News from Friends of Rosie
Winter 2016
2016
A year of celebrations,
memories and fundraising
It’s 25 years since Friends of Rosie was founded in direct response to the
wishes of those working in all areas of childhood cancer in Manchester. Our
purpose was, and still is today, to provide start-up funding and support for
new ideas in children’s cancer research. This enables valuable research to
take place, which can then go on to be funded over the longer term by
major charities.
During the time we have pursued this niche but vital role, we have raised over £2.5 million and funded
21 research projects. We’re immensely proud to still be volunteer-led and so almost every penny goes
directly to fund research, something we could not possibly have achieved without your help.
Our efforts continue as we connect with new groups of fundraisers and families who share our belief
that the key to cure is research. Over the past year, we’ve joined forces with a group of children and
families who have been treated on Ward 84, the oncology ward at the Royal Manchester Children’s
Hospital.
We’d particularly like to thank Clair Beswick, Eleanor Massey and Tracey Payton who have supported
and promoted Friends of Rosie and helped us to connect with like-minded families via the Faces of
Ward 84 Facebook group, End of Treatment Bells, and by inviting us to host a stand at this year’s Ward
84 summer party.
The party, which was held in July at the Victoria Baths in Manchester, saw family and friends of children treated on Ward 84 come together to have fun, catch up,
remember, celebrate and raise awareness of childhood cancer in the North West. We met many lovely families on the day and give our thanks for allowing us to be
part of such a special occasion.
Special thanks go to our corporate supporters who donated prizes and goodies for the party: Swizzels, NDC Ltd, RMS PR, Andrew Collier Photography, and the team at
Everything’s Rosie.
Arthur’s friends and family
dig deep for childhood cancer
2 year old Arthur recently had a
fantastic time with his family and
friends celebrating his second
birthday and christening. However,
Arthur’s party was a particularly
special occasion, as it was also an
opportunity to celebrate the fact
that he is now cancer-free after
being treated for Acute Myeloid
Leukaemia (AML).
His family and friends saw the event as
the perfect opportunity to also raise
some money and awareness for
childhood cancer research. Together they raised a whopping £1,700, which
has been donated to Friends of Rosie and Ward 84 at the Royal Manchester
Children’s Hospital.
Says Arthur’s mum, Katie, “Arthur had only just turned one when he was
diagnosed and so many of his early milestones happened on Ward 84. It was
where he learnt to walk and talk and for the last year it has been such a huge
part of our lives. We will always have that fear of relapse (which occurs in
around a third of children with AML) but for now we are enjoying life and not
taking anything for granted.”
Friends of Rosie trustee, Lisa Larkin, says, “With more funding for research, it
is our hope that more children with cancer will follow in Arthur’s footsteps,
as we better understand how to diagnose and treat childhood cancer. We
can’t thank Arthur’s family and friends enough for their support and
generosity and wish them all the very best for the future.”
£10,000 prize win
for Friends of Rosie
As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, a local Manchester
creative agency, Truth Creative, are celebrating their 10th
birthday. In celebration, they ran a competition for North
West charities to win £10,000 worth of creative, design and
marketing time. We entered … and we won!
Friends of Rosie Trustee, Lisa Larkin, says, “As a volunteer-led charity we work
hard to ensure that almost every penny raised goes directly on funding
childhood cancer research projects.
"Therefore the extra resource and expertise from the team at Truth Creative
is very gratefully received. It will help us connect with more supporters and
raise further awareness of the vital need for more dedicated funding for
children's cancer research in Manchester."
We’re very much looking forward to working with the team over the coming
weeks and months.
If you are interested in helping raise
awareness and funds for childhood
cancer in Manchester, please get in
touch with Friends of Rosie at
www.friendsofrosie.co.uk
@friendsofrosie
Friends of Rosie
Research update
Friends of Rosie to fund new grant to research childhood brain cancers
Project to investigate the feasibility of tumour infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for paediatric
malignancies with high risk and poor prognosis
We are delighted to announce the award of a grant, to Professor
Robert Hawkins and colleagues at the Christie Hospital, to fund a
new start-up project to research the potential of immunotherapy to
treat childhood brain tumours.
