Star Donation for The Pied Piper Appeal

During 2009 local radio station Star 107.5 FM have worked tirelessly to help raise over £15,000 for The Pied Piper Appeal and in particular for the £20,000 project at the Bettridge School in Cheltenham.

The Bettridge School has just completed their re-build and are looking forward to getting installed the new sensory equipment which The Pied Piper Appeal pledged to fund.

Star 107.5FM have fundraised throughout 2009 with a quiz night, encouraging their listeners to raise £107.50, organising a sports auction and of course their Christmas auction which raised a magnificent £11,000 in one day on Sunday 6th December.

Everyone at Star 107.5 FM and The Pied Piper Appeal wish to thank all of the local companies, organisations and of course listeners who have supported this project and we look forward to visiting the sensory room when the equipment is installed.

Colleagues Play Father Christmas

Colleagues at Cash Friday in Gloucester played the role of Father Christmas for children in hospital over the festive period this year. Team members donated new toys for the children’s wards in Cheltenham and Gloucester Hospitals.

Claire Hutchinson and Jo Howells arrived The Pied Piper Appeal’s office with 4 enormous boxes full of brand new toys and teddy bears. Claire explained “We wanted to give toys to local children and help make a difference for Gloucestershire.”

Gloucester Rugby’s Christmas Visit

On Wednesday 23rd December children in the Children’s Centre at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital were given an extra special Christmas present when the full Gloucester Rugby team visited the ward and handed out presents they purchased for the children in hospital over the Christmas period.

Celebration of Christmas Concert 2009

The 2009 Celebration of Christmas Concert held every year at Tewkesbury was a fantastic success raising over £2,700 for the charity. The concert boasted a musical line up with performances from Tewkesbury Town Band, the Glebe Gospel Choir and two groups from The Kings School in Gloucester, plus a handful of well known Carols. The Concert even had its own news broadcast courtesy of John Rockley, Presenter on BBC Radio Gloucestershire, and youngsters from the Highnam Young Players.

At the beginning of the concert there was a very special presentation made to Roger Head, our Appeal Chairman, a giant Christmas stocking. A class of 7-year-old students from the Alderman Knight School in Tewkesbury made the stocking, which was then generously filled with presents by parents and teachers for the sick children over Christmas.

Mayor Picks Christmas winner

The Right Worshipful The Mayor of Gloucester, Councillor Chris Witts drew the 4 lucky winners of The Pied Piper Appeal’s Christmas raffle at the city council offices at 10am on Thursday 10th December.

The Christmas raffle, sponsored by KM Reprographics on Stroud Road, Gloucester has raised £1,200 for this local children’s charity and Trustees of The Pied Piper Appeal thanked everyone who bought a ticket as well as those who donated the prizes.

Mrs Christie won the first prize which was a nearly new rocking horse which was very generously donated to the charity. Mrs Christie and her husband are long term supporters of The Pied Piper Appeal and have very kindly decided to donate the rocking horse back so the charity can raise even more money with it next year. The other prizes were a meal for two kindly donated by the Royal William in Cranham, a Christmas Hamper kindly donated by Tesco and a Father Christmas cuddly toy.

The Mayor said “as Mayor I fully support The Pied Piper Appeal and happy to do all I can to help. It was a great honour and pleasure to draw the winning tickets.”

Christmas Cards to Tempt!

The three main designs this year include the stocking card plus the ever popular Christmas Rose and a beautiful photo of a Robin in Snow. There are also a few remaining packs from previous years which include a Nativity scene and Christmas Bauble.

The Christmas cards can be bought from The Pied Piper Appeal office in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, “Everyone is welcome to drop in to have a look at the Christmas cards we have in stock, including our ‘special offer’ this year of a pack of 10 Christmas Bauble cards for only £1” explained Jane and Tamara.

Alternatively email the office at fundraising@piedpiperappeal.co.uk for an order form, delivery is free as the charity’s volunteers have offered their services to deliver the orders. “We are very grateful to our band of volunteers who are not only offering to deliver people’s orders but are also helping in the Cards for Good Causes Shops, both in Cheltenham and Gloucester, where our cards are also stocked.”

The Cheltenham Cards for Good Causes shop is in the Beachwood Shopping Centre whilst the Gloucester shop has moved this year to St Michael’s Tower.

Glebe Gospel Choir at Tewkesbury

Local Gospel Choir based in Newent will be raising the roof at The Pied Piper Appeal’s Celebration of Christmas. The choir will be one of four musical performances to be enjoyed on Wednesday 9th December at the charity’s annual Christmas event at Tewkesbury Abbey.

