The Marketing Practice to raise £24,000 for Oxfordshire Dementia charity

Oxfordshire based The Marketing Practice has teamed up with YoungDementia UK to pledge £24,000 over the next 12 months.

The money will be raised through a combination of company donations and fundraising activity. The Marketing Practice will also be offering their time and expertise to support YoungDementia UK in their promotion.

YoungDementia UK work directly with younger people with dementia and their families and friends in Oxfordshire. Young onset dementia refers to a progressive degeneration of the brain occurring before the age of 65.

Fundraising activities will include a cake bake, endurance swim by CEO Clive McNamara (David Walliams eat your heart out), company Olympics, quiz and an annual ball.

Tessa Gutteridge, Director, at YoungDementia UK comments: “We are not a big charity so this is a great amount of money for us, particularly at a time when funding has been cut considerably in the charity sector. To have both the financial support and expertise of The Marketing Practice is absolutely fantastic – with them we will be able to make big strides for the people we support this year.”

Clive McNamara, CEO at The Marketing Practice adds: “It’s great that our growth has put us in the position that we are able to make such a significant contribution. We are very aware of the immense pressure small charities are under and were really keen to support a local cause. After an extensive selection process we are delighted to be working with YoungDementia UK.”

For more information visit www.themarketingpractice.com and www.youngdementiauk.org.

STEP UP to help YOUR community.

Recently the Dorking Advertiser launched Step Up, a new campaign to help local charities and community groups. We think it’s a great idea and something which you and your group could get involved with in your own area.

The campaign, which will run until Christmas, is all about encouraging residents to help out in a variety of ways, however big or small. Whether you become a dedicated volunteer or just drop a few extra pennies in a charity pot, we hope everyone will get involved.

Dorking Advertiser news editor Alex Morrison said: “This is not just about a few people giving lots of time and energy – it is something everyone can take part in by doing something small.”

Speaking about volunteering, Debbie Harrison, who runs Dorking Volunteer Centre, said: “It gives people the opportunity to contribute something meaningful in an enjoyable way by utilising their own particular skills. “Lots of people who work in a particular area want to do something different in their leisure time, whether it is mentoring young people or getting involved with a gardening group.”

Despite the work of numerous volunteers, many charities and community groups in the Advertiser’s region are struggling for money and members in the difficult economic climate. For instance, Dorking Round Table has closed after 75 years of fundraising. Whether you have a talent for cooking, caring, filing or fundraising, there are hundreds of opportunities available in the Mole Valley area.

Jane Hearne, manager of the British Heart Foundation shop in Dorking High Street, said: “We try to find out what people enjoy doing. We are desperate for people to tag items and sort through books. “There are lots of different jobs. We find that people try everything and then settle on one thing.”

So why not get together with other local groups and organisations and organise something similar in your area? It’s great for the community!

Issue 26

Merlin Entertainment wave their Magic Wand.

The final Ride2Raise charity cycle challenge of 2011, which took place from the 14th to 17th October, was another huge success.

Merlin Entertainment operate many of the best known theme parks and visitor attractions in the UK, such as Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures, Legoland and Alton Towers. The four day, 250 mile ride visited each of those attractions, raising awareness and funds for the company’s charitable arm, Merlin’s Magic Wand, who help seriously ill, disabled and disadvantaged children to enjoy magical experiences at Merlin Entertainment’s many attractions world wide.

This was a great story of commitment and determination, of beautiful country routes and busy theme parks, of discomfort and colds, of gluten-free dietary requirements, of luxury hotels and rural pubs, and of aches and pains and the benefits of team work, as well as the satisfaction of finishing such a huge challenge.

For the comprehensive ride diary and all the photos of the ride click HERE.

Tim Watling,
Editor

P.S. Congratulations to the 10 winners of a pair of free tickets to the Festive Gift Fair at the NEC, Birmingham. The winners are: Theresa Taylor, Birmingham; Beryl Edwards, London; Jen Boucher, Warwickshire; Jane Muncey, Cambridge; Helen Wild, Birmingham; Sue Norman, Birmingham; Wendy Pithouse, Coventry; Judi Starr, Wolverhampton; Emma Betts, Birmingham; John Agha, Manchester. For those of you who didn’t win, there’s still time to get tickets, see HERE.

