Hannah’s One Pound Appeal

I’m pleased to announce that I completed my bi-annual “emptying the clutter out of my handbag” ritual recently.

You want to know what was in there?…

Well, amongst the more interesting items I found, there were:

• Fluff and obscure bits of crumb type things,
• An ambiguous shard of hard translucent plastic,
• A misshapen paper clip,
• Several scrunched up receipts,
• A compass which was free from The Lost Gardens of Heligan (gorgeous place!) that I kept because it might come in handy if we got lost (I can’t even use a compass!!),
• Some paper tissues which had been opened (but unused) and were yellowing around the edges and not looking too hygienic,
• Several paracetamol tablets that had escaped from their wrapper,
• An empty perfume sample bottle that had obviously leaked during transit at some point,
• A biro which had clearly been squashed – I have therefore deduced that the aforementioned ambiguous shard of hard translucent plastic must belong to this, now defunct, former writing implement.
• A third of a packet of fruit pastilles that had most definitely seen better days and although they were just begging to be eaten, and as much as I like fruit pastilles, I simply couldn’t force myself to eat them.  Shame.

And…

(and here’s where I get to the reason why I’ve written this post)

I found lots and lots (and lots) of…

COINS…

And I mean LOTS!

(So much so that The Bank of England could have almost gone into administration at the lack of currency floating around the country…but there it all was, sitting at the bottom of my handbag, all along).  *rolls eyes and tuts*

No wonder my husband regularly grumbled at the weight of my bag and that I clunked around sounding like a Medieval Gaoler!

I don’t know about you ladies (not discounting the gents too – metrosexual man bags are most definitely included and celebrated here), but I really am rather partial to being in possession of a HUGE handbag that you can stuff everything in…the ones that are a bit like a Tardis or like Mary Poppins had, that you can pull a 5ft lamp stand and shade out of…how cool would THAT be?  However, the rules are that my bag shouldn’t ever be completely filled to the brim because I need emergency space to stuff something in that belongs to my child…like clothes, toys, twigs (twigs? *looks confused*) etc.

Anyway, on completion of my rather satisfying achievement in ‘de-clutterisation’, I had a thought…

There must be LOADS of us who have spare coins floating around our homes, our handbags/manbags, our cars, hiding under the sofa cushions (nestled within a load of ‘fluff’ because you haven’t had time to spring clean this year and anyway the weathers been too nice and you’re not a domestic Goddess – or domestic God – whose home must be pristine at all times – just in case the ‘Cleaning Police’ knock on your door for an unannounced inspection whilst donning white cotton gloves in order to check for dust).

I bet, if you had a quick mooch around later today, you’d EASILY find a pound’s worth of coins, or in my case, rather a lot more!

And all that change could be put to REALLY good use…but I’ll get round to the reasons why in a minute, once I’ve waffled on a little bit more…

If I cast my mind back to when I was a child (not that long ago) *cough’s in denial*…ok then, I’ll start again…Once upon a time, back in the olden days, when I had a pound in my hand, I felt like I was virtually a millionaire…or perhaps like Simon Cowell strolling into The Ivy and ordering anything (or everything) on the menu that his media mogul heart desired. Wonderful.

Back then I could have bought ten bags of crisps…TEN BAGS!!!…AND they seemed far bigger than the bags of crisps you can buy nowadays.  Skipping into the local sweet shop, I would peruse the ‘penny chew’ tray with great anticipation and wonderment – this is where the shopkeeper would almost lose the will to live and rest his head on the counter, literally on the verge of tears, as my friends and I spent hours upon hours pondering over the 100 individual little chews we would pop into our paper bags and purchase – Yes, I could ACTUALLY buy 100 sweets for £1!!! Amazing isn’t it? I never, however, bought from the counter displaying the other chocolates and sweets, even though they were all wrapped, as the shop owners cat used to enjoy sleeping on them – I KID YOU NOT! – My childhood friends will most definitely vouch for this – just ask them.  If the Health and Safety officials were as hot on food contamination in those days as they are now, they would have had a field day with that one.

Still, it probably helped build our immune systems up…but, then again, maybe not.

So, lets fast forward to 2014 and NOW we find that we can’t even buy two bags of crisps for £1 at the sweet shop…how utterly shocking is THAT!

Nor can we now buy a lottery ticket…

Or a cup of coffee…

Or a litre of diesel or petrol…

Mind you, if you went to a Pound Shop (other named discount stores are available) you could most definitely buy something for £1. Obviously!.

But, if you didn’t opt to go to the Pound Shop, what could you do with that pound?

And here’s where I FINALLY, most DEFINITELY get to the point…

Well, you could consider donating YOUR £1 to a charity that provides life changing therapy (called Conductive Education) to Hannah, and many children like her – children who are in desperate need of support in order to help them learn the skills many of us just take for granted for ourselves and for our loved ones, like walking or eating without someone’s help or even having the ability to hold their own head up independently.

For those of you who aren’t aware, these are MASSIVE achievements for our kids and these skills will last them a lifetime.

The charity is The Legacy Rainbow House.

