The Children’s Therapies department at the Royal United Hospitals Bath is to benefit from a donation of almost £6,000, thanks to local schools and youth groups who took part in Ted’s Big Day Out.
Ted’s Big Day Out returned this year as part of The Forever Friends Appeal’s 20th anniversary celebrations. Over 20 schools and youth organisations across the region joined the fundraising initiative to help raise funds for specialist children’s therapy equipment.
Gillian Walmsley, Head of Pathways and Creative Curriculum and Assistant Head of IB at Warminster School, said, “For Ted’s Big Day Out, we held a bake off competition and the first prize being awarded to a splendid teddy bear cake which was baked and decorated by one of our talented Year 7 pupils.
“The Forever Friends Appeal is a charity that is close to Mrs Cook’s heart, one of our teachers who has raised thousands for the new cancer centre. Her fundraising skills were put into action with the raffle of a chocolate pumpkin! We set out to raise £1,000 and we nailed it, raising £1,167.41 in total. We would like to thank all the parents, pupils, colleagues and Big Ted for their support.”
The school children loved meeting the charity’s mascot Big Ted who visited a number of schools on the day, including Widcombe Infants (pictured above), Oldfield Park Junior School, Buttercup Barn Day Nursery, Bathford Primary School, Warminster School and The Paragon School.
Lauren Noble, Senior Community Fundraiser, The Forever Friends Appeal, said, “We would like to thank all of the schools and youth groups for getting involved to support our hospital. This year’s theme was ‘celebrate your way’ and they all came up with brilliant fundraising ideas such as danceathons, teddy bears picnic, crazy hair days and more. It was a pleasure to work with the teachers and their students, their support is so valuable and it means so much to us.”
Emily Graham, Head of Children’s Therapies, RUH, added, “On behalf of all my colleagues, we would like to thank everyone who made a donation. We will use the funds to purchase a range of toys and equipment to make children’s’ experience of therapy sessions much more enjoyable.
“By having an extended range of equipment such as walking frames, parallel bars, gym balls available for use in our assessments we can help children further improve their mobility skills and balance. We can also use it to ensure they have the right resources at home to help them play and move around. We are grateful to everyone who helped fundraise this fantastic amount to benefit our patients.”