Happy New Year everyone. It is amazing how quickly last year flew by. We were very busy.
Sadly we had to say goodbye to Robin after 17 years. We are lucky to have Linda Hayes who has joined us as a volunteer and Hannah has also joined us and both are a real assets. Zac has also agreed to join us once a month to hold some music sessions and these have worked so well. Zac is very good with the children and they really seem to respond to Zac’s quiet and calm nature – it is great to see the children enjoying the music on a regular basis. It is also wonderful to see Janet and Alfie back with us – we’ve all missed them both.
e have been very lucky with donations. Fran managed to raise £425.00 from her swimathon. A huge well done to Fran. Fran also organised a Leek Show held at The Kings Arms in Teignmouth. Once again Fran did a great job and the event managed to raise £322.25. We received £300.00 from Dawlish Home Aid being the proceeds of a coffee morning held at The Manor House in Dawlish. AIMS were one of Waitrose’s Community Matters charities and we received £390.00 which was fantastic. Our annual BBQ at The Swan Inn in Dawlish managed to raise a whopping sum of £996.00. We have had donations from Salem Lodge, Cosen’s Institute, Province of Exeter Mason, Holcombe Residents Association and St. Mary’s Church, Cofton. The annual Conkers Championship held by H.G.R.F.C. at The Castle Inn in Holcombe managed to raise £450.00. A massive thank you to all our supporters we are extremely grateful for all donations received and these have allowed us to take the children on some very special outings.
Brian Hodge once again visited us to do some magic. All the children thoroughly enjoyed the performance and it was marvellous to see them all enthralled (even some of the older ones). Brian was fantastic with the children and to see some of our newer children get stuck in and enjoy themselves was great. A lot of the parents commented on how much they enjoyed it too.
Mandy came along to join us for Diwali and it really was great to see her again. She did some fantastic cooking with the children.
Lyndsay, from J.H. Way Funeral Directors, very kindly donated advent calendars for the children. They were so excited to receive them. Hays Travel held a colouring competition to raise funds for us. A massive thank you once again to Dawlish Spiritualist Church who provided Christmas presents for all our children and brought Santa and his helper along to our Christmas party to hand the presents out.
We were lucky enough to take the children on a boat trip to see Santa in Exmouth. The children were lucky enough to receive a present from Santa, there was face painting, punch and Judy, balloon modelling and the adults all received a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine. It was a fantastic experience.
All in all we have had a fantastic year and the families have had some wonderful experiences. Thank you to all our staff, volunteers and supporters for helping us achieve this.
Claire
