Game On!

[caption id="attachment_2581" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Spot the Ball! [/caption]

Chris Hulme and the day pack issued the challenge..., returns guys readily accepted..., Mel Howes booked the pitch at Brickfields Community/Activity Centre.

Thus the scene was set for the Day pack v Returns scanners 7 a side football game, ably managed by Pete Hockley and Mandy Wickham-Lawrence. One team had seven players; one team had only six, due to last minute illness, but they played on in the name of charity. Oh and they won!!

The game may have been on April 1st, but Plymouth House showed they were no fools, by raising £99.74 * for Macmillan. There's a local Macmillan unit within Derriford Hospital in Plymouth which deals with a number of projects within the local community.

[caption id="attachment_2582" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Presentation time & proud banner display: Vitalius, Ryan, Malcolm, Jason, Chris, Aaron, Tony, Jason, Nathan, Scott, Tom, Referee Glen, winning Manager Mandy and 2 nephews (Simon Hobbs gone to hospital)[/caption]

Our reporter says:

Stunning sunny day - a bit cold for the spectators but ideal for the players. 5 minutes into the game Si Hobbs was injured and had to go to hospital. 

Mandy provided enough food to feed everyone and all the half time drinks for the teams. Final score was 12 – 5, it was a good clean game, staff and managers brought their families to watch giving it a real family atmosphere. 

There has been talk that the Nights Boys want to challenge so there may be more footy on the way!   Roll on the next event!

* = this came from each team member paying £5 to play and spectators donating a minimum of £1 to watch. Pitch was donated free of charge and there were around 25 spectators and children :)

Jumping For Ava

We have an update from Newcastle House about Martin Cooke's fundraiser day held at the end of March for his niece Ava Bainbridge.You may have seen her story on The One Show recently.

Ava contracted meningococcal  septicaemia (a form of meningitis) at the age of 13 months and the family were advised it would be 50:50 she would survive. She did,  however, she lost 75% of one foot and 50% of another.

So Martin arranged for a fun family day at The Springwell Inn at Wrekenton, near Gateshead complete with a bouncy castle, raffles and bungee jumping! Despite the horribly dark and cold day, around 50 people attended, including 15 bungee jumpers. So far Martin has raised £2,000 to help buy some special prosthetic feet for Ava.

The short slideshow below shows Ava and also gives a flavour of what happened on the day...

[slideshow]

Michael's Blog: At National Squad Camp

In his latest update for Smiths News, Michael Jamieson reflects on his performance at the Olympic Trials and gives a further insight into the final preparations leading up to the Games in July...

I’m back in London this week with the rest of the Olympic qualifiers for the National Squad Camp, allowing us to train for a full week inside the Aquatic Centre and gain some more information about the coming months and the Games themselves. We only have the opportunity to train as a British team once each year and it’s great fun to train with other squad members. There’s an air of excitement and desire in the team as the realisation that we are on our way to becoming Olympians in the summer has set in!

I’ve had time to reflect on the Olympic Trials and firstly I want to say a massive thank you to everyone at Smiths News for their support during the meet. I’ve never experienced anything like the support I had during the Trials and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it helped me, particularly to rebound from the disappointment of the 100m and gain qualification in the 200m Breaststroke, so thank you all!

The trials was a hugely emotional week, particularly after I missed out qualification for the 100m by 0.03seconds – it set up an extremely nerve wracking few days. In the lead-up to the event, I was confident that I was dealing with the nerves and pressures well but on reflection, realised I hadn’t! It’s difficult to understate the occasion; it really was a life changing event. Eight or nine years of training and preparation for my selection to the Games, funding situation and all the choices and sacrifices made over the years, to hang in the balance of just one race. This played on my mind and as the meet got closer, I began to get more negative stress about it. I still believe coping with nerves, pressures and stresses of competition is strength of mine but the Olympic Trials was something completely different and due to the implications, isn’t something I think you can prepare for.

I didn’t have a great taper in the three weeks preceding the competition, I felt that the travel back from Australia just three weeks before the meet was a little too close and I could have rested a little more for my events, all in hindsight of course. Despite being an experienced athlete, this is all still a learning process in search of the perfect swim. The positives to take from this are that I have made the team despite not feeling my best. I know I am capable of swimming much faster in the summer. The goal is to make the final and hopefully the 17,500 thousand strong partisan crowd will play a part in helping me home on the last 50m to challenge for a medal!

Due to my performances at the Trials, I have no added pressure or expectancy to deliver medals at the Games. This clearly has its advantages and I like the idea of going in under the radar. This could be my only opportunity to swim in an Olympic Games and I intend to leave no stone unturned in the coming months in my search for a life changing Olympic medal!

Great post, thank you Michael! Note the above photo shows him posing in his Team GB kit - how cool is that? You'll find the same photo and a little bit more about Michael on his page on the Team GB website :)

Name That Duck

[caption id="attachment_2557" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Domino with the Easter goodies"][/caption]

BLS' Sarah Toes came up with an Easter themed competition with a twist when she asked colleagues to Guess the Name of the Easter Duck recently.

