Thank you

Always keen to do something a little bit different for World Diabetes Day, Allison Wright decided on a boxing challenge over a week.  Many exhausted hours later she donated £641 to JDRF.

The ladies of the CAMEO club in Romsey have been busy fundraising throughout the year with lots of different events, raffles and book sales.  They have raised a wonderful £1,400.

Annie Young and Kitty Kat Cabaret Club held their annual Southern Burlesque Awards raising £260.

Kirsty Jocham and her friends collectively swam the length of the channel, using a local pool.  To date they have raised a fabulous £1,131.

Members of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club have been holding art exhibitions, Christmas fairs, raffles and quizzes and have raised £13,421.

Many congratulations to Jack Dixon who recently celebrated his 90th Birthday.  He held a line dancing party and friends and family contributed to a raffle which raised £207 for JDRF.

While most of us spent the last few months looking up at the winter skies, Steve Garrott has been skydiving through them with a jump from over 12,000 feet to raise over £1,700.  His family and JDRF are very proud of him.

Jersey residents were persuaded to join Felicity Jones in Jersey for a gruelling six hour spin-a-thon which raised over £1,500. 

Have you ever wondered what to do with an unwanted car?  David Stokes took advantage of the Give a Car scheme and JDRF benefited by £115.

Gail and Susan Brooks, with lots of support from family and friends, held a Cabaret night which raised £1257.  Those attending enjoyed singing and dancing from entertainers, including Jason Allen, who donated their time and skills.  Everyone enjoyed the event so much they hope to do it all again next year! 

Lots of you asked your school whether you could hold a fundraising/awareness day on World Diabetes Day.  Here’s just a few who were busy with ‘wear something blue’, cake and card sales - Lee on Solent Junior School £246, Amesbury Archer Junior School £250.77, Dorothy Stringer School £790, Oakley Junior School £150,  Oakley Infants School  £661, Arnewood School £474, Albert Pye School £558 and Romsey Abbey C of E Primary School £250. 

Karl Beetson from Northamptonshire who decked out his house with an impressive Christmas light display and asked visitors to donate to JDRF, raising over £2,000!

Fraser Wood in Walsall raised over £700 for JDRF from the sale of their personalised 2012 charity calendar.

Instead of sending Christmas cards, Green Square Brand Design in Solihull, Full Circle and Catering for the Care both based at Mansfield Business Centre donated to JDRF raising £578 in total.

Mansfield Business Centre also raised an additional £30 from a collection box on reception and £78 from a raffle. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

Thank you to Fiona Finnegan and Sarah Waldron who held their second annual Champagne Breakfast event in Derbyshire. The breakfast raised £972 towards their London Marathon fundraising total which currently stands at over £6,000. Thanks ladies and good luck for the big race day!

Congratulations to Paul and Wendy Wilkinson from Derbyshire who celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Instead of gifts they asked for donations to JDRF and raised £100.

Thank you to the Soroptimist International of Mansfield and District who raised £500 at their annual quiz night for JDRF.

Many thanks to the Dove family from Mansfield who held a pampered chef party raising a tasty £102.91p and a special thanks to George Dove who spoke at Sutton-in-Ashfield Women’s Institute and raised £30 for JDRF.

Thanks to the staff and pupils at Hetts Lane Infant School in Mansfield who raised a superb £100.

Thank you to our young supporter Ellie who raised £4.80 during her recent sponsored silence. Ellie’s friends all donated sponsorship to her after she pledged to keep quiet for a whole day to support her friend, Ellen, who has type 1 diabetes. Well done Ellie!

A big thank you to the Berkeley family of Bristol and Avon Waste Management who decided last year to donate their money to JDRF in lieu of sending their clients Christmas Cards in 2011, raising £500.

Congratulations and many happy returns to Mark Hulme, who recently made a donation of £779 from his birthday party in February – happy birthday, Mark! Mark decided to ask for donations in lieu of gifts this year as his grandson has type 1 diabetes.

Well done to Emma Pajak and her family who have all recently signed up to take part in the Bristol 10k. Emma, who has type 1 herself, has also pledged to take part in a skydive later this year – good luck!