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Issue sponsored by Network DVD

IN THIS ISSUE

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The Circulation Foundation will be holding their 3rd annual vascular disease awareness week from 19th – 23rd March to highlight the fact that vascular disease affects a wide range of people, from those with diabetes to the elderly, or…

READ MORE…

Debuting on ITV’s opening weekend in 1955, Sunday Night at the London Palladium swiftly established itself as one of the weekly televisual highlights and was one of the core shows that helped establish commercial television in the UK…

READ MORE…

Pontins is proud to be hosting a fantastic Line Dancing event, supporting the Woodlands Hospice charity in Liverpool. If you like your line dancing, country music and just having a great time then this is the weekender for you!..

READ MORE…

FUNDRAISING & VOLUNTEERING NEWS

The Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street Hotel is giving a little something back to their local community by supporting Centrepoint; a charity that provides emergency accommodation, support, information and training for homeless young people in London.

Over the coming months, the Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street Hotel will carry out a series of projects to support Centrepoint. This includes participation at this year’s Sleep Out. Taking place on Thursday 10 November 2011, from 7pm – 7am, in London’s Exchange Square, the Bloomsbury Street hotel’s General Manager Hasnain Alloo, and other staff members, will show their support by spending the night with 650 other ‘sleepers’ on the streets of London. The hotel’s support will help raise funds for Centrepoint to continue its work with homeless young people.

As part of the hotel’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme, the support plan will kick off with the transformation of Centrepoint’s offices in Soho; a space where staff work, meet with young people and any external visitors.

They will also have a great deal of involvement with Workwise; the charity’s accredited support system, which gives the young people an opportunity to control their own future, and motivate them into some form of sustainable employment. The hotel will be offering each of the interested candidates a two week work experience programme, with the long-term plan of being able offer permanent jobs to those who show the right levels of skills and motivation.

Recycled riches and vintage fashion come to Sheffield

Environment charity BTCV has opened its first UK charity shop in Sheffield.

The shop sells retro fashion, customised vintage clothing and renovated furniture. Trade was brisk during the first week with Labour MEP Linda McAvan among the customers.

The shop, named the Big Green Bag after its distinctive collection sacks, has introduced a new concept in thrift shopping.

Stock is collected through kerb collections by newly employed BTCV staff. This will then be sorted, upcycled by volunteers and customised on site by design and fashion students.

BTCV is a volunteering and social change charity which improves green spaces and people’s lives through training and support.

The charity supports many local projects in Sheffield and has recently built nature gardens, improved allotments, repaired heritage dry stone walls and protected woodland.

“Whether its clothing, bric a brac, furnishings or books the shop is a haven for bargain hunters, vintage fans and fashionistas,” said Big Green Bag shop manager Russell Green. “And keeping the BTCV theme, we are selling refurbished garden tools, bird boxes and renovated items of furniture. In the coming months, the shop will also sell seasonal products like plants and seeds.”

The Big Green Bag will open 9am-5pm with the possibility of late night event and Sundays opening.

For more information about the shop and BTCV visit THE WEBSITE.

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The new look Circulation Foundation

Since the last Vascular Disease Awareness Week, The Circulation Foundation have consulted stakeholders and consumers on a number of aspects of their promotional work and as a result, they have updated their logo and produced a new family of publications to help promote awareness, provide patient information and, critically, generate financial support for their valued research programme.

They would very much like to thank all of you who helped with this process. They say that your thoughts and opinions were invaluable in steering them in the right direction.

Vascular Disease Awareness Week 2012:
It can happen to anyone at anytime.

The Circulation Foundation will be holding their 3rd annual vascular disease awareness week from 19th – 23rd March to highlight the fact that vascular disease affects a wide range of people, from those with diabetes to the elderly, or individuals with inherited genetic conditions. The warning signs can be seen from earlier in life, you just have to know what to look for.

Every part of the body to which blood flows can be affected by vascular disease, which is why The Circulation Foundation is committed to saving lives and limbs through research, awareness and information.

Visit circulationfoundation.org.uk to find out more and take the quick and easy online risk check.

If you would like to get involved with Vascular Disease Awareness Week 2012, there are toolkits available with information on advertising, PR and awareness and fundraising events that you can hold during the week. Everything you do will help increase awareness of the dangers of vascular disease as well as helping to raise funds for much needed research.

Please contact Rebecca Wilkinson on 020 7304 4779 or CLICK HERE to email for more information or to request any of the literature.

Sunday Night at the London Palladium

Debuting on ITV’s opening weekend in 1955, Sunday Night at the London Palladium swiftly established itself as one of the weekly televisual highlights and was one of the core shows that helped establish commercial television in the UK, transcending class, denomination and age group – an unquestionable success which still provides a high benchmark that today’s variety shows can only aspire to.

