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Christophers Fund
Blogs
Fund raising chit chat and some deeper stuff.
1
New Website!
Posted on Tue, Apr 20th at 09:36pm by Sarah I'm proud to announce the opening of Plus Ladies!
Clothes to suit your personality
Sizes 6 - 36
Ladies wear
Children's wear
Plus Sizes!
Delivery only £1.50 per order!
Plus Ladies!
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Stuck for Christmas gift ideas?
Posted on Mon, Dec 7th at 07:57pm by Sarah If you're struggling to think of a christmas gift idea for someone who
haseverything, maybe an older relative etc. Why not donate money to Christopher's Fund?
We'll send you a certificate with or without the donation amount on anda
personalised letter explaining what we do and where the money is going.
Children's brain tumours are the second most common children's cancer in the UK and the most poorly funded.
Why not do something that will really make a difference this christmas? x x
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Charity Concert date announced!
Posted on Fri, Jul 3rd at 11:34pm by Sarah An amazing event has been planned by some relatives. It's on Saturday 15th August. See poster below for details or contact christophers.fund@ntlworld.com
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7 years today
Posted on Tue, Jun 23rd at 06:54am by Sarah Remembering Christopher who left us 7 years ago today. I've placed a memorial in the local paper and it also appears online. If you'd like to you can light a candle in Christopher's memory.
Thanks Sarah x
Christopher Palk
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We raised....
Posted on Mon, Jun 22nd at 05:29pm by Sarah ?180 at Burbage Carnival yesterday which is a bit up on last year!!
We were rained off so couldn't do Hinckley Carnival so it was good that we did well yesterday.
It was quite a nice day, a bit windy and cloudy but the sun was out for most of it and we enjoyed each other's company.
Well done to Mum and Lyn who as usual did most of the work. Me, Katherine, Isobel, Matthew, Katie (Matt's girlfriend) and Andy were there too but we only really helped to pack away.
Isobel had a lovely time and joined in with some dancing in the main arena!
Sarah x
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Miss Hinckley
Posted on Fri, May 29th at 05:09pm by Sarah Christopher's Fund was very proud to sponsor my daughter, Katherine, at the recent Miss Hinckley contest.
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Christopher
Posted on Sat, Apr 18th at 04:29am by Sarah We're so excited. Katherine is through to the finals of the Miss Hinckley competition and Christopher's Fund is going to sponsor her!
It will be great publicity for the fund as she'll wear a sash with 'Christopher's Fund' on it and have her photo taken wearing it so we can use it on the website.
It means such a lot to us that the fund can sponsor her.
If anyone would like to vote for Katherine you can do so by visiting the Miss Hinckley or by following the details below.
Sarah x
To text vote you must put 'KATHERINE PALK' to 84205 and to phone vote dial 0901 656 1519 and then enter '22' when prompted - don't get that wrong or you'll vote for someone else lol LINES DON'T OPEN UNTIL MONDAY 20TH.
Texts cost 60p plus your normal network charges.
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Thinking...
Posted on Wed, Apr 1st at 04:04am by Sarah It's 8 years today since Christopher underwent his first operation. It lasted 8 hours and was a very anxious day.
Dates always stay in my mind and even though it was several years ago it seems like only last week and I can recall almost all the events of that day and many other days.
I was just sitting here wondering if he would have had the same musical talent as Katherine and Matthew. I was trying to imagine what it would be like if they played together, whether he could sing or play an instrument.
We'll never know the answer to that. Things could have been so very different if only that bloody awful disease hadn't got the better of him.
How I HATE cancer.
Sarah
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Another cheque sent!
Posted on Tue, Mar 31st at 04:34am by Sarah We've just sent off another cheque to CCLG who sent us a lovely letter thanking us.
It's so good that the money keeps trickling in, even after all this time.
Please keep supporting us! We'll have a stall in Asda Hinckley on 23rd April - please drop by and say hi - hey that rhymes!!
Sarah x
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Christopher
Posted on Thu, Mar 5th at 07:09pm by Sarah Hi,
A long time since I blogged, sorry. Facebook is partly to blame as I spent far too much time on there!!
A good thing is though that Christopher's Fund is now on facebook! It's a great way to keep up to date with everything that's going on.
Please feel free to join Christopher's Fund Facebook page
Sarah x x
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Family Entertainment Evening
Posted on Thu, Nov 20th at 03:30pm by Sarah Hi,
I just thought I'd fill you in on the family entertainment evening last Saturday. We had a fantastic evening.
Katherine's voice has really matured since we first started doing the concerts and she sounded amazing.
Matthew really wowed everyone with his guitar debut, I don't think people were prepared for just how good he is which is amazing when you think he only started playing guitar in February this year!
