In March 2010, Anna’s Hope website was relaunched, but we could not omit these worthy news stories from our old site… thank you to all who have helped us in the past.
December 1st 2006
Mayor of Stamford raises charities profile at Civic Reception in Town Hall
Friday, December 1st marked another milestone for this new charity when Anna’s Hope were invited to raise funds and awareness at this important local occasion. Invited Mayors, their consorts, town councillors and other local dignitaries listened attentively as Rob Hughes, Chairman, introduced the group to the aims of the Charity. The Trustees gained a lot of invaluable advice and support from those present. A raffle drawn on the night raised £263.40 for which we are eternally grateful to Cllr Mrs Michelle Feasey, Mayor of Stamford. Our picture shows the cut-out fairies kindly created by Fenella Fitch taking pride of place beside the musicians.
John Lewis Peterborough Adopt Annas Hope as their Charity of the Year March News Date: 10/02/2007
Staff at Peterborough’s largest department store, John Lewis in Queensgate, are aiming to raise thousands of pounds for Anna’s Hope after making it their nominated charity for 2007.
John Lewis Peterborough Spokesman Helen Lunn said: “This is a cause all the partners in John Lewis are very passionate about. The Hughes family have been customers for a long time. Many of us remember Anna, which makes this, our chosen charity for 2007, a very personal cause that we can relate to.”
Helen went on to say: “I actually worked in the nursery department when Carole was pregnant with Anna, and I remember her bringing in Anna as a baby. We want to do everything we can to support Anna’s Hope.”
The store has already raised £2,000 this year, while the proceeds of its 25th anniversary party will also go to the charity. With several other events lined up for the year ahead, it is hoped that the team at John Lewis will smash the record £5,000 they raised last year for the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
Carole said: “John Lewis is the family’s, and Anna’s, favourite store. It’s where we went when Anna wanted to buy something secret. On a personal note, as a family, we’re delighted by their support. It is fantastic to see money being raised in this way throughout the store.”
21/03/2007 Busy Spring Fair set to become a popular annual event
Masses of ladies supported Anna’s Hope on Wednesday, 21st March when they came along to the Charities first Spring Fair held at Barnsdale Lodge Hotel. Trustee Ingrid Wood and her team of volunteers were kept busy on the door as people queued to get in to this exclusive event. Twenty four different traders provided a variety of goods on offer. From stone garden ornaments to boozy chocolates there was something for every one.
Barnsdale Lodge Hotel proved a perfect venue for the event. With tea and coffee flowing on the day the shopped out ladies — and gents were suitably refreshed!
The fair raised a staggering £3378.31 which surpassed all expectations. Ingrid, together with the rest of the fundraising team, would like to thank everyone who attended for their generous support.
Giant Easter Egg Raffle Raffle drawn on Easter Sunday Date: 06/04/2007
Giant Easter Egg Raffle
The Blue Bell Pub at Easton on the Hill have raised a marvellous sum of £200 over Easter by raffling some giant Easter Eggs and other chocolate goodies. Landlords Alex and Cinzia organised the raffle after hearing about Anna’s Hope, and very kindly donated all the prizes. Carole visted the pub to thank them and to take a look at the display of prizes.
Mexican Evening Event staged by Find a Cure Date: 12/05/2007
FACE (Find a Cure) – A local fundraising group for cancer charities successfully staged a Mexican Evening with proceeds going to Anna’s Hope.
Neither rain nor power cuts could spoil this fantastic Mexican evening staged by Sam Rowntree and Sam Wade in Sedgebrook on Saturday, 12 May; with the proceeds of the event going to Anna’s Hope.
An evening of excellent food, good friends, fantastic hosts and fun games proved to be the perfect recipe for this successful evening.