After receiving high quality applications from a number of Manchester
researchers, our Trustees selected a proposal submitted by Professor
Hawkins at the Christie-based Manchester Cancer Research Centre.
The award of £65,000 for a one year research study will look into the
feasibility of using cells created by the body’s immune system, called
‘Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocytes’ (TILs), to shrink or destroy brain
tumours in children. The research will focus particularly on TILs found in
types of childhood brain tumours that have a poor prognosis, such as
those that respond poorly to conventional treatment.
Says Professor Hawkins, “Although brain tumours are the most common
‘solid’ cancers in children, accounting for over 20% of all childhood
cancers, they are difficult to treat successfully and remain a leading
cause of cancer-related death in children. Thanks to the funding from
Friends of Rosie, we’ll be able to determine whether it is possible to
apply this approach to childhood brain tumours that have the highest
need for additional treatment options. If we are successful, this could
have a dramatic effect on the treatment of childhood brain cancers.”
The principle of immunotherapy is to harness the power of the child’s
own immune system to kill the cancer. Solid tumours are made up of a
variety of cells, not just cancer cells. TILs are white blood cells that have
left the bloodstream and migrated into the tumour because it is ‘foreign’
to the body. However, there may not be enough of them within the
tumour to shrink or eradicate it. Professor Hawkins’ project aims to give
the white blood cells a helping hand by extracting TILs from tumours,
‘activating’ them in the test tube and assessing whether they are capable
of killing tumour cells once reintroduced into the tumour.
“
Brain tumours are
the most common
‘solid’ cancers in
children, accounting for
over 20% of all
childhood cancers
Professor Robert Hawkins
Christie Hospital
“ ”
If successful, this project could lead to a
major clinical trial, which could see
children who currently have few treatment
options having a real chance at
long term survival.
Lisa Larkin
Friends of Rosie Trustee
Friends of Rosie Trustee, Lisa Larkin, says of the
grant, “Professor Hawkins’ project is exactly the
sort of start-up research funding that our
charity was created to support. Our scientific
board advised us of the great potential of this project to positively
impact the treatment of childhood cancer. If successful, this project
could lead to a major clinical trial, which could see children who
currently have few treatment options having a real chance at long term
survival.”
The project was selected after consideration by an independent scientific
advisory board, led by Professor John Hickman, who recommended it to
the Friends of Rosie Trustees. Professor Hickman commented, “Recently
significant progress has been made to harness the body’s immune
system to destroy cancers that have spread in the body. As an advisory
board we were pleased to receive an application to investigate whether
certain children’s cancer could also be made susceptible to immune
attack. Their proposed work was enthusiastically supported by two
experts in the field and we look forward to learning of progress over the
next twelve months.”
We look forward to sharing the findings of the project with all of our
supporters and will issue updates on progress via our website.
Kids Allowed CEO
joins Friends of Rosie
Jennie Johnson MBE, founder
of nursery and childcare
group, Kids Allowed, joined
earlier this year as our
newest Patron.
In addition to her role as CEO of
Manchester nursery group, Kids
Allowed, Jennie is keen to play an
active role as Patron to help raise
awareness of the need for more
funding into childhood cancer research
in Manchester. Says Jennie, “As a
volunteer-led charity, Friends of Rosie
have a strong and impressive history having raised much-needed
funds for many start-up children’s cancer research projects.
“I personally know many parents and friends whose lives have been
turned upside down by childhood cancer and strongly believe in
Friends of Rosie’s ethos that the key to cure is research.”
In addition to her role as Patron, Jennie also undertook her own
fundraising challenge by cycling 140 miles coast to coast from
Whitehaven to Tynemouth.
Our special congratulations also go to Jennie on the award of her MBE
for Services to Apprenticeships in June 2016.
Trafford Law Society
show support
Trafford Law Society very kindly supported Friends of Rosie
as their chosen charity for 2016 with various fundraising
events throughout this year.