Glebe Choir was formed as a ‘Summer Project Choir’ in 2005. After their first performance in a Sunday morning service during the September of that year, it was decided that the choir would meet to rehearse on a regular basis. All of the choir’s members attend Glebe Chapel, Newent, and their ages span more than five decades! As well as singing for special events at the chapel, the choir has visited a number of other local churches, ministering through testimony and song.

“We aim to provide an evening of music which is light, fun and Christmassy as the perfect way to start the season.” Explained Maddie Parker, the organiser of the event. “This year we have 4 very well known Carols for everyone to join in and fill the Abbey with a wonderful festive spirit.”

Tickets are £6.50 in advance, £7.50 on the door and are on sale now from The Pied Piper Appeal Office in Gloucester and Peter Hickman’s Hair Salon in Tewkesbury. If you wish to pay by debit or credit card please book through the Tewkesbury Abbey Shop on 01684 276655.

For the first time this year the Abbey shop will also be open from 7pm when the doors open, with the concert starting at 7:30pm. “The Abbey shop has lots of unusual gifts as well as souvenirs of the Abbey,” continued Maddie, “perfect for Christmas presents, or a little something for yourself.”

For more information on the event and how to buy tickets please visit our events page.

Christmas Raffle

This year we are holding a Christmas raffle to be drawn by The Right Worshipful Cllr Chris Witts Mayor of Gloucester. Tickets are on sale now for £1 from The Pied Piper Appeal Office. If you are able to take a couple of books (5 tickets per book) that would also be greatly appreciated.

The four prizes are a beautiful nearly new rocking horse, a meal for 2 at the Royal William in Cranham, a small Christmas hamper and a Father Christmas cuddly toy.

The draw will take place at 10am on Thursday 10th December 2009.

An Evening of Choral Splendour at Cathedral Concert

The concert was a great success with around 400 guests joining us for the evening that raised almost £3,000 for Pied Piper and Gloucester Cathedral.

Patricia Shakesby did a splendid job of compèring and she took the opportunity to inform our guests on the history of the Appeal as well as details of some of the projects that we have funded.

Mark Griffiths the Musical Director of CORO and Ashley Grote the Musical Director of the Cathedral Youth Choir put the evening’s programme together and with support from Chorus Felum and Amy Milliams joining them along with her pianist Dale Wills the evening was tremendously entertaining.

Pool Raises Cash for Children

The Tewkesbury Summer Pool League has donated a generous of £300. At the culmination of 18 weeks of pool the four Captains contesting the final are Brian Goddard from Royal Oak D team, Steve Blackeway from Upton on Severn  Social Club, John Smith from Royal Oak A team, Ian Butler from Tewkesbury Formula One.

The cheque was handed over by the organiser of the Tewksbury Summer Pool League Mr John Rathbone to Tamara (fundraiser) who watched the semi final held at the Royal Oak in Bishops Cleeve.

Landlord of the Royal Oak Brian Goddard said “The reason The Pied Piper Appeal is one of my favourite charities is because I know that the money they raised will directly help sick children around the County."

New Rugby Season

The new Gloucester Rugby season has started and once again The Pied Piper Appeal Volunteers will be manning the turnstiles for the home games at Kingsholm.

Over the years the charity’s relationship with Gloucester Rugby has raised £81,000, which has been generating by manning the turnstiles and having a ground collection each season.

A huge thank you to Chris Penny who is our volunteer who organises the rota for each home game, and of course we are extremely grateful to Gloucester Rugby and all their supporters and fans.

Show Your colours Day

Companies and organisations all around the County took part in our Show Your Colours Day on Friday 11th September, including employees from Thermo Fisher Scientific in Gloucester.

A group of employees from the Process Instruments Division site in Gloucester came to work in their favourite sports shirts to help raise money for the charity.

The employees represented all departments at the site, so the event also served as a great team building exercise and there was also some friendly banter along the way with regards to whose team/nation each person was supporting!!

Kevin Quinn, General Manager, for the site, was pleased with the effort and team spirit and said ‘It is really worthwhile to be raising money for such a wonderful charity and particularly one that is within our local community’.

Walkathon - Ben’s amazing Achievement

12 year Ben Dovinson completed the whole 25 mile route of The Pied Piper Appeal’s Walkathon for the 3rd time and won a family day out kindly donated by Sudeley Castle for raising the most sponsorship money for an under 16 year old.

