Reg. Charity No. 1111286
Winter News
. . . . . . Week Commencing
2nd February 2015 . . . . . .
May I wish you a belated Happy New Year, hoping it will be a healthy and peaceful
one for you all. Time has gone by so quickly since our break over the festive period
but with our batteries now recharged, and our enthusiasm as high as ever, we are
looking forward to what we anticipate to be another very exciting year.
The highlight of 2015 will, undoubtedly, be reaching that magical £2 million raised
through our fundraising efforts over the past thirteen years and receiving dozens and
dozens of generous donations from a multitude of people across the county and
beyond. It seems like yesterday, back in 2010, when we were celebrating the first
million! For a small charity we feel very proud and extremely appreciative of the support
we are so fortunate to have from the people of Northamptonshire. Before reaching the
first million my mum once said that if we were to ever reach a million that would be a
good time to stop as I would be getting on in years and would be ready for retirement.
If she could see us now!!! A huge thank you to everyone for getting us this far and for
helping us to make a significant difference to local breast cancer care services.
So what is planned for 2015?
Celebrations!!
Please put Sunday
May 17th in your diary
as the date we have
earmarked to celebrate
this very special
occasion. We have
hired the Old Speckled
Hen Lounge at the County Cricket
Club in Northampton (the County
Cricket Club having recently donated
an enormous £2,500 following a
‘Beaujolais Lunch’ – the sixth of its
kind with support given to Crazy Hats). The room has just been refurbished and looks
to be an excellent venue for what we hope will be a large gathering of our
supporters! We have planned a lunch time get together with a hot buffet and light
entertainment. Invites are being designed so watch this space – we would love
you all to join us.
******* The Northants County Cricket Team has also agreed for their players to wear
pink shirts at one of their home games in July – watch this space for more details! ******
However, before we can celebrate, we have a very important event
to organise and see through and that is, of course …….
Our “12 + 1” (13th) Annual Sponsored Walk …..
Sunday March 22nd at Wicksteed Park, Kettering.
Arrangements for this are going
really well and entry forms have
been circulated to all walkers
who entered in the past two
years (by sending to the lead
people on the forms), as well as
many new interested parties.
Banners are also out on display
in major towns. If you know of
any place we can display a
poster or put out entry forms
please let us know. Entry forms
can be downloaded from our
website or you can register and
pay online. We are already
receiving entries so we are
hopeful of yet another big
turnout. Can we make and pass
the 3,000 entry this year? Our thanks go to Wicksteed Park for being
so generous in allowing us to use their wonderful facilities again.
This year walkers have the choice of two routes – they can either
keep to the route we have used for
several years (5 laps of the path route)
or, they can venture out and take the
new lakeside walk (suggested 3 laps as
each lap is approx. 1½ miles in length)
which is now open and suitable for
wheelchairs and buggies alike. Our
sincere thanks are also extended to
AVON who, for the eighth year running,
has sponsored the Walk to the tune of £10,000, allowing us to
ensure high standards are maintained, costs are kept to a
minimal, the event as enjoyable and
memorable for everyone and raising
a lot of money for the charity. Entry
fees have remained the same as
last year. This year we need all the help possible with
sponsorship in order to pass that magical £2 million mark.
Thanks also to sponsors, Premier, Weetabix, AO Copy,
Northamptonshire Telegraph, Wardle and Keach, Rotary Clubs
of Kettering and to the enormous team of volunteers who work
so hard before, and on the day, to make it all happen. We look
forward to seeing as many of you as possible. As a member,
please spread the word and encourage others to take part – it
truly is a wonderful morning and with it being local, with local
people attending, with the money raised supporting local breast
cancer care, the atmosphere is just amazing!
P.S. If you are able to make any cakes for us to sell at this year’s walk please let us know.
Premises:
As you may already know, we are very keen to secure bigger and better
premises so that we can cater for the high number of people coming
through our doors seeking support. Over the past few months we have
welcomed more people than in the past and our Thursday morning
sessions are at bursting point. Ideally, we would love to be able to offer
such a service five days a week – not just one. Similarly, our therapy
services are much in demand and having to hire other premises for one
morning and physically set up the equipment is proving to be difficult and
very frustrating. We can assure you all the need
is there to create a dedicated breast cancer
‘haven’ here in the county.
We were really pleased when Councillors from
Wellingborough Borough Council invited us to
look at the Old Drill Hall which is situated in the
heart of Wellingborough – the perfect, central
site. But, alas, the building was in such a bad
state of repair and we were told we would need
£1.2 million to get it habitable!! (If anyone can
help here please get in touch!!!!) Although
disappointing, we were not discouraged, especially now Council officials have
agreed that we need to extend our services. The plan is now that we get
architects on board to design us our ‘perfect/dream’ haven so that we can
submit plans to all the local councils, landowners, estate agents, companies etc.
and go public, in the hope someone, somewhere will seriously listen and be
sympathetic to our needs. It is daunting but very exciting – our belief being
that there must be that ‘someone, somewhere’. We will keep you posted.