Hosted mainly by Bruce Forsyth and Jimmy Tarbuck, this 5-disc set contains what little remains in the archives for the series, and guests featured include Beryl Reid, Adam Faith (with the John Barry Seven), Bobby Darin, Cleo Laine and the Johnny Dankworth Seven, Pinky and Perky, Sarah Vaughan, Freddie and the Dreamers, Mario Lanza, Larry Grayson, Jim Dale, Paul Anka, Rod Hull and Emu, Ted Rogers, Sacha Distel, Cliff Richard, Bob Monkhouse, Clodagh Rodgers, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, The Searchers, The Hollies, Arthur Haynes, Des O’Connor – and many more.

Also included as special features are The Norman Wisdom and Bruce Forsyth two-hander show, a previously unseen edition from 1974 and an incomplete show from 1961; and extensive image galleries featuring pictures of performers from shows that no longer exist, plus numerous behind-the-scenes images and an exhaustive guide to the show in PDF form for reading on computers.

You can buy Sunday Night at the London Palladium from the Network DVD website HERE.

Charity Line Dance At Pontins Southport Holiday Park

Pontins is proud to be hosting a fantastic Line Dancing event, supporting the Woodlands Hospice charity situated in Fazakerley Hospital, Liverpool. If you like your line dancing, country music and just having a great time then this is the weekender for you!

This event is organised in conjunction with Northwest Charity Solutions who, with Texas Roadhouse Country, present this Grand Charity Weekend of Line Dancing, Listening and Plenty of Fun!

Monies raised at this event will go to the Woodlands Hospice charity, which provides specialist care for people in North Liverpool living with life-threatening illnesses. For more information visit their website by clicking HERE.

The event includes the following:

• Welcome Party
• Raffle prizes including a 2 night champagne break for two at any Britannia Hotel
• Dance Workshops
• Full weekend of Entertainment
• And much much more!

Artists for the weekend include:

• MT Allen
• Calico
• Las Vegas
• Country Music DJ
• Barry’s Country Thunder

Options:Half Board supplement is available at just £10pppn.

To book call 0844 576 5943 to speak to a friendly Holiday Advisor.

www.pontins.com

Issue 25

LAST CHANCE TO WIN ONE OF 10 PAIRS OF FREE TICKETS TO THE
FESTIVE GIFT FAIR AT BIRMINGHAM NEC IN NOVEMBER.
See how to be in with a chance of winning the tickets HERE.

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CHECT and ready to go!

Eye cancer charity CHECT has a brand new website which has gone live in time to mark World Vision Day today (October 13).

A key ambition of CHECT is to raise awareness of the rare eye cancer retinoblastoma, which primarily affects children and babies under the age of 6. Few parents have heard of the disease prior to diagnosis and CHECT is hoping the new site will empower parents with the right information to seek medical help sooner.

The bright, fresh site has a new section written for children, with personal accounts by children who have been affected by eye cancer themselves, plus a section aimed at adults who had retinoblastoma as a child, explaining genetic implications, further health considerations and how to access health services.

You can see the new website at www.chect.org.uk

Tim Watling,
Editor

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Issue sponsored by Network DVD

IN THIS ISSUE

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Dare you run the 5K down the petrifying paths of Battersea Park? Do you have the guts to take on The Stroke Association’s Halloween Howler fun run on 27 October? With Zombies and Vampires to guide you on your journey…

READ MORE…

Missed out on a marathon place for next year? Join St Dunstan’s on 9th June 2012 for the 100k London to Brighton Walk and support blind ex-Service men and women as they take the first steps to discover a life beyond blindness…

READ MORE…

The Amber Foundation is a charity that helps homeless and unemployed young people aged 17-30 to turn their lives around, away from the troubles of the past and into employment or education. Amber operates 3 residential centres….

READ MORE…

Morecambe and Wise, described as ‘the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double act that Britain has ever produced’, first achieved their phenomenal television success in the early 1960s with this long-running hit series for ATV…

READ MORE…

Pontins is proud to be hosting a fantastic Line Dancing event, supporting the Woodlands Hospice charity in Liverpool. If you like your line dancing, country music and just having a great time then this is the weekender for you!..

READ MORE…

FUNDRAISING & VOLUNTEERING NEWS

On Saturday 17th September, after two days and 125 miles in the saddle, 10 riders from leading audio visual specialist proAV climbed the final hill and cycled into Corfe Castle to the popping of champagne corks and a warm welcome from family, friends and supporters of a truly epic effort…

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Les Jones, a senior manager at the UK’s biggest and best-known double glazing specialist overcame illness and injury to take part in a 10k race at Wetherby Racecourse to raise £800+ for an Ethiopian village he plans to visit next month…

READ MORE…

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