At this year’s event on Sunday 7th June Ben and his mum Deb walked the route in 10 hours, with the last 11 miles in the pouring rain. Ben raised over £700 in aid of The Pied Piper Appeal which will go towards providing a mini bus specially adapted to take wheelchairs for the Milestone School in Longlevens. In return for his fundraising efforts Ben received a family ticket to Sudeley Castle in Winchcombe.

Other winners included Mrs Olive Fox who raised £2,019 individual sponsorship and won 2 tickets to see The Everyman Theatre’s pantomime Sleeping Beauty, kindly donated by the theatre. The most money raised by a team was £1,404.72 by Pats People - staff from the Milestone School and Cineworld in Gloucester generously donated 10 vouchers for this prize.

Tamara Leah from The Pied Piper Appeal congratulated Ben and all the other winners, “Thank you to everyone who have paid in their sponsorship money, the event has made £19,500 so far towards our £25,000 target. It is teams and individuals like Ben and Olive who show how we can all make a difference for sick children in the county.”

“There are a few walkers who have yet to pay in their sponsorship money, it is not too late and we still need to reach our target” explained Tamara. You can send in your sponsorship forms and money to Tamara Leah at The Pied Piper Appeal Office, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Great Western Road, Gloucester, GL1 3NN.

Chinese Night

80 people turned out to enjoy freshly cooked authentic Chinese cuisine at our first Chinese Night held at the White Horse Restaurant in Sandhurst, Gloucester.

Everyone enjoyed the evening and including the raffle and mini auction raised just under £2,400. Thank you to everyone who came on the evening, the donors of the auction and raffle prizes and to the White Horse Restaurant for their support.

Christmas Card Competition

We launched the competition with the help of The Citizen and Echo which are two Gloucestershire papers.

Budding artists and photographers are being asked to get into the festive spirit to help our Appeal.

Winning entries will be used on the cards this year with proceeds going to the charity. There are three categories for the competition - a drawing and painting section for six to twelve year olds and thirteen to eighteen year olds, plus a photography category that is also open to adults.

The winner in the youngest category will receive a bicycle and there is a family ticket for Gloucester Rugby’s first home match against Bath on September the 6th is up for grabs in the thirteen to eighteen year old section.

Half a day with a professional photographer is the prize for the photographic category.

The entry deadline is Friday the 21st of August.

Designs, with name, age; address and a telephone number must be sent to The Appeal Office at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester. GL1 3NN. Photographs can be emailed to mail@piedpiperappeal.co.uk

Christmas Auction

Star 107.5 will be continuing their fundraising for The Pied Piper Appeal by holding a huge on air auction just before Christmas. The charity and Star 107.5 team are busy looking for auction prizes to feature in this event.

All the auction items will be mentioned on air and could be a great way to get your organisation mentioned as well as helping to make a difference for sick children in the County.

For more information about how to get involved please call Lorraine on 01242 699555 or email studio@star1075.co.uk

Child in the Forest

It was a very wet and windy evening at Highnam Court on Sunday the 26th July so our Chairman, and owner of Highnam Court, very kindly allowed the play to take place indoors.

Playing to a packed house the story of Winifred Foley growing up in the Forest was played brilliantly. Winifred was born in 1914 and the actions of the play took place during the 1920’s. Sadly she died earlier this year and the family gave Jenny Wren Productions permission to dedicate the production in her memory. The proceeds from the play will be shared between Pied Piper and the Jenny Wren Productions.

Churchdown Male Voice Choir

The Churchdown Male Voice Choir delighted everyone at The Pied Piper Appeal’s Concert at Kings School.

With a wonderful mix of modern and classic hymns and pop songs the all male choir entertained over 150 and helped to raise over £600.

Gloucester Rugby Golf Day

Players and coaching staff from Gloucester Rugby joined teams from around the County for the first 1873 Club Charity Golf Day.

The day was a wonderful success with the winning team from Converge Networks which included new Gloucester Rugby signing Nicky Robinson, just beating the team from Butler Silcock team which included Head Gloucester Rugby Coach Bryan Redpath.

The day concluded with a 3 course meal, charity raffle and auction which was enjoyed by everyone. The event has raised over £1,000 for The Pied Piper Appeal (total raised to be updated shortly).

Photography: © Martin Bennett

Forest Fun Run

The sun came out just in time for our 147 participants to start their runs at Forest Leisure in Cinderford. The day started with the tiddlies run taking place around the track on the field with one of The Pied Piper Appeal clowns, and continued with the 5km and 3km which went out around some forest tracks and back to the leisure centre.

