We’ve received a thank you from the play team at Ward 85 Manchester Children’s Hospital.
It’s the little things that we do which can make someone’s stay in hospital just that bit easier. Thanks to everyone who has helped us fund raise this year.
(And if Santa has been very kind to you do you have some old games you could donate to the ward?)
On Sat 13th Sept we went to see Concorde at Runway Visitors park at Manchester Airport. It was a lovely warm afternoon and we met at 12.30 ready for our 12.50 tour. The size of Concorde was amazing to see.
We had the services of a guide to take us on board and tell us the history of Concorde. Some of our members even sat in the same seat as the Queen has done on her previous trips on Concorde. Other members got to sit where the Duke himself also sat when on state business with the Queen. They each like to have a window seat. We then went underneath Concorde and were amazed at the size of the wheels, they are huge, as are the engines.
After this we then went on a DC10 and had a 2hr tour of it and other planes. The staff told the story of the various jobs around the airport, e.g. firemen and women. The children then did some role playing, playing the parts of fireman, also they were interactive with other roles such as police, captain, pilot and cabin crew. We also got to see the planes taking off including double decker planes. We finished off getting a penny press of the planes as a keep sake.
What a fabulous afternoon, which everyone enjoyed.
Thanks, Val.
Our Association was selected as part of the One Stop and Mondelez (formerly Cadburys) ‘Happy Summer Dayz” campaign which ran from 15th July 2014 to 13th August 2014. During this time, those who won the One Stop store family days out competitions could nominate a charity to receive a donation to the same value as their prize.
In all, there were five charities that could be nominated, including the Children’s Heart Association, and we received an super total of £278. Thank you to all those who supported us! We look forward to using the money towards family events in the near future.
A big thank you to 4 lovely ladies in Haslingden who run regular coffee mornings and aim to raise funds for different charities. We were fortunate to be chosen in January so for the last 6 months they have been busy having raffles and meeting together to raise money and socialise.
On the 7th of June we were invited to collect a cheque for £1000 – so I was joined by Gill with her grandchildren, and Rachel with Martha. We showed them what CHA have been doing recently to let them know the sorts of things we will be spending their money on. Several people were delighted that our pictures showed heart children doing very normal things – even if they did need the occasional assistance of a wheelchair or big buggy.
A huge thank you to Maureen Jackson, June Lennon, Caroline Thompson, Beryl Abraham and all the generous people of Haslingden. Your gift is very gratefully received.
Anne
The Children’s Heart Federation (chfed.org.uk) have been campaigning for all babies to receive the Pulse Oximetry test at birth to detect Congenital Heart Disease. This quick, painless and cheap test measures oxygen levels in blood and can detect over 90% of critical heart defects in newborns.
The UK National Screening Committee has now recommended the use of Pulse Oximetry Screening on newborns and has announced today there will be a national pilot. Here are links to the announcement:
http://www.chfed.org.uk/babies-are-set-to-receive-heart-test-to-save-lives/
The announcement is receiving some media interest and has appeared on the Telegraph online:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10813377/All-newborns-to-undergo-heart-tests.html
There was a recent and sad storyline in Hollyoaks where a character’s baby died before her heart condition was recognised. The Children’s Heart Federation were involved in the writing of the storyline and asked us to get involved too.
A recent event involving the cast and CHF had a massive impact on Stephanie Davis, who played the mother of the baby. Stephanie has pledged to support the CHF’s Think HEART campaign to raise awareness about the early detection of congenital heart disease.
Read more about the event and the campaign on CHF’s website, and there’s another article on the DigitalSpy website.