Shelagh's News
It’s hard to believe I have now been with LHM for 3 months, I have been overwhelmed with the efficiency, friendliness and professionalism of all the team and been completely inspired by the children, parents and families I have met. Thank you all for making me feel so welcome.
The first few weeks were spent getting a solid understanding of the organisation along with past and present fundraising initiatives. My main focus this year is to secure income to cover the shortfall in fundraising income we currently have, this will be done through working with members and highlighting other fundraising streams, i.e. through companies, including sponsorship, employee fundraising and on pack promotions along with income from trusts and statutory bodies. I want to build a group of regional fundraising ambassadors: - Members who are just very good at fundraising and can help give members tips and support on fundraising but also identify potential fundraising opportunities we can tap into. Please do let me know if you can help / would like to know more.
We have also been planning a joint campaign, awareness and fundraising initiative for 2011-2012. Suzie, Emma and I have been teasing out ideas to give us a platform to achieve a step change in income for 2011-2012, enabling us to increase the services we need to provide for our parents and children.
The 4th June saw our World Cup 5-aside football tournament, kindly sponsored by UKBPS, where 10 courageous teams played premier level footie under a hot afternoon’s sun. Check out the photos. Well done Ivory Coast (our very own Jon at LHM and his friends) for winning.....
I am now organising our On Your Marks run at Shugborough on the 3rd October. We’re desperate to ensure it is our best year ever, and I’m looking at ways to increase footfall from the activities that are taking place on the day. We will be inviting local market traders and plan to give the day a real summer fete feel, hoping to get the local community much more involved. Any volunteers, please contact us.
Finally a huge thank you to Tina and Gwen, they have been so incredibly helpful and obliging with the 1000’s of questions and requests they get from me... A genuine THANK YOU to you both.
As always... any ideas you have please do contact me.
Enjoying the summer and the 8 week school holiday!!!
Kind regards
Shelagh
Head of Fundraising
Jon's News
COME ON ENGLAND!
Right, now that’s out of the way, enjoy catching up on what the ZipperZone Dept has been up to over the last few months:
Over the last few months the MediaBox project has gained tremendous speed. Six young people attended workshops during which they learnt lots of media skills, including operating sophisticated, professional equipment. They decided what the DVD they are creating would include, and how it would tell its story. The young people wanted to make sure that the documentary had credence, and so they arranged interviews with leading professionals in Paediatric Cardiac Care. The DVD will be ready by August, in time for the new school year.
You can follow the progress of the MediaBox project on the Zipperzone website by clicking here, then clicking the NEWS tab at the top. As always, if you know any young people affected by a heart condition (including siblings) aged between 12 and 19, I’d love to hear from you to make sure that the people that matter are leading all aspects of this project.
The office has been buzzing with activity surrounding the Safe and Sustainable Review. Suzie very much has her finger on the pulse of this review, and was delighted when Little Hearts Matter was asked to nominate some parents for consultation on the proposed changes. I was very pleased when I was asked to recruit some young people with heart conditions to talk to the National Specialised Commissioning Group on 3rd July in London. Please email me or call (jon@lhm.org.uk/07590 531153) if you have a young person who would be willing to talk to NSCG about what it is like to experience the process as a user.
Watch out for more youth events coming up over the summer, we’d love to see new faces and welcome them into the LHM family.
A very special mention has to go out to Hollie Rodgers, who is in the process of recording a CD to raise money and awareness for Little Hearts Matter. What inspiring work! You can follow her blog on the News section on the ZZ website or here.
Jon
Youth Officer
Tina's News
Hello everyone
The last couple of months have again been hectic in the office.
Following the Mote Park run I was very busy sending out thank you letters to all those who took part and so kindly sent us their sponsor money. We already have started to receive applications for the Shugborough Run in October and planning is underway for that one.
I have also been writing lots of letters to thank those of you who have arranged some wonderful fundraising events for our charity over the last couple of months. The membership have been organising some amazing things to raise money for us and we really do appreciate everything you do for us.
The latest newsletter has been sent out so you should have received your copy. If you haven’t please let us know. Following this edition the phone line has been particularly busy with calls from the membership including requests for many of the information packs, particularly the recently completed Education Pack, which seems to be proving very useful.
Also included with the newsletter was a letter about the Safe and Sustainable event dates – you may notice that the times are slightly different for a couple of the events but they changed after the newsletter had gone to print. In case you are wondering the letter has the most up-to-date details.
We have also been sending out invitations for the South West Network Event which Suzie is organising at Hengar Manor in Cornwall in July – if you would like to attend this but haven’t yet sent back your form, please do so as soon as you can to help us with planning the event.
At the moment I am getting everything ready for the Trustee meeting at the weekend which I attend to take the minutes.
I hope everyone is looking forward to the summer break.
Best wishes,
Tina
Charity Secretary
Gwen's News
April and May were a slight breath of fresh air for me following on from the hectic start to the year but as always here it was still busy and I have been generating lots of numbers and lists for our lovely new fundraising manager Shelagh who joined the team in April. I also managed to fit in some time to catch up on paperwork and update our database.
There have been a few minor changes to the website with the message boards now showing all the message headers before you login (but these are still not visible in Google) and we’ve purchased a few extra domain names to ensure that anyone looking for Little Hearts Matter can find us more easily.
Facebook has been the big thing over the last few months with a surge of people following us on our page. We try to update the page daily and keep our fans informed of what we’re up to. If you’re not following us yet then search for Little Hearts Matter when logged into Facebook and click on the ‘Pages’ tab. Invite you’re friends too as we’re very close to getting 2000 followers, but we need your help!
I’ve been very impressed by the uptake of the Big Fun Runs, especially in Glasgow. We now have nearly 30 runners taking part and there will be press coverage too. A big thank you to Murray Ratcliffe who has helped to enrol so many people. There is still time to register on your nearest Big Fun Run. To see where that is go to www.bigfunrun.com. Once registered I will be in touch and can help you meet up with other LHM runners on the day.
We also spent some time in May brainstorming. The whole team have been working on ideas of new services we can provide and how we can raise our awareness. There are some exciting things in the pipeline but it’s very early days and as always it sadly depends on funding. However if you have any suggestions for services you think we should be providing please do let us know.
As well as the above I’ve been busy registering plenty of new members, sending out cards, helping people with their website queries and updating the website news and front pages. Have you taken a look at where Barnaby has been lately? Or why not see how our Football event went? Check out the Fundraising section of the website for this and much more.
Gwen
Website & Database Administrator
If you would like to contact any of the team call us on
0121 455 8982 or email
info@lhm.org.uk.