John Rockley from BBC Radio Gloucestershire started the tiddlies race and Councillor Mrs Marrilyn Smart OBE, Chairman of the Forest of Dean District Council started the longer runs. Every runner (and walker) received a medal and certificate presented by The Pied Piper Appeal clowns.

Thank you to everyone who has taken part and supported this event, helping to raise over £1,100 for the Great Oaks Hospice and The Pied Piper Appeal so far, with more due to come in from individual sponsorship.

Thank you to Tescos customers and staff

Jane and Tamara from The Pied Piper Appeal joined other community groups and charities at the Community Fun Fair at Tesco On St Oswalds Park. The day was a thank you to all the customers and staff who have supported various groups and charities over the past 2 years.

Su Mullins is standing down as this store’s Community Champion and as a goodbye she organised this free day of fun and information. (Photo: Su Mullins and Tamara by The Pied Piper Appeal stand)

Anonymous donation for Katy

A local resident in Longlevens donated £5 to a walker during this year’s Walkathon held on 7th June.

13 year old Milestone School pupil Katy Evans was taking part in The Pied Piper Appeal Walkathon to raise £25,000 to provide a new mini bus, specially adapted to take wheelchairs for the School in Longlevens when a generous lady came out of her house to donate £5 towards her sponsorship.

Katy has raised £111 for The Pied Piper Appeal and achieved a Bronze medal for walking three stages of the route. “Katy has achieved so much, not only walking several miles, but also raising money to help her fellow pupils.” Said proud father Clark, “Katy insisted that we write to thank the lady who donated the £5, so we wrote a letter and popped it through her door.”

The Walkathon has raised just over half of the money needed so far and Tamara from The Pied Piper Appeal is encouraging everyone to pay his or her money in as soon as possible. “I know collecting sponsorship in is sometimes harder work than the walk itself, but we really need all walkers to get their money in as soon as possible so we can order the new bus.”

The Pied Piper Appeal are grateful to Sudeley Castle and Cineworld in Gloucester for the prizes they have donated to help encourage sponsorship for this event. It is not too late to qualify for the most money raised prizes. The closing date for qualifying for prizes is 10th August, so please return your sponsorship forms and the money to Tamara at The Pied Piper Appeal Office in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

Star Quiz was a mental challeng

Star 107.5 continued their fundraising by hosting a Quiz night at Brickhampton Court Golf Club which saw teams from around the county take part against the sales team and presenters team from Star.

The presenters comprising of Joe Lemar, Greg Upwards, David Stone and Late Night Love Mark Darwin surprised us all and came second in the quiz winning a bottle of wine each. The event was great fun and raised £270.

Teddy Bear’s Picnic 2009

The venue for the picnic, Highnam Court, was a perfect setting with the beautiful laid out gardens that are owned by the Appeal’s Chairman Mr Roger Head, DL.

Alder King Ltd supported the event and their employees joined the family day out. 

The day proved to be a very happy successful day and children had a great time making Father’s day cards and many other activities and games that were available for them to do.

Debbie Casling from Gloucestershire Golf Partnership joined us with the Para Golf equipment that Pied Piper recently donated. Children were invited to lean about the game and invited to participate in a round of golf. 

The miniature hot air balloons proved a great attraction again this year. Children were invited to let their teddies have a ride in the mini balloons and were given a certificate to confirm they had “flown”.

Children were invited to take part in the garden and teddy competitions. The winners were Rhianna Wiemer (age 7) and Connie Bennett (age 10).

Star 107.5FM joined us for the morning and help to promote the children’s games and races. Brian the stations Teddy mascot joined the children in some of the races which the children thought was very funny

The photographer for the day was Ian Cameron. Catering was supplied by Three Counties Caterers who served Big Pan Paella that was very popular and sold out fairly quickly.

Walkathon 2009

Over 300 walkers took part in our annual Walkathon. The day started off looking like it would be very wet, but out came the sun just before our checkpoints opened at 8am, although it did rain very hard from 4pm onwards. We were delighted with the number of walkers who joined the walk and achieved their Bronze, Silver or Gold Medals.

All the money raised goes towards our £25,000 target to buy a mini bus for Milestone School, specially adapted to take wheelchairs.

Local companies are also showing their support by sponsoring checkpoints, design and printing. We would like to say thank you to RHM Telecom, Kingsway Business Park, Fortis Insurance, Prospect Training & Recruitment and Bristol Street Motors. Along with Lockhart Meyer Group for designing the publicity materials free of charge, Alpha Colour Printers Ltd for printing the route maps free of charge and Angel Springs Ltd for donating 500 bottles of water.

