Previous Events

• Stunning Start to Year of the Ox
• Question Time
• A Question for Charity
• Great Strides for the Neonatal Doctors and Nurses
• A Splash of Colour
• Building a Bright Future
• The London Marathon
• Running for the Babies
• Thank You Waitrose
• Out To Sea and Still Helping Raise Vital Funds

Stunning Start to Year of the Ox

On Monday 19th January the Oliver Fisher Special Care Baby Trust celebrated the Chinese New Year and raised much needed funds for the Trust. Diana Smith (Trustee) organised the event at Confucious Restaurant, High Street Chatham, guest attending enjoyed a wonderful banquet of food and were entertained by the Chinese dragon it was a very enjoyable evening and raised £316.00 for the Trust.

Question Time

A brilliant night was had by all on Friday 27th February 2009 at New Brompton College in aid of the Oliver Fisher Special Care Baby Trust. Committee members Margaret Taylor and Lynn Shoebridge organised the event. The evening raised £462.00 which was then matched by HSBC Bank because Lynn's daughter Claire, who works for the bank and helped with the event was able to apply for the match the total amount raised was £932.00.

A Question for Charity

A brilliant night was had by all on the 13th March when Sarah and John Coccia held their third quiz evening in aid of the Oliver Fisher Special care Baby Unit at the Sheppey Sports Club. This time it was for the Giraffe Appeal and they worked tirelessly in the hope of beating the £1200 they raised on their previous quiz. Parents of former special care babies, family and friends all helped out on the night to ensure it ran as smoothly as possible, with John acting as quiz master dressed in a light up sparkly jacket! Sarah Coccia and Mel Wafer (both special care baby mums) planned the event for 6 weeks and were so surprised when they had to turn people away, as the hall just couldn,t take any more than 200 people. 29 teams enjoyed the evening of trivia and an excellent raffle prizes included spa days, free beauty treatments, family days out and gift vouchers.

The event was mainly supported by staff at Swaleside prison, who entered in departmental teams to ensure a healthy rivalry, existed and friends and family made up the other teams – in total they raised a staggering £1620 for the Giraffe appeal. Sarah and John would like to thank Pat Bagley (Co-ordinator) for all her help with this event. We would also like to thank the companies that supported the event with free prizes, they included, M&S, Sainsbury's, Canterbury Cricket Ground, P&O Ferries, Johnsons Dry Cleaners, the Ice Bowl, Arsenal Football Club, Eurostar, Dickens World, Chatham Historic Dockyard, Tesco, Saks, Strood sports centre and The Body Shop. Finally a special thank you to John Mansfield, who catered for us and Steve and others at Sheppey Sports Club who made the day happen.

Great Strides for the Neonatal Doctors and Nurses

Doctors are doing it for themselves. In a bid to raise vital funds for The Oliver Fisher Neonatal Unit, Dr Helen McElroy decided with some of her colleagues they would take part in a 10K run at Knole Park, near Sevenoaks on Saturday 14th March 2009. In doing so the Doctors and Nurses raised over £1,000 in sponsorship. Dr Aung Soe head of the Unit said "after all the training for this run & hoping that the weather would be good on the day, it was a real success I am very pleased with the amount of money that we raised. This money is very important to the Unit and will help greatly to go towards much needed equipment for all the premature babies on our Unit."

A Splash of Colour

Despite the credit crunch, donations are still filtering through for the Giraffe Appeal. In a bid to raise further funds, the Trust ran an Easter colouring competition for three age categories: 1-3 years old, 4-6 years old and 7-10 years old, the entry fee was 50p. The prizes up for grabs were Easter eggs, books and toys. We had many colourful entries and it was very had to choose our winners.

Our Committee member Sarah, who designed the form, picked out 9 winners. On the 2nd May 2009 presented by Dr Soe; all the children received their prizes. Pat Bagley Trust Co-ordinator said "the competition was a great success and I was very pleased with all the beautiful entries that I received, I was glad I was not judging it as I thought everyone was a winner."

"I would like to thank everyone who took part & helped raise a further £80.50 for the Giraffe Appeal.". The winners were Owen Porter age 7, Harry Perry age 7, Keira - Maria Whatling age 2, Max Haynes age 4, Ella - Hope Poynter age 6, Maisie Weston age 9, Toni Cave age 9, Natasha Verral age 6 & Daniel McCormick age 6.

Building a Bright Future

The building service contractor Airconaire based in Rochester, raised £500 through its staff Christmas raffle. Directors of the company donated a further £500 to celebrate 27 years of trading in the south east area. This donation is to help the giraffe appeal reach its £25,000 target. The total amount raised was £1,000.

The London Marathon

If you would like to run in the London marathon on behalf of The Oliver Fisher Trust you will need to contact the London Marathon to book your place, this can be done on line or by post their website address is www.london-marathon.co.uk For sponsor sheets you will need to contact the Oliver Fisher Trust Co-ordinator.

Our thanks go to Mr Fisher, Mr Hunter & Mr James who ran in this years London Marathon who raised a total amount of £1,300.30.

Running for the Babies

On Sunday 17th May 2009 a group of mum's that spent a number of weeks on the Oliver Fisher Neonatal Unit got together to help boost the Giraffe Appeal, by doing a 10K run at Lordswood. The event was organised by ex mum Carly Chandler. Carly said "I was very worried about the weather but thankful it did not rain, I was very happy with all the sponsorships and support on the day from everyone who took part in the Run".

More than £3,748 was raised in sponsorships.

Thank You Waitrose

Waitrose store at Aylesford raised £697.00 for The Oliver Fisher Special Care Baby Trust. Their community Matters Scheme means customers can choose each month from three charities each receiving a share of £1,000 given by the store funds by putting vouchers they receive with their shopping into boxes marked with the charities names.

All money raised for the unit goes towards buying life saving equipment for very sick premature babies.

Out to sea and still helping raise vital funds

The men & women of the HMS Chatham work tirelessly sailing the sea, but still find time to fund raising on board. HMS Chatham did many different events & raised £1,250.00 for the Trust. The Trust sends their best wishes to all the crew on board.