Charity Easter eggs
helped raise thousands
Huge, handcrafted Easter eggs
created by master chocolatier,
Slattery, were raffled off in and
around Manchester to raise money
for Friends of Rosie over Easter.
From the cast and crew of Coronation Street
to the kids and parents of Kids Allowed
nurseries, the charity Easter eggs raised in
excess of £3,000.
Said Friends of Rosie Trustee, Lisa Larkin, “The
Easter egg raffles were a great way to
celebrate our 25th anniversary and the
money raised will make a real difference to the research projects we fund.”
In addition to the raffle on the Cobbles by catering team, Baxter Storey,
Easter eggs were also raffled off at a number of well known, local businesses
and establishments including Timpson, Bloor Homes, the Royal Northern
College of Music, Kids Allowed, Bridgewater School, the Bierkeller at the
Printworks, CVS UK Ltd, DTE Business Advisors, Investec, P J Livesey Holdings
Ltd, Slater Heelis, Whiting & Mason Solicitors and RMS PR.
An additional, £100 was also raised from the proceeds of charity Easter eggs
sold in Slattery’s Whitefield store on the run up to Easter.
Petit fours, Prosecco
and Prizes galore!
Manchester law firm, Slater Heelis,
kindly hosted an afternoon tea in
celebration of Friends of Rosie’s
25th anniversary year.
The event, held on 11 February at the fabulous
Neighbourhood eatery in Spinningfields, was
attended by upwards of 40 people who gave
their time and dug deep into their pockets to
help raise £345 for children’s cancer research
in Manchester.
Anne Irwin, Slater Heelis Managing Partner and
Friends of Rosie Trustee, said: “A huge thank you goes to everyone who
organised and attended the Slater Heelis event in aid of Friends of Rosie.”
Altrincham Concert
Orchestra support
Altrincham Concert Orchestra kindly supported us at their summer
concert held in July at the Altrincham United Reformed Church. The
event raised £350 thanks to the generosity of those who attended.
The orchestra also held a Christmas concert to raise further funds on
10th December, also at the Altrincham United Reformed Church.
Everyone who attended enjoyed a lovely afternoon of music,
festivities and fundraising.
Friends of Rosie Trustee, Anne Irwin said, “Our thanks go to everyone at the
Trafford Law Society who voted to support Friends of Rosie during this, our
25th anniversary year. Their support will help us to continue to fund vital
research projects into the causes, diagnosis and treatment of childhood
cancer.
Earlier this year members of the Trafford Law Society raised a tremendous
£2,000 at their annual Ball through a charity raffle, donations given on the
night, and proceeds from the ticket price.
Most recently they held an annual quiz night and raised £180, which will be
split with one other charity. Our thanks go to them and all their members for
their kind support.
We are tremendously grateful to all of our donors and supporters and give our heartfelt thanks for your
contributions and continued support throughout this year. Your donations really do make a difference.
You can read more of the great achievements of our supporters from the past year below.
Charity Channel
swim
Fiona Mildner, Jo Tierney and Marie
Doherty got together last New Year’s
Eve and after one too many glasses of
bubbly they found themselves agreeing
to swim the English Channel!
In an event they affectionately entitled, ‘The
bubbles made me do it’, the boat was booked
and they started to prepare for the cold, the
waves and the P&O Ferries on the run up to
the swim in September. When they later
heard that a close friend’s father, Howard
Leach, had sadly been diagnosed with bowel
cancer, they wanted to use the event to
fundraise for cancer research.
Howard decided that he’d like to support a
charity local to him in Rochdale and set about
doing his research and found Friends of Rosie.
He chose us as we are volunteer-led and aim
to commit almost every penny raised to
funding childhood cancer research.
After much training and anticipation, the 22
mile swim took place on 14th September
with a 2am start at Dover and a 3pm finish in
France. Thanks to the support of family and
friends the ladies raised an amazing £850!
A huge thank you goes to them and to
Howard for helping us to fund vital childhood
cancer research projects in Manchester and
we wish Howard and his family all our best
wishes as he continues with his treatment.
