Giving Tree 2010

This year the Giving Tree Assemblies were unfortunately cancelled due to school closures because of the snow and ice. The gifts were still bought in by the children at the Crescent and Norwood Schools. We also privileged this year to have Barton Stacey School join in the giving of presents, organised by Head teacher Marcus Roe.

The gifts were delivered by members of Sophie's Appeal and close friends of Sophie to the Piam Brown ward and G4 ward at Southampton General Hospital. Presents were also taken to the children's ward at Northbrook at the Royal Hampshire Hospital, Winchester. Due to the kind donation from Sainsbury's at Eastleigh freshly baked mince pies were also distributed for patients and parents to enjoy.

Our sincere thanks goes to all those who contributed gifts, to bring some cheer to those children spending time in hospital during the festive season.

Some more photos can be found here.

Visit to University College London

Members of Sophie's Appeal attended an Open Day at the Institute of Child Health, to view the work of Dr Kathy Pritchard Jones' research project on Wilms Tumours.

It was a chance for us to see where all of the money that you help us raise is used to work towards finding a cure for Wilms. We also had the opportinity to see the labs and the work carried out by Dr Kathy. At lunch there was the opportunity to meet other charities who support the research work and exchange ideas for fundraising.

Those members who attended felt the whole experience worthwhile and were pleased to see how the monies donated by Sophie's Appeal were being used.

Christmas at Wells Place

Christmas started early with a themed Fete at Wells Place raising monies for Sophie's Appeal. Over 50 stalls displayed their gifts and Christmas treats, for sale. The day was well attended and Sophie's Appeal was pleased to receive over £400.00 to boost its funds.

Our sincere thanks go to Sally James and her team, for an extremely well organised day and for choosing Sophie's Appeal as their nominated charity on this day.

Stars of Thoughts

On Saturday 20th November, Sophie's Appeal were proud to be able to offer people the opportunity to write messages of hope and/or messages in memory of lost loved ones, and display these stars in front of the communal Christmas Tree in Eastleigh Town Centre.

In all, 61 stars were written out and displayed, which made a delightful scene for all to enjoy.

Thank you to everyone who took part, and for all your kind donations.

A special thank you to Eastleigh Borough Council's Town Centre Manager for giving us the permission to display the stars in front of the tree.

Hatties Off to Local Band

Southampton based band, Hattie Jacques Playlist headlined a fabulous night of entertainment to an audience of over 400 people at a fantastic charity night at The Brook. The Hatties were delighted to raise over £1000 for Sophie's Appeal.

The eight piece band were on top form and kept the audience on their feet with a mix of sounds covering music from 60's mod numbers through Soul Music and right up to Oasis and the present day.

"We are really pleased to have been able to help Sophie's Appeal" commented Oli Foxwell of Hattie Jacques Playlist. "Not only do we get to do what we all enjoy doing but we get to support a charity that does such great work for very poorly, local children."

Well done to all you guys and thank you for your continued and valued support.

Sophie's Appeal Calendar Launch

Sophie's Appeal is proud to support the launch of a 2011 Calendar to help raise funds for the Appeal.

The calendar contains a wonderful insight into motherhood through photography and some lovely quotes from all of the mothers who took part and is due to be launched at the opening of and exhibition of photographs from the 'shoot' at The Swan Centre in Eastleigh.

The Exhibition was launched by the Charity Patron, Sarah Beattie and we were honoured that the Mayor and Mayoress also attended.

Ther was also a special guest appearance by X-Factors 'The Reason' who wowed the waiting crowd and spent several hours afterwards meeting and talking to their many supporters.

Calendars are available from Paper Chain on Market Street in Eastleigh.  Also keep an eye out in Sainsbury's as there will be several sale days before Christmas.  Why not also come and enjoy the festivities at the switching on of the Christmas Lights on 20th November in Eastleigh Town Centre where we also have a stall?

Walk the Test Way - A day/date to remember

On Sunday 10/10/10 two members of Sophie's Appeal took part in the ‘Walk the Test Way'.  120 charities took part in the Walk organised by Romsey Rotary Club. The walk passes through farmland, forests and villages displaying areas of great natural beauty.

Penny completed the 25.5 ‘marathon ‘distance from St Mary Bourne near Andover to Romsey, whilst Ed completed the first 16 miles. Together they managed to raise £172.27 for Sophie's Appeal.

Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting was held at the Holiday Inn, Eastleigh.

Donna Shave, Chair of the Trust reported on the year's events and announced The Trust's commitment to Sophie's Wand Appeal, an exciting new initiative at the Children's Ward at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester. The Trust agreed to donate an initial sum of £80,000.

The Treasurer gave her annual report, and was delighted to announce that Sophie's Appeal had now reached the magnificent milestone of over £¼ million raised.

Our sincerest thanks are extended to all those who have helped us to reach this milestone over the last six years.

Race Night

Our annual Race Night, held at Fleming Park Bowling Club, once again provided a fun filled evening with a chance to own or ride a celluloid racehorse or just to have a flutter with friends.

Just over a £1,000 raised on the night and our thanks goes to Sean who compared the evening and also to all those who sponsored each race.

Black and White Evening

Another successful Black and White evening was hosted by Kerry Taylor and her team at the Empire Hall, Totton to raise funds for the Wessex Cancer Trust and Sophie's Appeal.

Thanks to everyone who supported this event and helped to raise the magnificent sum of £2639.68 for Sophie's Appeal.

Don't Bottle It...
...bag it for Sophie's Appeal.

The Holiday Inn, Eastleigh has set itself a challenge to help raise much needed funds for the Appeal whislt helping the environment too.

The local hotel and conference centre is co-ordinating the mass collection of plastic milk bottle tops from businesses, schools and local residents.  Over 100 bags of bottle tops have already been collected and you can also help.

Sainsbury, Eastleigh have a drop off point for all your washed plastic milk bottle caps.  There is also a poster on this site to start a collection point yourself (click here).

Ed Martin, the Trust Treasurer and driving force behind the collection programme said,
“We are really very grateful for everyone’s support and welcome even more donations of lids."

Further news can be found here. 

Andy's Le-jog

What did you do for your summer holidays this year? For one man, Andy Barber, there was one thought on his mind...fundraising for Sophie's Appeal.

Andy spent months of planning and training to ride from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise as much as he could for Sophie's Appeal.

Read Andy's Diary, click here.
To see some wonderful photographs he took en-route, click here

Staff Centenary Party - 100 Years of Flying

On 24th July the Southampton Airport Centenary Birthday Bash took place. The event was held at Bitterne Park School and staff members from BAA, Meteor and Checker Cars amongst others came together to celebrate 100 years of flying from the Southampton airport site.

The main event saw four teams compete in an "It's a knockout," style event in a bid to win the coveted Centenary trophy! Congratulations go to the BAA Fire Service for winning!

The event culminated in a fly past by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight which featured a Lancaster, Spitfire and A Hurricane. The Spitfire held a special interest as it first flew from what is now the Southampton Airport Site on 5 March 1936.

Thanks go to Marie Pennington, Jenny Mullins and everyone else who worked hard to make this day the success that it was and to raise so much for Sophie's Appeal.

Annual Summer Ball Raises over £8000

Sophie's Appeal held its seventh Annual Ball at the Macdonald Botley Park Hotel on a lovely summer's evening.

Guests were welcomed with a Pimm's Reception and entertaind by close up magic from Wayne the Weird before sitting down to a three course meal and an evening of fundraising and fun.

Following the meal, guests were entertained by El Loco, a fantastic act based around a dentists chair combining the arts of comedy, magic, mime and...handcuffs!

A wonderful evening compared by Russel Hartnell-Parker rounded off with dancing 'till the small hours raised over £8000 towards our aims.

Grateful thanks to all who supported this event.

Hat Trick for The Dynamos

The Annual 6 a-side Football Tournament organised by Cherbourg Football Club was held at Crestwood School on 26th June. 22 teams took part in the tournament helping to raise £830.94 for the charity.

The Dynamos lifted the Cup for the third time in the adults section with AFC Spirit as Runners Up. The 11 - 13's section was won by Compton Red with Claret Rangers taking 2nd Place. Compton won the 14 - 16's section with QK Yellow taking 2nd place.

Saints midfielder Adam Lallana presented medals and took centre stage for many memorable photographs.

Sainsbury's - Charity of the Year

Sainsbury's, Eastleigh have chosen Sophie's Appeal as their charity of the year.  Following several in store fundraising events and a sponsored walk, they recently donated a cheque for £2580.00

Our thanks to all the staff and customers at Sainsbury's, Eastleigh who donated towards these events and raised this magnificent sum.

