By the Light of Lanterns

We all enjoyed a festive afternoon at our annual Lantern Walk yesterday, this year held at Coombe Country Park in Binley (near Coventry).

It was lovely to see so many families gathered together. Everyone enjoyed mince pies, festive cakes and warming drinks while they made memory stars to hang on a special tree in the country park. 

Here are Leamington Bear and Jackie. Since his paws were a bit too big to carry a lantern, Leamington stayed behind while we all wrapped up warm and headed out into the park for our walk.

As darkness began to fall, everyone made their way through the country park, lanterns in hand. We were all in search of the memory tree, complete with its twinkling star.

 

All of the lanterns and glow sticks looked very pretty winding their way along the path, accompanied by a merry hub-bub as everyone chatted. It was a good opportunity to catch up with friends, meet new ones and share stories and experiences.

  

Once we'd reached the memory tree, everyone hung their special stars on its branches and silence fell as thoughts turned to those who are no longer with us.

Here is everyone gathered by the special memory tree. We all enjoyed our walk by lantern light and as everyone made their way home, all agreed that it had been a very fun and worthwhile afternoon.

An enormous "thank you" to Sainsbury's in Kenilworth for kindly providing all of the festive food and drinks for our event. 

Welcome to the team, Leamington Bear!

We had a most exciting day last week when Leamington Bear joined the Guy's Gift team and became our official mascot. To mark the occasion, we spent the day at White Stuff in Leamington Spa as the lovely team there had planned a very special day.

 

Here is Leamington Bear with Diana. It was Diana's family who so generously donated Leamington Bear to Guy's Gift. As if this wasn't enough, Diana spent the whole day entertaining White Stuff customers with her singing and ukelele playing...

...she invited a few friends from the Spa Strummers to join in too.

 

Even the Guy's Gift team joined in...with Katie being nominated to have a go!

 

  

The raffle was popular.

Here's Leamington Bear with some of the White Stuff team who were there to send him off to us in style.

 

Leamington Bear had a lovely time during his day at White Stuff. He was a little sad that he was too big to fit in the Wendy house, but he found lots of other things to get up to...

So many clothes to choose from... Leamington Bear tries on a few outfits befitting of a bear about town.

He was very keen to point out the ways in which White Stuff customers can raise money for Guy's Gift. Luckily bears aren't very fond of sweets so there are lots left to buy.

Leamington Bear enjoyed posing behind the counter. Luckily for Guy's Gift, his paws were a bit too big to operate the chip and pin machine so a job at White Stuff was out of the question.

Leamington Bear enjoyed meeting lots of people throughout the day, raising awareness of what Guy's Gift does for Warwickshire families.

Enjoying a well earned rest after a busy day.

 As well as her ukelele, Diana also brought along her auto harp to play.

Who's this in the window...?

...It's Leamington Bear's best friend, Boris. Not wanting to be parted, Boris has also come to join the Guy's Gift team!

Jackie and Stuart Potter (Family Services and Training Manager, Operations Manager and Founders of Guy's Gift) with our latest recruit.

A huge thank you to Diana and her family and everyone at White Stuff in Leamington Spa for making all of this possible. Leamington Bear will be popping up at Guy's Gift events and on the blog too...so watch this space to find out where he'll be and what he's been up to!

New Recruit for Guy's Gift

Meet Leamington Bear... he'll be joining the Guy's Gift team very soon as our official 'Buddy Bear'. Here he is with his good friend Diana (who, along with her family, is kindly donating him to Guy's Gift).

So, how did Leamington Bear come to be joining our team? When his current owner decided to set off on a gap year, meetings were held to decide Leamington Bear's future. He needed a new professional challenge and what better way to use his special talents than to help children who are going through a difficult time. Leamington is thrilled to be joining the Guy's Gift team and can bear-ly wait to start his new job!

Diana and the team at White Stuff's Leamington Spa store are holding a bit of a do to celebrate Leamington's new role and we'd love you to join us.

When: Tuesday, 28th August 2014, 11am-4pm

Where: White Stuff, 66 The Parade, Leamington Spa

What: Leamington Bear will be on hand to meet new friends and start his new job with Guy’s Gift. And because music can make a good party better, Leamington Bear has asked his friend Diana (who just happens to be a member of the Spa Strummers Ukulele Band) to serenade him on the day with lots of great songs. There’s even one about a bear, of course.

So, come along to White Stuff, meet Leamington Bear and join the party! 

Top of the Pots in Leamington Spa

         

We were thrilled to take a trip to Leamington Spa last Thursday to support White Stuff's 'Top of the Pots' competition and sale of yummy jams and chutney.

         

There were jam, scones, tea and coffee in the morning and at lunchtime, cheese, crackers, chutney and wine made an appearance. It was all for a good cause - every pot of jam and chutney sold was raising money for Guy's Gift.

 The Strawberry Jame with Marc de Champagne was particularly yummy!

 

White Stuff asked its customers to submit jam and chutney recipes and all the winning ones from people all over the country are being made into a book. It'll be out in time for Christmas and will be sold in aid of all the charities that White Stuff supports.