New Garden for Early Years Children, in memory of Anna Copthill School, Uffington, Stamford Date: 22/06/2007
Friday, 22nd June saw the official opening of the Early Years garden in memory of Anna. The delightful garden will be used by the Early Years children. The children, dressed as fairies, didn’t let the rain spoil their special day as they posed for their photograph to be taken by the Stamford Mercury. Then it was back indoors to decorate some fairy cakes and play games with Carole, Anna’s Mum, and Hazel, Anna’s Godmother and Trustee of Charity who were also in fairy costume for the occasion.
Carole says: “Anna loved her school and even when she was poorly she still wanted to go to HER school. She was very proud of being at Copthill School and we are thrilled to have this garden in memory of her”.
Pictured in the garden are Anna’s teacher, Mrs Pam Dean, Head Master, Mr Jonathan Teasdale and Carole Hughes with the younger children of the school who will benefit from the garden.
Picnic and Hatstand Opera Evening in Burghley’s Gardens 6pm to 10pm, Garden of Surprises
Date: 08/09/2007
From Brindisi to Supercalifragilistic with Hatstand Opera
Yes it’s true, only Hatstand Opera could start the evening with such classics as Verdi’s Brindisi and Puccini’s Nessun Dorma and move seamlessly through the evening to end with humorous numbers such as Trail of the Lonesome Pine and a fantastic rendition of Supercalifragilistic.
The evening was further enhanced by the magical singing of sisters Lucy and Imogen Swart-Wilson and the perfect cello playing by Jane Odriozola, accompanied by Ivan Linford on piano.
Burghley’s Garden of Surprises and Sculpture Garden made the perfect setting for this magical evening in September, even the weather was perfect! Unfortunately this was not a sell-out event. However all who came went home in a very good mood, humming the odd tune or two, with promises to tell their friends what a fantastic evening they missed, just in case this event is repeated in the future.
Huge thanks must go to Burghley and House Manager, Phillip Gompertz for allowing us to use this magical place which took on a whole new ambience when darkness fell.
2nd Annual Rutland Water Walk
The sun shone as the walkers set off from Normanton car park on their fundraising walk around Rutland Water, finishing with fun activities at the Normanton Park Hotel. (Note the Anna’s Hope `fairies’ at the front of the walkers in the image below)
The event offered a choice of 3 walks; a 3½ mile stroll which included a trip on the Rutland Belle across the water (which our fairies opted for) and longer 17 and 23 mile walks for those people looking to really stretch their legs!
Many thanks go to RAF Cottesmore and Anglian Water for donating part of the proceeds to Anna’s Hope, with other beneficiaries being the County Air Ambulance, the Royal British Legion and 10% of the proceeds going to Voluntary Action Rutland. The event was sponsored by BAE Systems.
On Wednesday, 19th September BBC East Midlands & BC East (West) covered the story of personnel from RAF Cottesmore, stationed in Basra, also competing in the Rutland Water Walk by completing a 7 mile run in aid of Anna’s Hope. The feature filmed a piece on Rob & Carole with plenty of lovely pictures of Anna & Sara.
There were lots of walkers at the RAF Rutland Water charity walk but one little girl deserves a special mention. Megan Garford aged 5 who was Anna’s friend kept up with the grown ups and walked 3 and I/2 miles to raise £50 all by herself. Well done Megan, Anna would be very proud of you!
Our grateful thanks go to these brave men and women from RAF Cottesmore who are supporting us from afar.
Cavells of Oakham Fashion Show Cavells Fashion Show Date: 04/10/2007
Cavells of Oakham held their second fashion show of the 2007 in October and once again chose Anna’s Hope as their charity to support. £1000 was raised at the show which as ever was very well supported. Thanks to Corry Taylor and all the staff who helped make this a very special event
Copthill School Donation Copthill School Date: 01/11/2007
Carole and Rob Hughes from Anna’s Hope collected a cheque for £1386 from Headmaster Jonathon Teasdale. The donation came from collection at the school musical, a sponsored swim and a fairy day by the Early Learners. Thanks to all the teachers to all the parents who kindly donated funds. Special thanks to the children for all their hard work. Anna would be very proud of her school.