Family Fun Day - a Scorching Success

Scores of families turned up to enjoy a day of family fun with Mr Ted on the hottest day so far this year.

Friends of Sophie's Appeal, Jo and Tony Digweed, gave up their garden to provide the venue for a fun packed day.

From a fantastic aerial display of the birds of prey from Falcon High and dancing from Spinners Dancers to the numerous stalls, there was something for everyone

Over £1600.00 was raised on the day and our thanks, once again go to Tony and Jo for the wonderful setting and all of our helpers and stall holders without whom the day could not have happened.

Waitrose Romsey - Community Matters

Waitrose pledges several thousand pounds per store per year to charity.  In order to ensure that it benefits the local community, shoppers are asked to nominate charities to benefit from these donations.

Thanks to the staff and shoppers at Waitrose in Romsey, Sophie's Appeal has benefited from a recent donation of £535.00 - Thank you Romsey!

Fashion Show Fun at Colden Common

Sophie's Appeal teamed up with Colden Common Community Centre to raise funds for both causes with an evening of Fashion Show fun in May.

Committee members and friends modelled clothes provided by Travelling Trends and helped raise over £570.00 which will be split between the Community Centre and our Appeal.

Special thanks go to the models, Colden Common Community Centre and to Donna Stroud who worked so hard to organise the evening.

Quiz Night Raises over £600

Sophie's Appeal resident quiz master, Colin, presided over another evening of brain taxing entertainment whilst helping to raise funds for the Appeal.
Nearly 100 people attended and over £600 was raised during the evening held at the Fleming Park Bowling Club in Eastleigh. Thanks as always go to all those who supported the event and to Jenny and Jim and staff for their usual warm hospitality.

Think you've got what it takes to win the quiz? Watch out on the events page for the next event.

Louise’s Arctic Challenge raises over £4500

Charity supporter Louise Willis has raised over £4500 for the appeal through her participation in ‘The Arctic Challenge’.  The adventure saw 27 year old Louise drive a team of five husky dogs across 250km of rolling highlands and deep forest.  She began in Norway and finished in Sweden six days later, camping in temperatures of -20 degrees along the way.

Louise drove her husky team for around 14 hours a day across demanding terrain.  Often the gradient became too steep for the huskies alone, meaning Louise had to be in top physical condition to be able to complete the challenge. 

The trip itself was self-funded, however Louise wanted to use the opportunity to raise funds for the appeal.  Louise commented: “The husky trail was a life changing adventure that I will never ever forget.  The challenge was very hard and it got really tough at some points, so I tried to keep in mind what it was all in aid of.  I chose to support Sophie’s Appeal as it’s a local charity very close to my heart.  Before I left, Lin (Sophie’s mum) said that Sophie would be watching over me to keep me safe, and so that really gave me the drive to complete the challenge, and raise lots of money for such a worthwhile charity.”

Louise is continuing to collect donations online at http://www.justgiving.com/Louise-Willis0.

Health and Beauty Fair at Holiday Inn raises over £700

The Holiday Inn, Eastleigh continues to provide much needed and valued support to the Appeal.

On 7th March a Health and Beauty Fair was held as one of its many fundraising events to raise monies for Sophie’s Appeal.

For those looking to improve theri fitness and well being exhibitors  included  a Yoga Teacher , Personal Trainers and Instructors on Nordic Walking and Kettles Bells. The world of Beauty saw experts from The Spire Hospital advising on cosmetic surgery and local salons demonstrating threading , Indian head massage and makeovers. Mini Taster treatment were available throughout the day.

Products from Arbonne, Mary Kay Cosmetics, H & M Perfumes, Bodyshop, Virgin Vie and Avon were on sale, Jewellery and Handbags were also displayed for purchase 

Around 150 people attended the event and the success was evident from the comments of “will this be an annual event?” coming from both those attending and exhibiting.

A Dream Come True

Sophie’s Appeal brought a little Disney Magic to a young girl from St Ives. Little Olivia Caballero was chosen to go on a dream holiday with her family to Disneyland Paris provided by the Trust.

Olivia was told about her trip, which coincides with her sixth birthday at a special assembly at her school.

The trip was arranged through Beyond the Moon, one of the Trusts partners.  Photo courtesy of Bournemouth Evening News.