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Baffins Blog

Team Trixie Charity Quiz Night - Spread A Smile

by Matthew Hedley

Team Trixie Charity Quiz Night - Spread A Smile

So lets picture this if you can, you have a young son or daughter and they are severely ill even life threatening do you crumble and fall apart "NOT A CHANCE"

Like any parent you dig deep put on a brave face and try to take as much as you can away from your child because who wouldn't.

I like many other parents have been at a stage of my child's life where I have prayed to God begging him to help them promising everything I have and own I would gladly give up to make sure that my child was well and safe even if it meant my own life.

People who can relate to that can also understand the immense strain this causes on the family unit other children are affected and don't always want to talk about it which means they feel isolated.

So when I heard about Heidi's daughter Trixie and how ill she was it was to of no surprise her family and friends rallied around them and to me it looked like if you where this illness you weren't just fighting Trixie, OH NO you would iindeed have one hell of a fight with each and everyone of their family and friends, that's what it is about right coming together coming out of the corner fighting not given in even when you have gone down you climb to your feet dust down and scream "IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT !"

Being part of BFC has given me so much and if I listed them it would be a pretty long list but number one for me is my friends.

Never have I ever been prouder to be associated with a group of people a club that really lives and breathes with it members a club of family and friends that come together when the chips are down.

The Charity Quiz Night was organised by Annie Volkes with help of course and was a resounding success, not wanting to stand out in the crowd Annie would be more then happy to slip quietly in to the shadows doing the hard work but on that night was difficult to slip away from the 200 approx people that attended Friends and Family coming together to raise money for such an amazing charity.

Please take the time to read a little about the charity what they do and why Annie and Co are completely dedicated to raising as much as they can for them.

Spread a Smile was founded by Josephine Segal and Vanessa Crocker in 2013 after seeing the positive impact a magician’s visit had on Josephine’s 9-year-old nephew, Aaron, when he was treated in Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

Aaron was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, a type of stomach cancer, in 2012 and spent five months at GOSH. He had to endure intensive chemotherapy treatment which meant he was isolated in his hospital room and he became increasingly withdrawn. Josephine arranged for a magician to visit and the effect was instant: it lifted his spirits and made the treatment more bearable. He then asked if the magician could go into the other children’s rooms to make them smile too. However, as it was a private visit on that occasion, hospital rules didn’t allow for the magician to visit the rest of the ward. Upset at the idea that the other children wouldn’t be able to enjoy the magic and fun, Aaron suggested it would be a wonderful thing for Josephine to organise more visits in the future. Josephine promised him that she would make it possible and the idea for Spread a Smile was formed.

She teamed up with Vanessa Crocker, who she’d worked with for eight years at a charity that organises wishes for terminally ill children, and together they founded Spread a Smile to ensure that all the children that wanted entertainment on the Oncology Ward in GOSH would be provided for. This quickly expanded as demand grew and now there are many more visits to additional wards at GOSH and we have expanded into University College Hospital (UCLH), The Royal London Hospital and, in 2017, to St Mary’s Paddington.

We now make at least 12 hospital visits a month and brighten the days of over 3,500 children every year.

Points of Light

In December 2016 the work of Josephine and Vanessa was acknowledged by Prime Minister Theresa May, who awarded them a Points of Light award.

The award recognises outstanding individual volunteers, people who are making a change in their community and inspiring others. In a personal letter to Vanessa and Josephine, Prime Minister Theresa May said: “Through ‘Spread a Smile’, you are brightening hospital stays for children and teenagers and making difficult experiences so much more bearable for the whole family. The additional trips and workshops you organise provide much-needed support and respite for families too.”

Vanessa and Josephine said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive recognition of the amazing work our team does for seriously ill children and teenagers in hospital. We dedicate this award to all of the incredible families we see whose extraordinary resilience carries them through such difficult times.”

BACK TO THE BLOG

So it's easy to see what a huge difference they made to Trixie and her family and the reason it's so important to get behind this in fact side by side with the others from Baffins Fitclub to help raise awareness but also money to such a good cause.