Gloucester Rugby Supports the Pied Piper Appeal

In 2003 Pied Piper volunteers took on the task of working the turnstiles at every home match at Kingsholm Rugby Club in Gloucester.

Chris Penny who manages the turnstile operators has over 30 volunteers that she has recruited to help at all the home games. The job involves checking the validity of every ticket before entry is allowed into Kingsholm.

To date £73,454 has been raised for Pied Piper. This excludes income due for the 2008/09 season, which is expected to be a further £10,000.

Chris Penny has received confirmation that we can continue working the turnstiles again next season.

www.gloucesterrugby.co.uk

What will you do to raise £107.50 in Star FM’s fundraising challenge?

Star 107.5 are asking 107.5 people to raise £107.50 each towards
their £20,000 target to help provide equipment for a news sensory room for Bettridge School in Cheltenham.

To find out more and to register please email studio@totalstar.co.uk.

Star will promote your fundraising activities and Costwold88 Hotel are providing a prize for the wackiest fundraising idea.

PARA Golf is launched

Children with special needs around Gloucestershire will soon be getting the opportunity to try their hand at golf thanks to a ground-breaking project supported by the Pied Piper Appeal.

The Gloucestershire County Golf Partnership recently launched its Get into Golf initiative which involves taking golf to young people who might not otherwise get the opportunity to participate in this much treasured sport.

With child friendly golf equipment funded by Pied Piper, specially trained coaches and teachers will soon be offering five week courses to schools around the county.

A pilot begins this June at the Bettridge School, Cheltenham with a golf professional from Tewkesbury.  It is hoped that this will serve as a model for other special schools that wish to offer golf to their young people. 

Andy Turner, a teacher from Bettridge explains the benefits that pupils will get by participating. “The project gives our children a chance to actively learn about a sport that gains national coverage.  It specifically helps them with hand/eye coordination, fine motor skills and the opportunity to pursue a new leisure activity.”

Pied Piper VIP Evening 2009

The VIP evenings are held twice a year at Highnam Court. The evening is our way of thanking those that have supported us, and those that we would like to ask for their support in the future. This can be by way of holding an event, sponsoring an event, or offering to help at one of our PP events. It also gives our Chairman the opportunity to update the guests on our current and future projects.

Image above (left to right): Baroness Rennie, Mr Bernard Norton, Provincial Grand Lodge for Gloucestershire, Mr John Winfield, Vice Chairman of PPA, Mrs Elizabeth Norton, Mrs Susan Hickman, wife of Founder Mr Peter Hickman MBE

Image below (left to right): Louise Pinnell, Proprietor of Prospect Training & Recruitment, Martin Pinnell, Proprietor of SCS Installation and his wife Gill, Jennie Anders, Recruitment Consultant for Prospect Training & Recruitment.

Malvern Spring Gardening Show Charity Gala Preview at Three Counties Malvern

The Preview, with added attractions this year was a great success. Students form Malvern College entertained our guests with a spectacular fashion show in the Design Theatre whilst drinks and canapés were served.

Roger Head, Chairman of The Pied Piper Appeal introduced our guest speaker, the highly respected award winning plants woman Carol Klein. Carol is a regular at Malvern. She became presenter of Gardener’s World in 2005 and is a regular host of coverage from the Chelsea and Hampton Court Flowers Show. Carol gave the guests an insight into life as a garden celebrity, which was hugely entertaining. Click here to see Carol’s website.

Guests who were staying for dinner were joined by Phiilip Serrell who is a professional auctioneer and an accomplished after dinner speaker. Phillip very kindly auctioned the five donated items for the three charities involved.

Dinner was served by Relish Ltd. During dinner Steve Womack entertained our guests with his unique and humorous entertainment.

The event was a great success and raised £6,500 that will be shared between Three Counties Showground and the three charities involved; The Pied Piper Appeal, Linc and St. Richards Hospice.

Highnam Court Spring Fair 2009

There were almost 5,000 visitors’ to this year’s Highnam Court Spring Fair that included a showcase for the Floral Marquee and a competition for the first time, as well as the Classic Cars, which looked stunning against the backdrop of the Highnam gardens.

The annual event has now become the biggest fundraising event of the year at Highnam Court with activities to suit all ages going on throughout the weekend.

Around £25,000 was raised for the three charities involved and they will shortly receive their share of the profit made.