In their quest to get their hands on all the goodies, her colleagues helped Sarah to  raise £35 for Hillside Animal Sanctuary.

Mark Silver correctly guessed Domino was the duck's name and thus walked off with the prize.

In other news from BLS, Julie Barnett's weekly raffle goes from strength to strength. The total raised so far is over £500, which makes her target of £650 by August 31st look very achievable. The funds raised will go to Yorkshire Cancer Research, the charity nominated by her colleagues.

Jaimie's and BLS' Legacy is...

Many of you will have seen Jaimie Dorward's moving piece in March's paper version of Dispatches and the recent post on here about her son Aaron's fun penalty shoot-out held in Bradford.

In her ambassador role, Jaimie is running in a 5k Legacy event for the National Autistic Society (NAS) in Blackpool on 29^th April. You can add your donation on Jaimie's Just Giving page  or with a free text message TEXT RUNJ49 £2/£5/£10 to 70070 [Link and text no longer available - Ed]

Mark Charlton is joining Jaimie in raising money for NAS via his participation in this year's From S to N flagship fundraiser and has been adopted as an honorary team member of BLS' Community Week campaign as a result.

BLS have a number of fundraising initiatives already underway and are using this neat thermometer to chart how they're progressing towards their  fundraising target of £7,000. [Click on the picture to enlarge it if you want a closer look - Ed]

They've also set up the BLS Community Week Challenge Team Page on Just Giving to make donating just that bit easier for everyone. On there you'll find links to all their fundraising activities - including Mark's and Neil Barker's rides in From S to N (Neil is riding for the Jane Tomlinson Appeal), as well as Jaimie's penalty shoot-out, Gemma McGowan's Sport Relief Mile and Mark Silver's 'stroll' around Kirklees previously featured on Dispatches. There's also Julie Barnett's weekly raffle in aid of Yorkshire Cancer Research,  Adrian Warner's 10 mile Walk for Life in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust, plus Siobhan Hay's promotional sale for NAS :)

As Jaimie says:

Lots of wonderful charities in need of support, we ask for your donations and your support by circulating this to your teams.

Jaimie was also keen to tell me how BLS and the NAC are working together on their fundraising initiatives for Community Week:

...we share the same building as the NAC and although we are classed as 2 separate sites for community week – they have a community week committee too and we have two representatives who are on the committee, so both sites can share ideas and support each other’s activities. I think it would be nice to mention that as a site we are also coming together to help each other’s teams raise funds where we can.

It's great to hear how Community Week is fostering such good team work :)

Are you working with another site, department or other part of the Group on your Community Week fundraising? Maybe BLS' thermometer or their Just Giving team page is just the thing for you to adapt for your Community Week contributions? Or perhaps you have another great idea to share, which others could use. It would be good to hear all about it and let everyone know via Dispatches! 

Eggstra Smiles

[caption id="attachment_2490" align="alignleft" width="225"] Nicola Hewlett with pupils from Paternoster School[/caption]

Nicola Hewlett and Rachel Cook ensured there were smiles all round when they delivered Easter Eggs to Paternoster School in Cirencester last week.

Every year, staff at Wakefield House generously donate Easter Eggs, which are distributed within the community. This year, they chose Special Needs school Paternoster to donate to, giving each of their pupils a chocolate egg to enjoy.

Rachel takes up the story:

Nicola is local to Cirencester and is aware of the great work Paternoster School do and so she suggested them as a worthy recipient for this year's donations. They were delighted when we contacted them to offer free chocolate!

On Friday 30^th March (the last day of term) we headed to the school to deliver the eggs. We were greeted by Head Teacher Julie Mantell and just a few of the 44 pupils at the school. The huge smile on their faces as they saw all the eggs was wonderful, and they had even designed and made a thank you card for us!

Julie Mantell said: We were delighted to have been chosen by Smiths News for this year’s Easter donation. The children are so excited to receive their eggs. A big thank you, and a Happy Easter from everyone at Paternoster School.

A total of 81 eggs were donated. Around half of these were taken to Paternoster School on Friday, ensuring every pupil received an egg. The remainder will be taken to The Deaf Centre in Swindon on Saturday 7th April (another charity supported by Nicola).

For every egg donated by staff, the company will be donating £1 towards our Community Week total!

More Miles for Sport Relief

[caption id="attachment_2406" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Gemma with her son Reece[/caption]

One of the great stories to have come out of the Group's participation in this year's Sport Relief Mile is the family occasion it's been in the name of a good cause. After Dave Moore last week, we have news of BLS' Gemma McGowan, who walked her mile at Nostell Priory near Wakefield, whilst her son Reece (aged 9) ran the best part of three miles. They raised a total of £66.

[caption id="attachment_2420" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Kate Gill with daughter Carrie and son Henry - "The family are getting involved too"[/caption]

Meanwhile in Newcastle, it was Kate Gill's children who kick-started their participation in this year's Community Week. They were keen to do something for children less fortunate than themselves and roped mum in for the Sport Relief mile as well! Their run at Chester-le-Street in County Durham raised £67.07.