I’ve previously written a blog post about how utterly amazing and life changing this charity has been for us as a family and, more importantly, for Hannah, so I’ll spare you all the details here. If you haven’t already read my post, please feel free to take a look; it’s called “The Legacy Rainbow House” (again, obviously!).  I’ve also written some information on Hannah’s JustGiving page.  You can find it on www.justgiving.com/HannahsOnePoundAppeal

Believe it or not, I’m really a rather proud woman (even though I share our life and some of my deepest and most heartfelt thoughts on this blog, which I’m more than happy to do if it helps someone) and I really don’t like asking anyone for anything.  But I can’t support The Legacy on my own…

I REALLY NEED YOUR HELP…

The charity receives no UK Government support (shocking, isn’t it?) and so, each year The Legacy staff and parents and (extremely kind) members of the public work tirelessly to fundraise in order to ensure the charity stays afloat in this current economic climate.

Annually, it costs £6050.00 to provide Conductive Education to one child for one session per week and the charity subsidise the costs of the sessions for parents/carers by 78% – I repeat, that’s just for ONE child, ONE session! At present, 74 children and young people are able to access this service for one session (or more) weekly…maths was never my strongest point…but, it’s pretty obvious that this isn’t a cheap service to provide.

As the mummy of a child with significant disabilities (that’s me!), I could NEVER put a price on (or fully articulate) the overwhelming elation of seeing my child being supported to develop and master a new skill…like being able to sit up independently or hold a crayon so that she can scribble and draw like any other child could.

Priceless!

We’ve fundraised in the past for The Legacy and towards the conductive education sessions that Hannah and many other children receive (thank you everyone, you wonderful people you!) but there really is a limit to how many times you can ask people (friends/family/colleagues etc) to help without it becoming, well…just a little bit cheeky, to be honest.  So, I’ve launched Hannah’s One Pound Appeal because – as I’ve mentioned earlier – £1 doesn’t go a very long way these days, however, if we ALL collectively throw our £1’s into the JustGiving virtual bucket (by text or through the web) and then spread the word along the way by sharing via facebook, twitter, morse code, pigeon power (be nice to the pigeons though please!) or through whatever means of communication you desire, then you could potentially help raise a MAHOOSIVE amount to help some of the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our society…our kids…

Our amazing, inspiring, brilliant, FABULOUS kids.

Because, to be absolutely hand on heart, brutally honest, we, like many other families, would be lost without this service as Hannah receives no regular ‘hands on’ therapy from the NHS…and that’s something she desperately needs in order to reach her full potential.

If you’re sat reading this and thinking, “it’s only a pound, It’ll seem a bit stingy if I just donate a pound”, then you could, if you wanted to, donate more.  And that would be lovely. On the flip side, for some people, a pound is rather a lot of money, so if you can’t donate £1, please consider helping by spreading the word as far and wide as you can about Hannahs One Pound Appeal…that’s just as beneficial (and equally as lovely) because the more people who know about it, the better.

Please be assured that if you do donate, you will make a difference…and, just think; if 6050 people all joined their £1’s up together and sent them off to The Legacy via Justgiving, then that would cover the cost of a full years’ worth of Conductive Education sessions for one child. Double that, and another child would also receive a years’ worth of therapy and so on, and so on.  Maybe I’m being a little optimistic here, but hey, as the old saying goes, “if you don’t try, then you’ll never know”.

Plus, if you have facebook or twitter, then the more of us who tweet or share on facebook, the more people get to see the amazing work that The Legacy do…free publicity! Double bonus!

I promise that if you donate, your details won’t be shared by the charity and you won’t be bombarded by emails asking you to donate again or to increase your donation.

So, what do you think guys? Are you up for the challenge?

Let’s get cracking and spread the word.

Let’s not start a revolution…Let’s get silly and start a “POUND-OLUTION”…*smiles and groans at the cheesy-ness* (sorry, I couldn’t help myself!)

HOW TO DONATE…

You can donate by texting HOPA90 £1 to 70070 or go online to www.justgiving.com/HannahsOnePoundAppeal

Please don’t forget to ‘Gift Aid’ it, if you can.

Thanks SO much for dropping by.  I REALLY do hope you can help by either donating and/or spreading the word.

Until next time,

Anne   xoxo

p.s. Please think about pressing one of those buttons down there and help spread the word…and if you’re feeling REALLY adventurous, you could always press the “follow” button and come with us on our journey through this blog.

p.p.s. A LITTLE EXPERIMENT FOR YOU – Someone (I think, perhaps, my sister) once told me that it takes a chain of around ten people to reach someone famous.  I’m not entirely sure whether this will work, but if someone knows someone, who knows someone (you get the drift) then could they please pass this post onto them and maybe (who knows) they might be interested in helping raise the profile of The Legacy – now that would be fabulous!.  Or, equally as fabulous, if there are any companies that may be interested in helping out in some way, then please get in touch with the charity.  Their website is www.thelegacy-rainbowhouse.com

This post is dedicated to all the children and young people I’ve had the honour of meeting since our journey at The Legacy Rainbow House began.  I’m in awe of how hard you all work in your sessions. Well done!

And

To all the staff at The Legacy Rainbow House, past and present…you’re all really rather special!