The raffle, which was organised by Mum (Kath Morton), was great fun and we gave out lots of fantastic prizes, special thanks go to TLC Beauty, Asda and Morrisons of Hinckley who are among many who donated prizes.
Little Isobel (4) put in an appearance this year singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and was accompanied by her brother Matthew on guitar. The audience loved her!
Thanks go to Ashby Road Sports Club for yet again, letting us have the venue for free. Also to everyone who performed/helped on the night - Article, Lydian, Frank, Chris, Steve and Dave Lamley & Mark White without whom the event wouldn't have happened as they took care of everything from lighting to videoing the event.
There was a special tribute to Christopher as always which was Katherine singing Eric Clapton's 'Tearts in Heaven' accompanied by Matthew and Mark White on acoustic guitar and as they played a video of Christopher was shown from when he was a toddler up until a few weeks before he died and as you can imagine there wasn't a dry eye in sight.
This year we only raised around ?800 which is a little disappointing as the first year we raised over ?1,600. It was still worth doing though and we were very proud to hand a cheque over to Helen Coombs from Edward's Trust for ?1,000!!
The money we handed over was raised from various events including a stall in Asda which raised over ?420.
We have another stall on Friday (weather permitting) at the switch on of the lights in Hinckley.
Regards Sarah x
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Musical youth.....
Posted on Fri, Nov 7th at 01:06am by Sarah Taken from today's Hinckley Times.
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Charity concert!
Posted on Mon, Nov 3rd at 10:31pm by Sarah
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Yay for Katherine
Posted on Fri, Aug 29th at 02:37am by Sarah A week last Saturday I went on the train with Katherine to Wolverhampton to an audition for Idol Uk 2008, it's similar to the X Factor but it includes dancers as well as singers.
Katherine sang in the under 18's solo category, she sang 'there are worse things' which is a song from Grease in front of 5 judges and............ they really liked her!!
She's through to the regional final in October which is a live show!!!
I'm so excited for her!
If she wins in the regional final she will progress to the national final which is in November.
If anyone wants to come to support her in the regional final (the audience gets to vote to the more support the better), please let me know as I have 25 tickets to sell!!
Sarah x
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Another ?1,000!!
Posted on Tue, Jul 8th at 05:24pm by Sarah We've just sent off another cheque for ?1,000 to CCLG!!
I heard an upsetting report last week that although childhood cancer survival rates are on the increase year after year the survival rates for childhood brain tumours isn't improving at all simply because there isn't enough money going into research!! That's outragious when you consider that brain tumours are the second most common childhood cancer!!
The money was raised from having stalls at the local carnivals and tombola stalls in local supermarkets.
If you'd like to donate please go to the 'Support us' page and see the various ways in which you can help.
Thanks Sarah x
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Carnival time!
Posted on Wed, Jun 18th at 11:18pm by Sarah We had stalls at two local carnivals, Burbage Carnival last Sunday and Hinckley Carnival the week before. In total we raised around ?330!!
The weather was really warm for Hinckley carnival and it was changable at Burbage but there seemed to be plenty of people around.
I think what hinders us at Carnivals is the very overpriced fairs that attend. By the time people get to our stall they've got no money left!
Sarah x
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Lovely article
Posted on Tue, May 13th at 10:56pm by Sarah In the local paper. A follow up to the tea party and we sent a cheque for ?1,000 to Edward's Trust.
Sarah
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The tea party was fab!
Posted on Thu, May 1st at 04:12pm by Sarah It would have been Christopher's 10th birthday, I can hardly believe it. He would no longer be our little 4 year old son who loved Thomas the Tank and Bob the Builder. I wonder what he would have wanted for his birthday.
I was still awake at 12.15am which is when he was born and I thought back to the first time I held him in my arms.
I went to the cemetary and took some flowers and lit a candle in the little lantern there. It was sad to see his name on the stone.
The tea party went really well! There is a copy below of the newspaper article that was in the local paper yesterday. It's such a fab article we are really pleased with it.
We raised around ?200 in just two hours We already have over ?1,000 to send off to Edward's Trust. The money just keeps coming in!
It was really manic at the school. My Mum helped and my sister and Andy and boy did we need them!!
I had some gorgeous balloons printed with the Christopher's Fund logo and McDonalds donated some of the stick things that you put them on and my sister and Andy spent the whole two hours blowing up balloons and putting them on sticks!
All the children went away with a balloon as a momento which was really nice.
Morrisons gave us ?45 worth of stuff for the party yesterday and I've just taken ?20 back which was really good. They wanted to make sure we had enough and were happy for us to bring back the stuff that we didn't use and I was happy to do that.
They only usually let people have ?5 to spend but the GM there has also lost a son so it's something close to his heart.
Sarah x
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Come to our tea party!
