesley Allsop Club Anne Shields & the Planning Dept Hughes & Chris Rogers Aimi Williams-Smith at Oadby & Wigston Borough son , John

The Melton Thank you to all of you for your generosity, support and hard work! Project Contact the Fundraising Office if you think you can help with fundraising or to make a donation Leicester Hopsitals Charity, Gwendolen House, Gwendolen Road, Leicester, LE5 4QF. t- 0116 258 8709. e- [email protected]. w- leicestershospitals.nhs.uk/ourspaceappeal.