Thanks also must go to the generous sponsors who helped to make this a very successful weekend.

The date for SF2010 has already been agreed for 24th and 25th April.

School trains with Gloucester Rugby

Milestone School pupil, Liam Galling, was thrilled when Gloucester Rugby Club’s Academy Manager, Mark Cornwell, arrived with four team members to help with training for our Walkathon this year. Liam was personally coached for the big day by first team players Luke Narraway, Nick Wood, Dan Williams and Henry Trinder.

The Appeal’s corporate fundraiser, Tamara Leah, commented “Pied Piper is absolutely thrilled that Gloucester Rugby Club is supporting Walkathon. Mark and his colleagues were happy to train we some of the children who will be completing a special route in the Walkathon on Sunday 7th June to raise money to provide a specially adapted minibus for Milestone pupils who are wheelchair bound”.

Contact Tamara Leah at The Pied Piper Appeal Office for more information and for a walkers pack: telephone on 08454 226119 or email fundraising@piedpiperappeal.co.uk.

Image supplied with kind permission of The Citizen and Echo

Highnam Court Spring Bulb Preview 2009

Springtime officially arrived as the spring bulbs were out in full bloom and brought a carpet of colour to the gardens of Highnam. Thousands of bulbs were on show as the gardens opened for the first time this year in aid of Pied Piper.

It was a really successful day with over 400 visitor’s enjoying the gardens it raised  £2,000 for our charity. The weather was very kind to us, which made the day.

Under the Sea at Cheltenham

The waiting area at Cheltenham General Hospital’s Battledown Ward will be going ‘under the sea’ later this year thanks to The Pied Piper Appeal.

We want to make the prospect of going into hospital less frightening. For some children it is a one-off visit, for others they need to attend regular outpatient appointments. Pied Piper provides toys and equipment to help distract and alleviate anxious patients and their families.

This project creates a more welcoming entrance and waiting area with toys and equipment for all the children and families who visit the ward. The current waiting area lacks adequate seating, space and eye-catching design. The enhancement will include new furniture, attractive pictures on the wall and sensory play equipment for children with special needs.

Emily Nixon, Anne-Marie Hart, Donna Beachgood and Richard Broad, all Fine Art students at the University of Gloucestershire created the artwork with Arts in Trust. The children on the ward chose the under the sea theme, and the students ran creative workshops with the children to generate ideas and create the artwork.

Companies take on Charity for the Year

Prospect Training and Recruitment, NFU Mutual Gloucester and Star 107.5FM have chosen The Pied Piper Appeal as their charity of the year. The three companies will donate all the money they raise in 2009 to The Pied Piper Appeal.

Prospect Training and Recruitment were off to a flying start with a sponsored bike ride from Hereford to Gloucester, and NFU Mutual have entered a team of six in the Walkathon.

Star 107.5FM have taken on a whole project to raise money for and have a target of £20,000 to provide equipment for a new sensory room for the Bettridge School in Cheltenham.

Finally we are delighted to announce that Rickerbys Solicitors have chosen to support us for a second year. So far they have raised over £2,500 through various activities including car boot sales, male versus female netball tournaments and even completing the Bath 1/2 Marathon.

Plasma Screens for Bettridge School

The two touch sensitive plasma screens which we donated to Bettridge School in Cheltenham, have been installed and the pupils are already using the interactive programmes to enhance their learning and communication skills.

Each screen cost £5,000 and will be used in classes to aid numeracy and literacy.

Jam, Jam, Jam

Two of our hard working volunteers have helped raise hundreds of pounds for The Pied Piper Appeal with their jam making skills.

Herta Foote and Wendy Winfield, who is also a Trustee of the charity, donate all the ingredients themselves and keep the Pied Piper Appeal Office well stocked with jam and marmalade.

Wendy produced over 200 pots of jam and marmalade in 2008 which alone raised more than £400. Whilst Herta, who is renowned for her Seville marmalade, calculates she has donated over £1,200 worth of jam since 2005.

A huge thank you to Herta and Wendy.

A Hole In One

Nick Broady, Trustee of The Pied Piper Appeal, was the Club Captain of Brickhampton Court Golf Club during 2008, and with Seniors Captain Glynn Howells chose to raise money for The Pied Piper Appeal.

And that is certainly what they did... raising a magnificent £8,904.

Throughout the year they held a huge charity Golf Day, various auctions and raffles, as well as having a bottle on the bar for loose change.

Thank you to Nick, Glynn, Pauline and all the members at Brickhampton Court Golf Club for a fantastic year.