Latest Donations - February 2012

Donations continue to come in to Ray of Hope for us to add to our fundraising total for Mid Cheshire Hospitals One in Eleven Appeal. We're so grateful to everyone who contributes.  Crewe and District Probus Club raised £405.75. Many, many thanks.  K Daley donated £150 in memory of her beloved triplets. Thank you so much. Mr J Lawrence and family sent a donation of £225 in memory of Barbara, a cherished wife, mother and grandmother. Thank you.

News for November 2011 - January 2012

November 

WI Winsford

£20 donation for talk. Thank you

Inner Wheel, Sandbach

Donation £100. Many, many thanks.

Mr and Mrs Higgin

£100 (plus Gift Aid) donation.

In memory of Thomas.

Thank you so much.

Mr and Mrs Ashmore

£75 (plus Gift Aid) donation.

In memory of Thomas.

Many, many thanks

Mr and Mrs Booth

£105

Donation from twins' christening.

Thank you for thinking of us.

January 2012

Wistaston Community Council

£400 donation from the fireworks night event.

Huge thanks to all concerned.

Wistaston Roundabout

£100 donation.

Thank you so much.

Mrs Read

£40.00 donation.

Thank you so much.

News for September and October 2011

September

Graham Edgerton raised £112.28 plus £12.10 Gift Aid by doing the Tatton Park triathlon for us on 10th September. Total raised £124.58. Many thanks Graham, and to everyone who sponsored him.

Catherine Worrall's fundraising event was a great success, despite some very heavy showers. There was a cake stall, book stall, knitted baby clothes, tombola, face painting and a lovely cake raffled - that Cat had been up baking since 5.30am on Saturday morning! The event raised the grand total of £96.50. Very well done and thank you so very much to Cat, and to all her family and friends who helped to make it possible.

Darren Varley did a sponsored run for the One in Eleven appeal.

Many thanks and very well done Darren.

Gwen Madden and ladies - £25 donation. Many thanks.

Gwen Moss - £5 donation. Many thanks

Employees of Health Shield, Electra Way Crewe, had a dress down day and a 'Guess the Baby's Name' competition. They raised £85 which was fund matched by Health Shield, so the total amount to us was £170. Thank you all so much.

Jill Parton - £25 donation. Many thanks.

October

CCGS School Reunion at Alsager Golf Club raised £190. Many thanks to all concerned.

News for July and August 2011

Fundraising for the new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Leighton Hospital - the One in Eleven Appeal

July 2011

We're off to a good start with little badges we've had made depicting our little bear with NICU in individual letters on his balloons. This is the logo which you can see on the floor on the entrance to the existing neonatal ward and also on the floor of the parents' sitting room. These little badges are £1.00 each and are available on our stall, on the neonatal unit, from Bridge Farm Nurseries and various other places. If you would like one, you can phone me on 01270 582187.

My 7 year old grandson Jack Parton did his very first triathlon on July 2nd, sponsored for us. He raised a brilliant £200. Very well done Jack, we are all so proud of you. His dad Jon is already experienced in triathlons and it looks as if Jack may well be joining him.

Jen Poulton and Nicola Marshall, the two mums who raised money last year towards the cold cot we bought for the labour ward, have this year joined forces once again with some wonderful workers from Barclays bank. They held another garden party this year, again at the home of Mr and Mrs Poulton in Sandbach. Much work and effort was put into it and a great deal of support from local people and also the Latter Day Saints. We would like to give out heartfelt thanks to all of you.

Today we have banked £1,867.50!

£1,648. 50 was raised by the Garden Party (and this is promised to be match funded by Barcleys Bank)

£120.00 was raised by Ben from the Marathon

£99.00 was from a Teddy Bears Picnic from Phoebe's play school.

Tremendous thanks to all of you concerned.

More things are in the pipe line and we hope with this blog that you will join us with this very exciting venture.

August 2011

Graham Egerton will be doing the Tatton Park Triathlon for us on the 10 September 2011. Please look on his Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/graham-egerton and make a donation, no matter how small. Both Graham and the Ray of Hope will be very grateful. Sarah Egerton can be contacted on Facebook

August 27th

Stillbirth and Baby loss in Crewe (Can be found on Facebook.)

Catherine Worrall is holding a Fund Raising Event from 12pm to 4pm at the

Webby Community Centre, Frank Webb Ave Crewe - proceeds to the Ray of Hope.