www.copthill.com
Fashion Show at Jaeger Stamford Jaeger Fashion Show Date: 15/11/2007
The Jaeger Shop in Stamford held a fashion show in November and raised £385 for the charity. It was a wonderful evening and was well attended by the local people of Stamford. Many thanks to Kathryn, Charlee and the staff at Jaeger for their support
www.jaeger.co.uk
6th Stamford Brownies Bring and Buy 6th Stamford Brownies Date: 01/12/2007
At the beginning of December the 6th Stamford Brownie Pack from All Saints and St Johns held a bring and buy sale and raised £78.50 for Anna’s Hope. The event included competitions and refreshments and the brownies dressed up as fairies . Thank you to all the 6th Stamford Brownies and Jennie Corbutt the Brownie Guider . This event is extra special as Anna’s sister Sara used to be a 6th Stamford Brownie
Bucket Shaking in Queensgate Centre Peterborough Queensgate Bucket Shake Date: 01/12/2007
On a very busy Saturday in December the Anna’s Hope Volunteers were out in force at the Queensgate Centre. Some dressed in Fairy outfits as well as one dressed as a plumb pudding. The volunteers raised over £800 in their collection buckets. Thank you to all those who gave up their Saturday and all the shoppers who donated their spare cash.
Liz Shea supports Anna’s Hope Liz Shea CD Date: 01/12/2007
Local musician and singer Liz Shea is donating a proportion of sales from her new CD ‘Break the Mould’ to Anna’s Hope. Liz’s son Joshua used to play with Anna at Seedlings and has dedicated the song on the CD called “Jesus in your eyes” to Anna. Carole and Rob Hughes want to thank Liz for her generous support. For more information about this wonderful CD please visit www.lizshea.com
Oakham School – Sargants boys get creative Oakham School Date: 01/12/2007
The boys from Sargants House at Oakham School really pulled out all the stops to support the charity. After a lot of thinking they decided on a brilliant idea to raise funds by selling Tea Towels . But these were not ordinary Tea Towels, these had a very special design ….. self portraits of each of the boys from the house!! I am sure in years to come they will be a collectors item They have proved very popular and £547.77 was raised.
Thanks to all the boys for this innovative and practical way of raising money and special thanks to Housemaster Mark Durose for his guidance and support.
Burghley Xmas Craft Fair 2007 Burghley Xmas Crafts 2007 Date: 06/12/2007
Anna’s Hope was proud to be one of the stands at Burghley Xmas for Craft fair from Dec 6th to Dec 9th . It was a very successful event and over £2000 was raised through sales of Anna’s Hope products . Snowbizz a local Ski Travel business generously donated a skiing holiday for two and the raffle alone raised almost £850. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped over the 4 days and a special thanks to Wendy and Michel Lyotier at Snowbizz
www.snowbizz.co.uk
Stamford High School Parents Association Christmas Fayre Stamford High School PA Date: 07/12/2007
Stamford High School for girls have chosen Anna’s Hope as the local charity they want to support this school year. It was also good to learn that the Parents Association also wanted to support the charity. So Anna’s Hope was delighted to receive £105 from head of SHS Parents Association Ann Goodman. The money came from donations made at their Christmas Shopping Event at Stamford Arts Centre. Thank you to all the members of SHS PA for your help.
Freemasons of Stamford Freemasons of Stamford Date: 01/01/2008
Stamford Freemasons have very kindly donated the proceeds of all their 2007 collections from members. £1,000 has been raised, for which we are very grateful.
