Michelle Finds a Rainbow

[caption id="attachment_5800" align="alignright" width="302"] Image supplied from the Girlguiding website[/caption]

A little while ago we heard from  Bertram's Michelle Ward about her fundraising and awareness raising activities for Heartline and the pulse oximetry test. And there's more! Today, she tells us about her work with her local Rainbow unit as part of our series of Volunteer Case Studies.

Hello

I am volunteering at the 6^th Norwich Rainbow group which opened in February 2013 and is for girls aged 5-7 years old. This group was opened as the other Rainbow unit was full and had a long waiting list. We currently have 10 girls in the unit and 3 adult volunteers.

The reason I got involved is I went through Brownies, Guides, Young Leaders and then a Leader, but decided to give up when I had my son. My friend decided to open up the Rainbow unit and I offered to help her run it.

While I am at the unit we run activities for the girls like cooking, crafts, games and a lot more. It is nice to see the girls come to meetings and enjoy taking part in all the activities.

Thanks Michelle - it's amazing you can find the time for this in addition to everything else you're doing. It's most inspirational :)

A Quick Update From the Magnificent 7!

[caption id="attachment_5615" align="alignleft" width="300"] Image of Ben Nevis courtesy of Graham Scott. Licensed for free re-use under Creative Commons SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

Andrew Caple reports...

... To date we have raised over £1000 for our chosen charity CLIC Sargent.

A magnificent total which you may recall is specifically being put towards the Joshua Flynn fund. This aims to raise £11,880 to provide a family room at one of CLIC Sargent's 'Home from Home's' for a year.

The Magnificent Seven are: Andrew Caple, Marcus Cotes, Andy Taylor, Brett Hanley, Alan Stone, Victoria Enebeli and Brin  Jardine.

Related links:

• Original post re The Magnificent Seven's 'Over the Hills' 3 Peaks event in June


• The team's Just Giving Page


• Joshua Flynn fund page

Fun With Wig Wednesday

We've news just in from Rowan House and LTN about last week's Wig Wednesday!

First up it's Rowan House...

[caption id="attachment_5784" align="aligncenter" width="640"] What could be better to cheer up a Wednesday than wigs... and cakes! Group shot left to right is Jo Kelly, Laura Morris, Emma Allan, Jo Macpherson and Amanda Jones[/caption]

Emma Allan also organised a cake sale – lots of ladies from Rowan House brought in yummy cakes and savoury goodies to sell and raise money. Nic Hewlett’s monster of a pie went down well as usual! In total just over £100 was raised for CLIC Sargent – not bad for a morning’s work!



And not content with all his efforts for the Paris Marathon, here's a photo of Eugene, LTN Distribution Manager. He raised a very respectable £12 just from sitting at his desk in his wig! He said, “Not much raised, but this event helped to raise a smile around the warehouse.”

Are there any more wigs waiting out there to be shared, Slough for example... ??? We'd love to see your pics! :)

It's W.O.W for Jackie

[caption id="attachment_5777" align="alignleft" width="216"] The route map - click to enlarge if needed[/caption]

On Sunday, 19th May Bertram's Operations Supervisor Jackie Shorten took part in Great Yarmouth Rotary Club's Spring Charity Walk.

She, two sisters and a friend chose the shorter route of 5.7 miles from Acle to Upton, which they completed in two hours.

Between them they raised £300 for W.O.W (Wellbeing of Women) as Jackie's sister is very much involved with this charity.

Jackie admitted she was  "struggling slightly this morning" on the Monday afterwards - here's hoping that's not the case now :)

News of the Dragons

With just one week to go until the closing date for the Dragon Boat racing, we hear that Worcester now have competition! Yes, a team from Rowan House will be joining our intrepid crew to provide Smiths News' own 'mini regatta' with the Regatta :)

The teams are as follows:

Worcester - Get the Word Out

• Vicky Wheeldon (Captain)


• Lisa Pass (Drummer)


• Wendy Cane


• Mike Frost


• Kay Oakes


• Andy Wheeldon


• Rupy Dharmi


• Mike Falcon


• Lesley Alcock


• Chris Townrow


• Charlotte Keen


• Ross Jones


• Rebecca Edwards


• James Lamb


• Jess Beard


• James Webster


• Derek Hampton


• Gavin Spares


• Alex Williams, Charlie Bradley and Laura McDonald (Reserves)

Rowan House - No Pressure

• Laura Morris (Captain)


• Viv Heydon (Drummer)


• Paul Smith


• Brett Hanley


• Andrea Kreugel


• Dan Giles


• Si Sargeant


• Mark Charlton


• Sam Hemphill


• Sam Marlow


• Lauren Devine


• Fred Pavone


• Tim Weaver


• Lucy Manfield


• Lisa Coate


• Sophie Morris


• Mike Andrews


• Chris Wilding and Tom Shaw (Reserves)

Anyone else fancy joining them? Have a look at the Race the Dragon Flagship Fundraiser page and contact Laura Morris now!

A Message From Vicky Wheeldon

Hi

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who donated to the BHF Mending Broken Hearts Appeal. The total raised is £250. The walk was rescheduled for Sunday 19th May. Myself, Andy, mother and father-in-law, son Sam and my baby (dog) Barney completed the walk in 1hr 18mins.

Thanks to everyone.

Vicky

Laura Morris says: "I was in Worcester and saw the walk going on - well done :)"

Vicky will also be featured in her local paper this week - here's the photo of her, Sam and Barney they'll be using.

Slough Get Going

Hot on the heels of yesterday's fundraising update, we have news of Slough House's plans to add to the total :)

Shefali Patel reports:

As a Community Champion for Slough House I would like you to know we have organised 3 charity events:

1. Wig Wednesday – 22^nd May 2013. Everyone will be coming in to work on the day with a wig and making a donation.


2. Race for Life – 2^nd June 2013. The ladies at Slough House will be participating in the 5km event at Windsor. [Their Just Giving page shows there's 14 ladies taking part, marvellous - Ed]


3. Sponsored Shave – 19^th June 2013. An employee who have not shaved his beard for last 30 years will be shaving it on the day for charity. 

All proceeds raised during Wig Wednesday and the Sponsored Shave will be donated to the Children’s ward at the local hospital in Slough.

Fantastic news Shefali! Looking forward to seeing those wigs tomorrow! Is anyone else out there joining in for Wig Wednesday? It would be great to feature everyone on Community Link-Up!