Meeting and greeting and all in a good cause!

White Stuff is always fundraising on our behalf...next time you're in Leamington Spa, pop into the store for a mooch and buy some sweets from behind the counter (the proceeds of which all go to Guy's Gift).

 

 

Here are just two of the White Stuff team who helped make the event a great success - Monique (the store's Manager) and Diana (who has come up with another exciting fundraising idea for us...watch this space).

Thank you to everyone at White Stuff - the team, everyone who entered the competition and to all those who bought jam and chutney. It was definitely a top day!

Get in a Pickle for a Good Cause

If you relish the idea of raising money for Guy's Gift, have a look at White Stuff's October fundraiser. All you have to do is take a pot of your finest homemade jam, pickle, relish or chutney to White Stuff's Leamington Spa store on 9th October. For every pot taken in, White Stuff will give Guy's Gift £10. The winning entries will be featured in a Christmas recipe book that will be sold for charity.

If you don't have a recipe up your sleeve, you can support the fundraising by popping into the Leamington Spa store and buying a jar of White Stuff jam or chutney - yum!

For more information, click HERE.

Flying High

We had a great time at our Picnic in the Park event last week at Coombe Country Park in Binley. It was great to see lots of familiar faces and for the Guy's Gift family to come together - everyone from children and their parents and grandparents to the Guy's Gift team.

It was the perfect day for kite flying and everyone's flew...but not before memories had been written on to them all. One of the children came up with a lovely idea - to collectively write memories on to one of the kites so that it represented everyone when it took to the sky.

We took a walk together through the lovely grounds to an open space where we flew all of the kites together as a group.

The afternoon proved to be a big success. Everyone agreed it had been lots of fun and also a good opportunity to meet other families going through similar experiences. Parents and grandparents chatted, children laughed and played, kites flew, picnics were enjoyed and a good time was had by all.

Join us for a Picnic in the Park

100 Kilometres for 100 Years

 

Earlier this year, Sarah Pugh and her friend, Helene, decided they wanted to do something special to celebrate their 50th birthdays. What better idea, they thought, than to try to walk 100km over 4 days! So, this is what they did during a week in July – in fact they walked nearly 110 km from Plymouth to Dartmouth along the South West Coast Path. Sarah’s family has, in her words, “benefited hugely from the existence and work of Guy’s Gift over the last couple of years” and she wanted to give something back – so she chose to raise some money for Guy’s Gift as a thank you. 

Sarah told us all about their adventure:

“The first day was interesting – finding our ‘walking legs’ and being drenched at least 3 times by downpours! However, being met by our B&B hostess at the end of the day in Noss Mayo with a ‘would you like a cup of tea and some homemade cake?’ became one of the highlights of the trip! The next 3 days were bathed in glorious sunshine so hats and sun-cream were donned and I even went swimming in the sea a couple of times! Everything went according to plan (thanks to Helene’s planning) – apart from the blisters (inevitable!) and some of the massive climbs (always preceded or followed by a downward slope, thank goodness!) – but all in all the walk was a tremendous success and we’re thinking of walking a little more of the path each year over the next decade...watch this space!!”

 Sarah looks out to sea.

 Helene and Sarah in Beesands.

Sarah and Helene raised over £280, which we think is rather wonderful. Thank you Sarah and Helene and many happy returns for your special birthday year!

A Big Cheer for a Long Serving Volunteer

After over 4 ½ years of working with Guy’s Gift, Grace, our longest serving volunteer, is hanging up her volunteering spurs. We couldn’t let Grace ‘retire’ without giving her a proper send off...

Grace was part of the very first group to be trained as Guy’s Gift volunteers, so she’s not only seen how the charity has developed from a pilot scheme to a fully fledged operation, she's also helped dozens of bereaved families in Warwickshire.

We’re incredibly grateful for everything that Grace has done for Guy’s Gift and she will be greatly missed.

 Here is Grace in 2010, accepting a cheque on Guy's Gift's behalf from Waitrose in Alcester.

We spoke to Grace to find out more about her time with us:

What inspired you to become a volunteer for Guy’s Gift?

I needed to do something after my husband died, so when I read an article in the local newspaper about Guy’s Gift it appealed to me as I get on very well with children. I read the article several times to be sure, then rang to find out more.

What was the best thing about being a volunteer for Guy’s Gift?

The children always seem pleased to see me. They talked to me about their feelings and I hope I helped them to understand. It was also something I could do on a day and time to suit me.

What’s been your most memorable experience of being a Guy’s Gift volunteer?

The Family Days at Hatton – I really enjoyed everything about them. It was hard listening to the parents talking about their losses and experiences, but it was good to meet everyone who came along.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of volunteering for Guy’s Gift?

I’ve really enjoyed it and it’s a good thing to do. It was nice working with the children. I started volunteering after my husband had died and it gave me a focus. It was interesting to see how the children coped with their individual losses and also to see their understanding about what had happened. The children and I were in a similar situation and helping them helped me.

So all that remains for us to say is a huge “thank you” to Grace – not only from us but from all of the children that you have supported over the years. You have made a bigger difference than you will ever know.