With only a few weeks to go it’s getting close to Lily Clough’s adventure in Tanzania to climb the highest mountain in Africa. Her trek to the summit of Kilimanjaro will take her up 5,895 metres and she has kindly decided to support our charity.
Her Virgin Money Giving page can be found here and we wish her good luck, a safe climb and our thanks for supporting the Children’s Heart Association.
The Children’s Heart Association was registered as a charity on the 4th September 1974 meaning this is our 40th year as a charity. Originally called The Association for Children with Heart Disorders (TACHD) we changed our name in October 2005 to become the Children’s Heart Association.
In that time, our aims of supporting families who are affected by congenital heart disorders; to push for improvements to facilities as heart units; to help push standards of care as new techniques are developed; and to raise funds to purchase specialised equipment haven’t changed.
As this is our 40th year we’re organising 40 events throughout the year to celebrate. Keep an eye on our website, our events page and with your local branch for further announcements.
Thank you to Helaina Stone for such a wonderful ‘thank you’ card.
On the 1st June 2013 we held this year’s National AGM at Chester Zoo. The weather was good and it was fantastic to see so many members attending for one of the biggest turnouts we’ve had in a few years.
To begin the day we all met at the lecture theatre just outside the zoo for the business portion of the meeting. The agenda was kept short as what everybody was really looking forward to getting into the zoo for lunch and to see the animals. Anne gave her report of the past year, which has seen growth in members as well as those looking for support via our Facebook page. Anne thanked the Committee, our Working Groups and our members and supporters who have made this last year such a success for the Association. All committee members were re-elected.
One of the new things we’re setting up this year are Support Groups. These allows families to get together for mutual support under the banner of the Association but who aren’t local to the Liverpool or Manchester branches. As you can see from our member map, we have members from throughout the Northwest and beyond. One major advantage of the Support Group is that it doesn’t need the complexities of a branch such as bank accounts and a full committee and leaves the Support Group to concentrate on helping each other with mutual support, events and fund-raising. We hope this simplification will allow the Association to set up new groups in areas away from the Liverpool and Manchester centres. In order for Support Groups to become a reality we need to make some changes to our constitution. Chris gave a short presentation on the changes and we are to vote these changes through in an EGM that will be held in a few weeks time.
Finally, the branches each gave a short report on their activities over the past year. Manchester has been holding regular meetings at the hospital to engage with the staff and new parents on the ward. Liverpool is continuing to thrive with monthly meetings at Ronald MacDonald House at Alder Hey and lots of events and fund raising with book stalls, charity shops and more. Oldham and Tameside branch has been inactive this past year with their main fund-raising event, the Saddleworth Beer Walk organised by the Saddleworth Round Table, not taking place.
With the meeting drawn to a close it was time to head into the zoo for some fun. Here are a few of the photos from our members and there are more on our Facebook page.
We hope to see you again at next year’s AGM and at some of the events we hold throughout the year too!
Derrick Clark and friends chose to support the Children’s Heart Association on their recent trek from coast to coast. He writes:
My name is Derrick Clark and in April this year, together with others, I walked the 195 mile long ‘Wainwright Coast To Coast’ path from the Irish Sea at St. Bees Head to the North Sea at Robin Hoods Bay, to help raise money for the Children’s Heart Association at Alder Hey Hospital. It was hard going at times through deep snow and driving rain but very enjoyable!
I, together with the support of my many, very generous sponsors, am delighted to have raised the sum of £1395.00 for your charity.
Our congratulations for completing the trek our greatest thanks go to Derek and friends and all who supported them for raising such an amazing amount of money for our charity.
Well done to Emily Jardine who ran in the 2013 Dubai 10K back in January of this year. Emily and her supporters raised nearly £500 for the Association – amazing!
Good luck to David Barden who is cycling over 2,000 miles through Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan to Samarkand in Uzbekistan this spring. His fundraising page has already passed the £300 mark and is still climbing. Check out his fundraising page on Virgin Money Giving and show your support for him and our Association.
Thanks again to all our fundraisers and supporters who keep our Association going and able to help children with congenital heart disorders and their families. Keep up the good work.