Ugly bugs
On February 8th Ugly bugs descended on Bourne Hill Primary school in Oakham to raise money for Anna’s Hope . With the help of her mum, 9 year old Lexie Meade organised the charity ball and over 170 pupils from the school attended. Lexie said ‘ I thought it would be nice to raise money for poorly children and have some fun at the same time.’ The event was a great success and the money is still being raised . Well done Lexie
Barnack Village Community Centre Cuppas for Cash Date: 01/03/2008
Generous villagers raised an amazing £1516 for Anna’s Hope by enjoying cups of tea . Val Dawson and friends raised the money at the weekly coffee mornings during the year in The Acres Community Centre in Barnack by collections , raffles and cake sales
Surprise Donation Irwin Stafford Date: 01/03/2008
Anna’s Hope received an additional boost to its funds with a surprise donation of £3000 from local businessman Irwin Stafford . He was inspired by an article he read about how local GP Dr Gail Glynn raised funds for Anna’s Hope in last years London marathon and chose Anna’s Hope as the deserving charity to receive funds from his company’s Charitable Trust
2nd Spring Fair Barnsdale Spring Fair Date: 05/03/2008
The second Spring Fair was held again at Barnsdale Lodge. The exclusive shopping event had a range of stands from handbags and chocolates to shoes. The spring fair committee worked hard to improve on last year’s event and over £3000 was raised. Thank you to all the stall holders and all those who visited and supported the event.
Sinclairs Shopping Event Sinclairs Shopping Event Date: 13/03/2008
Linda and Sam of John Sinclair’s Stamford organised an evening shopping event at the Stamford store. It was a wonderful evening where guests were also treated to drinks and canapes. The evening raised over £300.
Ufford Ladies Group Ufford Ladies Date: 01/04/2008
Thank you to the Ufford ladies group for donating £300. The charity really appreciates that local ladies groups are supporting Anna’s Hope and Carole and Rob Hughes enjoyed giving a talk at their monthly meeting. Dr Gail Glynn (trustee of Anna’s Hope) gave an inspirational talk at the following month’s meeting on her brilliant perfomance in last years London Marathon.
Wishing Well does very well Gates Nursery Date: 01/04/2008
After a year of fundraising, the wishing well at Gates Garden Centre was emptied and counted. Thanks to the generosity of the customers of Gates’ Garden Centre, Cold Overton, almost £3600 has been raised. Also thanks to Cathy and Nigel Gates for choosing Anna’s Hope as their garden centre’s charity of the year.
The Deepings School The Deepings School Date: 07/05/2008
Years 7 to 11 of The Market Deepings School raised £640 for Anna’s Hope. Cakes, advent calendars and croissants were sold, Mrs Wray was sponsored to run the cross country, guess how many jelly tots, a non uniform day and sponsored runs and walks all helped achieve this terrific amount. Thank you to all the pupils in years 7 to 11 and Mrs Riley.
Bridge Day RAF Wyton Date: 01/06/2008
90 people from surrounding area came to the base for quite a serious day of bridge interrupted by a wonderful lunch. The event was organised by fifteen ladies, the chairman being Wing Cmdr Graham Bingham and Project Officer FgOff Laura Jones. The event raised £1500 and it is great that another RAF base is now
supporting Anna’s Hope.
Anna’s Hope achieves its first fundraising target First Target Achieved Date: 08/06/2008
Anna’s Hope is delighted to announce that the first fundraising target of £150,000 has been met. This is well ahead of expectations. Funds have continued to grow and now stand at an amazing £225,000.
The trustees and fund raising committee have been overwhelmed and impressed by the hard work, creativity and generosity of so many people and businesses. Anna’s Hope has really inspired others to help make a difference for those children and young people diagnosed with brain tumours, the biggest cancer killer of children.
As a result of the funds raised we are now working with Addenbrookes Hospital to appoint an ‘Anna’s Hope’ Specialist Paediatric Neuro Oncology Nurse who will help over 300 children in this region and we hope to make a special announcement very soon.
Now that we have achieved our first target the charity has still more work to do in the area of rehabilitation and research – the long term target is £1m. Only another £775,000 to go!