Local gatherings
raise lots
Thanks to a local jamboree to sell delicious
homemade autumn jam, an impressive £480
was raised by some of our local supporters. A
special thanks goes to Mrs Margaret Hyde for
holding the jamboree at her home.
A recent coffee morning at Bowdon Tennis
Club also raised a total of £340, of which we
were one of three beneficiaries. Our thanks go
to Jean Horrocks and Christine Williams for
organising the event.
Daisy’s run
Shop til you drop
for Rosie
with a difference!
5 year old, Daisy Larkin,
took on the challenge
of completing a
fundraising fun run in
the summer in memory
of her Auntie Rosie, the
namesake of our
charity.
To mark Rosie’s
anniversary and to
recognise all that
Friends of Rosie has
achieved over the past
25 years, Daisy completed her fun run at
Clapham Common, near her home in London.
She raised a whopping £1,020 with the help
of her friends and family, smashing her
original fundraising target of £200. Well done
Daisy!
Many people are used to shopping until they
drop at Manchester’s intu Trafford Centre, but
our brave supporters, Spencer Bannister and
Sacha Edwards, literally did as they abseiled
the 60 metres down the clock tower.
Spencer also combined the abseil with a ‘dry’
September during Childhood Cancer
Awareness Month and they’ve jointly raised
£461.50. Well done and a huge thank you to
you both. Every penny counts towards
funding our next research projects.
Festive Fair
fundraising
Last year’s Christmas Fair proved another
great success thanks to the efforts of Sarah,
Roz, Louise and Sue. With more stalls than
ever before and a wide selection of Christmas
gifts, those who attended had a wonderful
afternoon. Thanks to their kind support and
generosity, an amazing £4,818.30 was raised
on the day.
Unfortunately there wasn’t a Christmas Fair
this year but we hope to continue a festive
fundraising event once again next year.
However, the Goostrey Cancer Support Group
once again kindly invited us to their Christmas
Fair held on 6 November, where we raised
over £200.00.
This year was particularly poignant for all of
us as Pat Schofield, one of the main
organisers, died earlier
this year. She will be
greatly missed and we
thank all those who, at
her request, gave
donations to Friends
of Rosie at her funeral.
She also left us a most
generous bequest,
which will help fund
this new research.
Get involved
You can help us win the fight
against childhood cancer by getting
involved now. There are lots of
ways you can help, from simply
donating or holding fundraising
events, getting involved as a
corporate sponsor, and even
remembering us in your will. You
might even be interested in joining
our new fundraising group to share
your ideas.
Contact us:
Phone
0161 834 7333
or 07887 932293
Email
[email protected]
Web
friendsofrosie.co.uk
This newsletter is produced by Friends of Rosie Children's Cancer Research Fund, registered charity number 1046278.
Registered office: Friends of Rosie Children’s Cancer Research Fund, c/o Slater Heelis LLP, 86 Deansgate, Manchester M3 2ER.
T: 0161 834 7333 • E: [email protected] • W: www.friendsofrosie.co.uk
We'd like to reduce the number of newsletters we print and post to help us save resources. If you'd be willing to receive an electronic version of future
editions, please just send your email address to [email protected]
This newsletter was designed and printed with the kind support of Corner House Design & Print and sponsored by The Lee Bakirgian Family Trust.
Trustees:
Jennifer Atherton BA; Maureen Bennett; Felicity Goodey CBE DL; Jill Hulme BA MCIPR FRSA; Lisa Larkin; Anne Mogg LL.B; Joe Swift FCA FCCA ATII TEP Dip.PFS
Patrons:
Carol Arditti; Lord Bradley of Withington; Graham Brady MP; Sir Alex Ferguson CBE; Robert E Hough DL LL.B DBA D.Litt; Jennie Johnson MBE; Lord Lee of Trafford DL FCA;
Carl Michaelson; John J Rowe QC; Sir Norman K Stoller OBE CStJ DL; Sally Whittaker.