Ebay:
With modern technologies available, money
can now be raised in a variety of forms and
‘ebay’ seems to be a popular and relatively
easy way.
Paul Savage,
son of Trustee,
Linda Savage,
has, for several
years raised
almost £1,000
for Crazy Hats.
Here is what he
said: “I sold my
first item on ebay for Crazy Hats about 18 months ago. Since then I have sold numerous
items totalling £905.03 , and rising. These items vary from sunglasses to Christmas lights, a
Haynes car manual to a board game, a spanner to an infrared body massager. The old
saying, ‘one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure,’ is certainly true. The most expensive
item I have sold was a doll’s house that had kindly been donated to the charity. It sold for
£355 and the couple who bought it came all the way from Manchester to collect it. I find
ebay a very easy and convenient way to support Crazy Hats from the comfort of my own
home. It certainly beats standing in a field on a frosty morning at a car boot sale!
Crazy Hats is registered with ebay so the money goes straight in to its bank account.
If you would like to sell anything to raise funds for Crazy Hats, list it in the usual way then
at the bottom of the page ebay will have listed 2 charities from random. You need to select
‘choose another charity’, type in Crazy Hats and select when the details appear. You can
choose what percentage of the item you are selling you want to go to Crazy Hats – from 10%
to 100% - ebay will work out your fee according to the percentage you donate. There are no
fees if, like me, you choose to donate 100%.
Thank you Paul and thank you to others who have raised funds for us in this way.
Andrea Procter:
It always hits us very hard when we lose one of members.
Andrea (42), who had been living with cancer for the past
four years, was a regular attendee of our weekly coffee and
chat mornings; always the first to arrive and often the last to
leave. Andrea found our mornings to be so supportive and
found great comfort in sharing her concerns and worries with
others who had been through similar treatments.
To us, Andrea was a true inspiration. Despite her bad health,
she was always positive and very upbeat; she loved to laugh
and she loved people. She also supported the charity very
well by donating many raffle prizes, making cakes and
knitted some beautiful and very complicated items. Our love
and thoughts are with her family, especially her husband and
her two teenage children, at this sad time. God bless
Andrea. Sleep tight. xx
A date for your diary …..
Hillside Nurseries, Finedon –
Garden Weekend:
Saturday / Sunday April 25th/26th
(10.00a.m.– 4.00p.m.)
We are delighted, proud and grateful that Committee
Member, Pat Hyde and her team of willing helpers will,
once again, be organising tea, coffee and cake sales at
the popular Open Weekend at Hillside Nurseries to raise
more funds. This event attracts more and more
people each year and the feedback received
from visitors to the Nurseries, where there is
always a lovely assortment of plants on sale,
is excellent, with everyone saying how much they enjoy relaxing with
refreshments whilst browsing …. and buying!
We thank owners, Joe and Jane, for inviting Crazy Hats again.
If you are able to make cakes for this please get in touch.
Wendy and friends take on a marathon
swimming challenge! …..
How about this for a challenge!! Wendy Reading, who had been diagnosed and successfully
treated for breast cancer last year, kindly made a very generous donation of £1,000 just
before Christmas. Wendy then visited us at the office to say she and two of her girlfriends
would like to raise more funds for us by organising a swim ….. but not just a simple
swimming event. The challenge they have set themselves is HUGE!
Phew!
Here is their schedule for the remainder of the year:
May:
A 24 hour swim, swimming one mile per hour
July:
3 person relay across the English Channel
August:
Swimming a 14 mile stretch of the River Thames from Henley to Marlow
September:
Swimming the length of Coniston Water ( 6 miles)
They are also looking to swim the length of Lake Windermere!!!!!
Wow!! That is a lot of swimming – which we know they will complete. We will keep you
informed as to their progress. To sponsor Wendy and her friends please visit Virgin Money
to find their page.
Future Events:
Saturday April 18th:
Spring Bonanza in the Swansgate Shopping Centre,
Wellingborough.
Please come along and have a go on our wonderful spring-themed tombola.
If it’s like our Christmas one, it will be a sell-out and another record breaker.
A list of carnivals that we will be attending will be given in our next update.
We also have people organising garden fetes, further swims, keep fit sessions …
the list is endless.
What you can do to help ……..
If you would like to organise a fund raising event for Crazy Hats
please let us know so that we can help you. For our
fundraising events we always welcome unwanted gifts we can
use for raffles and tombolas we also welcome homemade
cakes for our Walk and garden fetes.
If your life has been affected by breast cancer in any
way, we can help you. Please come along to our weekly
Coffee & Chat mornings on Thursdays 10.00am - 1.00pm
and meet others who understand.
Hot off the Press ........
We have put together a new leaflet called ‘Top Tips’ for
people diagnosed and receiving treatment for breast
cancer. This is a useful and informative collection of advice
from ‘those who have been there’. Please contact us if
you would like a copy or call in to collect one.
We look forward to updating you soon.
Please do get in to the habit of visiting our
website to see what we are doing –
please tell your friends about us
and do call in to see us at the office or at any
of the events we have planned.
Thank you for your support.
www.crazyhatsbreastcancerappeal.co.uk