Thank you to Mrs Datta from Stagecoach acting and singing school in Wiltshire who kindly donated half of the proceeds from the Christmas show to JDRF, raising £187.50. One of Mrs Datta’s students, Phoebe Maddison, is a keen supporter and fundraiser for JDRF and has almost reached her Justgiving target of £1,000 – well done Phoebe, almost there! To donate, visit http://wwww.justgiving.com/phoebe-maddison

A huge thank you to Funky Pump owner and regular JDRF supporter Sabrina Dawe and all of the parents who were involved in creating, producing and selling the JDRF ‘Faces That Live With Diabetes’ charity calendar at the end of 2011. The calendar raised an incredible sum of £5,084.15 – amazing!

Thank you to Ruth and her group of mums in Lechlade who have pledged to take part in a 25 mile walk of the Yorkshire Peaks in May – we wish you all the best of luck!

Ben Grove raised a tasty £115 at a school cake sale he organised to raise funds for JDRF. Well done Ben!

Well done to Jo-Anne Jenks who managed to persuade her employer to donate a wonderful £250 after she nominated JDRF as one of their Christmas charities – thank you to all the staff involved!

Thank you to everyone at Nemo Loans who raised a staggering £6,500 through a series of staff fundraising events over the last 12 months.

Thank you to Helen Williams and all the staff and pupils at Burry Port Infant school in Carmarthenshire for a kind donation of £100.

Alun Thomas wrote to tell us that £370 was raised at the Derllys Court charity golf day, and an incredible £1,105 was raised in a sponsored climb up Mount Snowdon.  Rhodri and Steffan Thomas were the recognised stars of the day, pushing forward and leading the group up the mountain – a massive thank you to you all!

Thank you to Lynne Hughes and all the staff and customers at Siop Y Paget in Amlwch for welcoming JDRF to their village community with friendly open arms, the donations from your new collection boxes have been well received.

A shimmy and wave goes out to everyone who took part in the sponsored Zumba at Llangefan Primary School in November – thank you Julie and Sian for the donation of £583.33.

Thank you to the Caerphilly Male Voice Choir for their donation of £250, and also to the members of the Albany Road Baptist Church in Cardiff for their kind donations.

A big well done to Viv Jones who raised £346 in the Snowdonia Marathon – recognised as one of the toughest marathons in Europe, well done to everyone who took part.

Congratulations to Andrew Tummon for completing the Cardiff Half Marathon in October, and a big good luck to Andrew as he’s now signed up to take on the 2012 London Marathon – thank you for your continued support!

Thank you to Elaina Harris and the members of the Diabetes UK support group who invited JDRF to attend their Children with Diabetes family fun day in Caldicot Leisure Centre.

An incredible well done and massive thank you to all the staff at Sanofi who recently raised over £400 at their annual conference in the Celtic Manor. Our fundraiser, Samantha, was invited to join the staff on the day as they smashed the Guinness World Record for dancing to ‘big fish, little fish, cardboard box!’ A very fun day was had by all!

Thank you to the Benedictine Monastery and Parish and congregation in North London for donating their collections of £938.02.

David and Polly Cockburn brought some charity to the festive season by organising a Boxing Day orienteering event. The day was not only a lot of fun but also raised a fantastic £770.00.

Kate Gore got stuck in (literally) to her fundraising efforts by running in the Stubbers Mud n’ Madness event. The 7.5km obstacle course included running through mud and an ice cold lake – in the middle of February!  It was all worthwhile though because she raised £1,290.00. Well done Kate.

Maria Ionescu generously asked her friends and family to donate to JDRF instead of spending money on gifts for her last Christmas, raising £50.

Thank you to the staff and pupils at Chase Lane Primary School who managed to raise £571.14 for JDRF through their fundraising activities.

A big thank you to Wycombe Abbey School who donated £217.33.  Special thanks to the girls of UIII Junior House who collected and sent in this money.

Rose and David Wilkes have signed up to do the Great London Swim 2012 for JDRF. They obviously haven’t found the fundraising aspect of their event challenging as they have already raised £250, £50 over their original target!

Congratulations to Linda Keats who successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and raised £200.