Yet again the girls are at it ! This weekend the 14th October they are running the Royal Parks Half Marathon, it would be amazing if we could all squeeze that little bit more and find something to give to their Charity Page. I for one will be doing my bit hopefully you could to.

The truth is, if your child was in need of serious medical attention and as a family you still had to function are you to proud a person to ask for help ?

Some people are, some people don't want to burden other people with their problems because they think they can cope on their own !

That's terrible right, coping on your own with the stress and worry not to mention financial implications travelling costs etc.

That's the great thing about Spread a Smile they are just there as and when you need them.

Please find below the link for the donation page and underneath the message from Annie thanking everyone for all the hard work and the charitable donations made by many.

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundra...

So it's gives me great pleasure to pass you over to Annie Vokes

Annie Vokes

October 5 at 3:22 PM

Just to warn you I don't normally do posts this long so sorry hehe but had to finalise the evening last night and how it meant to all of us on Team Trixie.

Wow! What an amazing and entertaining evening by all involved. Just goes to show you Heidi Pook you are loved by everyone and have such loving, caring, strong family and friends that will always be there for u.

I'm glad ,you were enjoying the evening and you had great big smiles on your face too.

A HUGE thank you to our quiz master and mistress Brett Rumfitt and Sally Anne for hosting a great quiz last night.

Again lots of organisation, time involved to make this happen from them both too.

I know for sure everyone's thinking caps were on and their brain's were ticking trying to come up with the correct answers to win those medals hehe.

A huge well done to all the teams, especially to our fab WINNERS TEAM 5 (sorry forgotten ya team name).

Dean Schubert

Michele Mooney

Lucy Perkins

Julie Perkins

Alex Millham

Karen Millham

Matt Standen

Sarah Standen

Caroline Williams

We can't stop thanking you all for all your WONDERFUL PRESENCE and THOUGHTFUL EFFORTS.

You're KINDNESS and GENEROSITY.

I'm sure you will all agree there were truckloads of joy, happiness and most importantly of all ,everyone SPREADING their SMILES lighting up the room continuously in every corner last night.

Confidently, TEAM TRIXIE know this HUGE amount of money raised will lend a helping hand too, making a difference to lot's of other serious ill children in hospital giving them joy, laughter and entertainment on the wards.

More importantly it will spread more smiles just like a rainbow make there day shine bright with lots of colour.

Please just take a moment to think about how many young children/teenagers

YOU'VE ALL NOW helped with the GENORISTY of your donations and much more.

I know certainly you will 'SPREAD A SMILE' to lots of faces making there journey a little easier along the way.

On the whole a MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone one for their HELP , SUPPORT and GUIDANCE to make TEAM TRIXIE'S fundraising charity event a fun, successful and memorable night. I

Sorry to those that couldn't attend , you're presence were missed and we are very GREATFUL of your donations too.

Without all of your contributions we couldn't of done it without you all.

FINALLY, thank you so much to Heidi Pook and the rest of lovely Team Trixie for my lovely , sentimental , thoughtful and kind gift. I absolutely love it! Also, for my fab card and helping me along the way too.

P.S I know some of you know how protected I am over my spreadsheets , I can laugh about it now haha,

When I got in last night I couldn't find them , so rang my bro up to see if I had left them on the table.

Thankfully my spreadsheets were found and they are now home safely with me. xx

Thanks to Gemma Fair and Jodi Joyce helping me check the teams and most IMPORTANTLY my spreadsheets/checking the money adds up with me ect much appreciated.

Thanks everyone for all your kind and lovely words/messages and inboxes, I will get round to reading them all and replying soon. xx

Many Thanks love from Team Trixie

Heidi Pook , Helen Mayhead , Julie Allan Fuller , Gemma Fair , Jodi Joyce , Me (Annie Vokes), Denise Courtney and Gemma Hoare.

xxxx

https://spreadasmile.org

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