Posted on Thu, Apr 10th at 08:07pm by Sarah
Christopher's Fund Tea Party!
Please come and join us on Friday 25th April
2pm-4.30pm
At Westfield Infant School in the little garden that was created in Christopher's memory
Entrance is ?1 and you will receive refreshments and the children will be given something to take away with them. There will also be a 'pocket money' stall.
All proceeds to go Edward's Trust
www.edwardstrust.org.uk
Christopher would have been 10 on 25th April so what better way to remember him and to raise money at the same time.
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I
Posted on Tue, Apr 1st at 01:56am by Sarah I've decided to start my own blog. I will still blog on here about fundraising stuff, events and Christopher but for my own personal use I decided to create a separate blog.
Sarah x
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7 years ago.....
Posted on Mon, Mar 31st at 04:03am by Sarah It was 7 years yesterday since Christopher was diagnosed. I'll never forget the consultant coming up to see us after he'd had his scan. I was there with my Mum and Christopher was still fast asleep from the sedation. She wouldn't tell us what was wrong until Andy got there but we knew it was bad.
I used my mobile phone to call Andy to tell him to come to the hospital. I couldn't remember how to turn it on and forgot to put in the password, I was in a real state and it was so awful having to phone him and wait for him to arrive. I felt so sorry that he had to drive all the way from work with his mind racing. I remember waiting for him at the front of the hospital and I was in a state of shock and just very quietly crying to myself.
We were so shocked when we were told the extend of what was wrong and how huge the tumour was that they'd found in his brain. She said that it was almost definately malignant and that he'd be taken by ambulance to Birmingham Children's Hospital that afternoon for emergency surgery.
I couldn't believe that my 2 year old baby had to undergo major brain surgery - we were a mess.
You can read the full details of what happened in 'Christopher's story'.
The next day (today) 30th March we waited all day for the surgery, we kept being told he was next and to get ready only to be told that there was another emergency and he had to wait. You could see him getting sicker and sicker.
They took the unusual step of operation on a Saturday (the next day) because they just couldn't get the theatre space that day.
He was in theatre for over 8 hours. I remember being so worried that when he came round he wouldn't be the same little boy, that he wouldn't recognise us or that there'd be some brain damage or that he'd be blind or deaf. As it was he was perfect, beautiful and brave.
Dates are tattoo'd on my mind. I can hardly believe it was all 7 years ago - it doesn't seem possible.
Sarah x
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We went to Nottingham - or was it London?
Posted on Fri, Mar 28th at 07:22pm by Sarah On Monday we all went to Nottingham to my sisters new house. She bought the house with her partner Lyn a few months ago and we've never got around to visiting due to the distance.
Well off we all went on Monday and had a fantastic day. We were looked after really well even though my sister Jane was full of cold. She also treated us all to a carvery for lunch!
They have a lovely home, really classy and neat and tidy. I'm not sure Lyn's old cat (Maddie 17) appreciated our visit but she tolerated us.
Isobel was busy telling her Grandad that she'd been to visit Aunty Jane in London! Well we did laugh but hey, she knew what she meant!
I hope we can visit again soon as we don't see them often enough and we all get on so well!
Sarah x
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New friend!
Posted on Thu, Mar 27th at 07:00pm by Sarah We've made a new friend. His name is Chris and he works in the cafe at Morrisons.
I've known him for a couple of years but never really got to know him very well until I started work at Morrisons.
Last week he offered to come round and give Matthew some guitar tuition and he's been a few times since.
Matthew has learned loads and Chris is an awesome guitar player.
A couple of times he's stayed for tea as it was tea time so I made extra so that there'd be enough for him too.
They also went to the club on Saturday and played on stage together with Katherine singing - it was really good. It's on You Tube if you want to see.
Anyway last night Andy took Chris home and after an hour came back! He'd been sat chatting in the car. I was chatting to Chris on MSN later that night and he said that he'd never met a family that had made him feel as welcome as we had from the minute he set foot in the door. He thinks we are all amazing and really lovely.
I'm so touched by what he said. I think we're a lovely family but when others say it too, and they often do, then we must really be!
It's amazing what good friends we've all become. Chris has a great sense of humour, as do we all so he fits in really well!
He seems to like my cooking too so it's all good!
Sarah x
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Fame!
Posted on Mon, Mar 17th at 09:28pm by Sarah We went to see Katherine in the school production of Fame on Friday and it was really good!
Katherine was in the lead chorus and her dancing was brilliant. I was so proud of her, although a little concerned at the lack of costume!!? A bit too revealing for my liking ;o)
There were a couple of issues with the sound and when one of the main characters sang his solo you couldn't hear him at all which was a real shame.
There was a break dancer in it too and he was awesome - Matthew really liked that part.
