Coffee and Chat
Celebrating 40 Events for 40 Years
Hi everyone,
We have some plans to celebrate in a BIG way in 2014. Not all details are finalised yet but put these dates in your diary, and some events still to be arranged – so we hope there will be something that suits your family.
Check who is organising each event as some events are coordinated by the hospital teams. Many of the events are to be confirmed so keep your eye on our website (heartchild.info/events) and Facebook page (heartchild.info/facebook), get in touch with your local branch, call our helpline or email us for more details.
Free events are those where we only pay for those who arrive on the day. For events where we pay in advance you will be required to pay before the event so we are not left out of pocket.
Please bring your unwanted gifts for use as prizes.
Ice Skating
January saw the start of our events for 2014 and to celebrate 40 years as a registered charity we aim to do 40 events throughout the year.
We began with ice skating at Deeside Leisure centre. We had a good turn out and the families had so much fun. There was music to skate too and we had mixed abilities
so all could join in. Thank you to the older children who helped the younger ones.
This was fun for all the family and mum’s and dad’s joined in too – some mum’s and dad’s admitted it was like recapturing their youth.
Happy days.
Build-a-bear for Heart Week
We’ve a family event coming up soon for our members. If you’re interested contact Val, or email us. Our contact details, as always, are at the bottom of this page.
Boomerang Sensory Play Centre
Saturday 25th January 2014
We had a fun afternoon at Boomerang Sensory play centre in Bury yesterday (Sat 25th Jan).
They have a soft play room with a great slide – Thomas’s mum’s toe is still recovering – and I hear Alfie’s dad had something to do with it too. There is a quiet sensory room where Freddie enjoyed launching himself into the ball pool with clear balls that changed colour with the light below. But my favourite room was the interactive room with noisy touch games on the wall and an interactive mat where you could walk on the piano keys, or chase frogs or jump on the drum kit. The interactive game changed every couple of minutes so no-one got bored. Harry and George had fun there too.
Great to catch up with Dylan’s mum and dad over a cuppa. We’ll definitely do it again sometime.
Check out their website at www.boomerangcentre.co.uk.
Liverpool Naval Club Charity Night
Liverpool Naval Club is holding a charity night and proceeds will go to Children’s Heart Association, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and also the purchase/training of a heart definbrillator for the club. If you’re interested please contact the club directly.
Fundraiser
Good luck to Matthew Cripps who’s taking part in a cycling challenge in Lancashire in May. He’s raising money for the Children’s Heart Association and the Children’s Heart Federation, check out his Virgin Money Giving page to see how he’s getting on.
Cardiac Network update
I’ve been to the children’s Cardiac Network meeting this afternoon. Things are changing and the aim is to work more closely together whether you are at Alder Hey, Manchester or at a local hospital to make sure that every child gets appropriate care and support. These changes will take place whatever the new national review decides.
There’s a new website in the pipeline which will show a clear pathway for GPs and parents so everyone knows what will happen to a child with a heart problem in our area.
There are new cardiologists being appointed in Liverpool and Manchester and each job specifies that there will be shared working at the other hospital to help bring the two teams closer together. We don’t yet have a questionnaire ready for parents but it’s top of the list to do.
I asked about the recent TV interest in the surgical teams at Alder Hey. The network monitor and publish the safety figures closely and there are no concerns with the cardiac surgery section. If any parents have any worries just let me know as I can put you in touch with the cardiac team who will take time to talk to you and listen to your concerns.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) specifically interviewed the cardiac team at Alder Hey and I will let you know their report as soon as it is published.
I also raised your concerns about the new booking system at Alder Hey. This has been particularly hard hitting to the cardiac outpatient system which had been performing well before, but has improved other areas of the hospital where queues had been a problem.
Next meeting in March so let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to feed back.
Anne Flear
Children’s Heart Association
Thanks to Kevin
Congratulations and our thanks to Kevin Fitzsimmons who has raised over £300 for the Association competing in the Eden Project marathon. Kevin says
“Completed the Eden Project marathon in 4hours 8mins absolutely crazy course (forests,big puddles, mud to your ankles, down country lanes, up big hills including scrambling up one huge one) with crazy weather (rain with thunder and lightning) but it was all good fun and for a great cause!”
Ball of Hearts featured in Cheshire Life
Last year’s Ball of Hearts took a detour from our usual venue and instead it was hosted under the wings of Concorde at Manchester Airport. Cheshire Life magazine ran a feature on the event.
Click on the image for a larger view.
Our Ball of Hearts is always an enjoyable occasion, there are more photos from this and previous events in our Gallery, and keep an eye on our website for announcements for this year’s Ball of Hearts.