John Lewis Peterborough – Record breaking Funds raised John Lewis Fundraisers Date: 08/06/2008
Following a year of fundraising events at John Lewis Peterborough, who chose Anna’s Hope as their Charity of the year, Rob Hughes (Chairman of Anna’s Hope) and Carole Hughes were thrilled to receive a cheque for £19,000 from Liz Mihell, the store’s Managing Director. Anna’s Hope really motivated the partners to help make a difference via lots of different events including cocktail evenings, skydiving and a one man play.
Not only was the amount raised the highest ever for the store but it is also the biggest amount the charity has received so far. John Lewis Peterborough was Anna’s favourite store and she would be delighted that it has raised so much money. Thank you to all the partners at John Lewis.
Pink fundraiser
Wragge & Co, a major UK law firm, hosted a pink themed fundraiser at its Birmingham office in May. Members of the pensions and
employment teams paid £1 each to wear an item of pink clothing to work (which, surprisingly the men found easier to do than the women!). Pink fairy cakes and Anna’s Hope badges were also sold on the day and the partners agreed to wear pink fairy wings around the office to raise an extra £50. The London office also joined in the fun by paying a ransom to see photos of the partners sporting the wings! The day was a huge success, with just over £200 raised and a lot of fun had by all. Thanks to Katie Bonas for organising the day and inspiring her work colleagues.
New Patron Miranda Rock Date: 30/06/2008
We are delighted to announce that Miranda Rock has become the
latest patron for Anna’s Hope. Miranda is Director of Burghley House, Stamford. We are most grateful for her patronage and we look forward to working together in the future.
Anna’s Hope and Help for Heroes Anna’s Hope and Help for Heroes Date: 01/09/2008
Anna’s Hope was proud to be chosen along with Help for Heroes by RAF Cottesmore for their Charity Walk around Rutland Water in September. The event was well supported and over £3000 was raised for Anna’s Hope.
Birthday Gifts Birthday Gifts Date: 01/11/2008
Two very special ladies reached special birthdays this year and donated almost £3000 to Anna’s Hope . Instead of receiving gifts they asked friends and family to donate money to the charity . Sam Wade who raised over £4000 last year with her Mexican evening raised almost £2000 and Tina Abbott raised over £700 .
Bowled over by Burghley Cricket Club Bowled over by Burghley Cricket Club Date: 01/11/2008
Cricket has now been added to the list of sports which have supported Anna’s Hope.
Carole Hughes was delighted to attend awards function at the Burghley Cricket Club and receive a cheque for £300 from Martin Tilley and Bob Feeton.
Eyes Down at Brownie Bingo Eyes Down at Brownie Bingo Date: 01/11/2008
Uffington Brownies put on a fun packed evening to support Anna’s Hope. Carole Hughes joined in and really enjoyed the Bingo . It was also very thoughtful and generous of the Brownies to donate toys for children down on the children’s Cancer Ward at Addenbrookes.
Getting Pampered for a good cause Getting Pampered for a good cause Date: 01/11/2008
After her son was diagnosed with a brain tumour, Mum Angelina decided to help raise money to support Anna’s Hope. An amazing £1200 was raised at the “pampering day” she organised.
Hard days night brings in Pounds Hard days night brings in Pounds Date: 01/11/2008
Stamford Periwig Pub raised £500 by holding a Beatles themed evening . It was a fantastic evening and everyone had a great time said assistant manager Oliver Hooker .
Music Machine keeps on playing Music Machine keeps on playing Date: 01/11/2008
Grantham based orchestra ‘Music machine’ who supported Anna’s Hope last year, played for the charity one more time and boosted the charity’s funds by £800.
Grateful to Greetham Grateful to Greetham Date: 31/12/2008
We are delighted to report that Greetham Valley Golf Club who chose Anna’s Hope as their Charity of the year in 2008, raised an amazing £4300 . In addition a member of the golf club decided to go the extra mile and run a marathon. As a result he raised an additional £750.
Support from Diligenta Support from Diligenta Date: 31/12/2008
Peterborough based financial company Diligenta have also chosen Anna’s Hope as their Charity of the Year. So far over £400 has been raised.
Anna's Hope 