The kids worked soooo hard to get it together and then performed it over 4 nights.
It was a good night out and well worth seeing.
Well done to all concerned!
Sarah x
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Can you help?
Posted on Thu, Mar 13th at 08:30pm by Sarah Hi Everyone,
As many of you know one of the main benefactors of our fundraising is Edward's Trust.
I'm posting you a link to their website as they are trying to organise a 'tea party.
My family and I benefitted greatly from all that Edward House had to offer, including tea and cake every afternoon.
If you think you could hold something during the 'tea party week' please do! There are a list of suggestions of different ways to help raise the money.
Please check out the link on the website. They've only got two people signed up so far so please give it some thought.
If you only raise a tenner it's much needed funds to keep all their good work going.
Thanks Sarah x
http://www.edwardstrust.org.uk/news/tea_party.htm
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4th March 2002
Posted on Tue, Mar 4th at 11:58pm by Sarah Isobel was sat in the car today and she said how she wished Christopher would come back so that she could play trains with him and hug him, she said she would let him play on her bike - totally unprompted too - I'd just picked her up from playgroup.
Then later on she appeared downstairs with my 2001/02 diary - the only one I've ever kept as its an important one.
I decided to check the date as I knew it was around now that we discovered even more bad news. I've copied and pasted some text 'Christopher's Story' to save me writing it all out again.
We have so many happy memories but some really painful ones too.
"Christopher finally finished his radiotherapy in February and we went home, we thought, for good. Over the next couple of weeks Christopher developed pains in his legs, we were told it was the effect of the chemotherapy but the pain was getting worse and he spent most nights rolling around his bed in pain.
We'd booked a family holiday to Centre parcs with some money that had been raised for us and we were so looking forward to it as we'd never been before.
A couple of days before we were due to go the hospital decided to give Christopher a scan to see what was going on. It was then we were given the devastating news that the tumour was back and it had spread down his spine. There was no hope for him now other than to make him as comfortable as possible.
We went away to centre parcs and it took most of the week for the morphine he'd been given to get his pain under control. I'll never forget the first night that he slept through without waking in pain, it was wonderful."
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Valentines day!
Posted on Fri, Feb 15th at 06:38pm by Sarah I have to brag a little. My husband arrived home with a bunch of flowers for me for Valentines day and then asked me to pick up a chinese on my way home from work!
I was convinced that one of the children had text him and 'tipped him off' but they all insisted that they hadn't and he said it had been on the radio all day!
We don't normally 'do' valentines as we don't think it should be left to one day a year when we tell each other that we love each other but this year we both had the same idea as I bought him a little card and a large bar of Bournville choc (his fave).
Awwwww had to share.
Sarah x
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Donate as you shop!
Posted on Tue, Feb 5th at 07:44pm by Sarah Great news! A lovely lady called Janet Wilkinson who runs www.barefootforcharity.co.uk has contacted us to offer to help us raise funds.
There is a link on the website and you can use the link here on this blog and everytime you purchase from www.barefootforcharity.co.uk our fund will receive 10% of the value of the sale!!
Please use code EV09 as you go through checkout so that we can benefit. Please tell all your friends too. You must use the code though else Janet won't be able to link it back to the fund website and so we'll lose out.
Thanks Janet and thanks everyone!
Sarah x
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Well lots happening today!
Posted on Mon, Jan 28th at 10:41pm by Sarah I Had a phone call from the school this morning to say that they've been thinking about this for a while but they think Matthew isn't reaching his full potential so they've decided to move him up to band A for all his subjects!
It's very rare that they do this but they think he is capable of far more than he's achieving and by moving him up to the top sets he'll do far better.
The lady was sooo lovely on the phone and I'm soooo proud of him
I've bought him a little card to say 'well done'.
I bought Isobel a couple of bits of school uniform today :o(
I can't believe that she's going to start school in a few months! I thought I better get it early as I know from experience that if you leave it too late you can't get the sizes.
Awwww my baby girl starting school - she's not 4 until April!
I've also bbeen asked to work on Wednesday as they need a shift covering. My mother in law will have Isobel for me and then my Dad will collect her and take her to pre-school.
It's all money in the bank!
Sarah x
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We've just sent a cheque for......
Posted on Fri, Jan 25th at 07:15pm by Sarah ?1,000.00!!
The money has been steadily coming in and we've sent off a cheque from Christopher's Fund to CCLG towards research into childhood brain tumours.
Sarah x
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Posted on Tue, Apr 20th at 09:36pm by SarahStuck for Christmas gift ideas?
Posted on Mon, Dec 7th at 07:57pm by Sarah If you're struggling to think of a christmas gift idea for someone who
haseverything, maybe an older relative etc.
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