FOR LITTLE BABIES BORN ASLEEP

We had been knitting and sewing for a good while for babies on the neonatal ward, when we were aproached be one of the members of the maternity staff to ask if we would/could make garments for stillborn babies, from as small as 12 weeks. Of course we would and set about finding out the hospitals needs for this very important role.
We have patterns on our webpage www.rayofhope.co.uk and as you will see call them gowns for babies born asleep. We also have angels pockets both knitted and sewn for the very small and larger pockets if parents do not want baby dressed.
We supply to hospitals anwhere in the UK who we are in touch with and they request more from us as they need them.
These little items are very precious to us and to the parents. Some are used with baby and some are kept ( ie the liitle memory blankets) to keep with the memory boxes that we also supply to our own ( Leighton Hospital)
We have the tiny anels pockets from 15cms (6") square, some lace edged and some plain

Small gowns both cotton and knitted from approx 20cms (8") long

Medium Sized gowns and Larger gowns

Memory blankets and sometimes memory quits all between 30cms(12") and 60cms(24") square

Little bonnets/hats bootees and mitts to suit the above

If your hospital does not offer you any , please contact us direct.

We have provided moses baskets and recently purchased a cold ( refrigerated) cot, to enable parents to be able to spend those few extra special hours with baby. The cot cost over £2,000 and was purchased with the help of two bereaved familes who held a very succesful fund raising event for us.

We used to put a camera into the memory box with prepaid developing but we now have a professional photographer Nicola, www.nicspics.co.uk ---email ncooperdp@yahoo.co.uk--07968737488 joined our team who has offered her services on a 24 hour call and goes in to the hospital and meets parents and puts the photos on a disk. Parents will always have them and can view them as and when they feel ready and able. The service is free, any cost is to us. This has been really welcomed by the parents and Nicola receives many thanks.

Please feel welcome to join this blogspot and tell us your stories about your little ones. They are not forgotten Angels they are always very much part of life.

A NEW NEONATAL UNIT FOR LEIGHTON HOSPITAL

The new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Leighton Hospital, Crewe will be twice as big as the current one and will provide better (and more) facilities and more privacy for patients. Those of us who've been around since the 1970s know what fantastic work the staff do on the neonatal unit (currently Ward 24). Some of the babies who were treated in the Unit's early days are now mums and dads themselves, and indeed some of them have had babies who've also needed the Unit.

Although the official launch isn't until next April, fundraising is already under way for the One in Eleven Appeal, to raise money for the new Unit. The hospital needs to raise £1 million to make up for the shortfall between how much they have and how much the new Unit will cost. If you can help, by raising funds or donating, you'd be supporting a fabulous cause and helping thousands of premature, low-weight and poorly babies.

FUNDRAISING FOR A NEW NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

Leighton Hospital opened in 1972 and the current Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is the same size and has exactly the same layout as it was then. Mid Cheshire Hospitals badly need improved neonatal facilities.

Why does the hospital need a new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit?

Each year, approximately 3,000 babies are born in the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust area. (Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the organisation that manages Leighton Hospital in Crewe, the Victoria Infirmary at Northwich, and Elmhurst Intermediate Care Centre in Winsford.)

Of those 3,000 babies, one in eleven needs additional support, because they’ve been born prematurely, are underweight, or have other complications. This additional support could mean a few hours of special care or several weeks in an intensive care unit.

At the moment, Leighton Hospital’s brilliant neonatal staff have facilities to care for 15 babies at any one time in the Unit. That’s not enough space. In addition, the labour suite and the neonatal facilities are currently on different floors. The hospital needs a bigger, better Neonatal Intensive Care Unit adjacent to the labour ward. To this end, the Mid Cheshire Hospitals Charity will soon be launching the One in Eleven Appeal.

What is the One in Eleven Appeal?

The hospital has a certain amount of money allocated to the new neonatal ward, but the shortfall between what they have and what they need amounts to one million pounds. The One in Eleven Appeal – named after the proportion of babies who need special care – will be officially launched on 27^th April 2012, and the aim of the appeal is to raise the £1 million needed for the new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for Mid Cheshire Hospitals.

What is Ray of Hope’s role in the One in Eleven Appeal?

Ray of Hope’s knitters and sewers provide cardigans, layettes, bonnets and so on for low birth weight and stillborn babies. This has always been our main aim, and it still is. Over the years we’ve helped thousands of mums and babies.

In addition, we raise funds to help the maternity and neonatal units at Mid Cheshire Hospitals. We have a stall every week at Leighton Hospital (alternately on Thursdays and Fridays) where we sell babywear from birth to school age (from 12" to 28" chest) and knitted toys and we participate in other events throughout the year. We are committed over the next two years to raise funds for the One in Eleven Appeal. We have already put £10,000 towards the fund and are hoping that with your help we can raise much more.

What can you do to help?

You can raise funds for Ray of Hope or you can donate. To find out more, email me at chris@rayofhope.co.uk.

We’ll be blogging about our progress here. You can also ‘like’ us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.