On Wednesday, 1^st March, we had the pleasure of being shown around Great Ormond Street Hospital to show how the money we raised for them during 2022 would be used and what a day it was.

We had the privilege of Clive, who is a GOSH Ambassador, along with Laura from the GOSH Charity team to show us around the hospital. Clive attended our Golf Event last year to kick start our auction by talking us through his very personal experience of GOSH and how they helped his daughter. As you can imagine, in a room full of grown men, there were no dry eyes, which spurred on the fundraising.

We started the day by delivering the personalised Fire Pit, which has been donated to GOSH, courtesy of David North from Seven Asset, Helions Forge and several other donators who wish to be anonymous.

https://www.helionsforge.com/

It sits pride of place on the outside terrace of the brand new Zayed Centre for Research into rare disease in Children Building, where the most incredible people work, the scientists who discover new ways to treat and save people’s lives worldwide.

We then received the most fantastic tour from Laura Foy, who is part of the Fundraising department for GOSH. They have to raise a staggering amount each year to enable them to continue the amazing care they offer those visiting GOSH. Not only do they provide care from the world’s best doctors and nurses, but they go that extra mile with what they provide these families with. To say I was blown away is an understatement.

Their ethos is incredible, with the focus being not just on the surgery and care of the patient but also on how they can make the space as homely as possible, ensuring that if a child is in hospital for weeks or even months that they don’t fall behind in their school work by offering them the opportunity to visit the school they have on site. This space also operates as an activity club for the siblings of those in the hospital, so they, too, can have fun and some normality whilst spending weekends in the hospital.

Along with this, they have a play team who spend time learning about the children; for example, they find out what their favourite colour is so they can make sure their cannula is in their favourite colour. They have a jungle light display on the walls leading to the theatre to make this less scary for the children. Disney has also created the most incredible ‘Reef garden’, which just brings joy to anyone visiting it. There seems to be nothing that they haven’t thought about to ensure that when a child and their family visit GOSH, they are offered the most comfortable staff possible.

Along with the kid’s well-being, they also think about the parents, offering them several spaces for them to be able to escape for some quiet time. They also have an area for parents to stay in opposite the hotel, which is completely free to them; this must take such massive pressure off them when they have a sick child to consider.

As a parent myself, I found the prospect of being faced with being somewhere like GOSH terrifying as it means your child is very sick; however, after today’s tour, it would be terrifying. Something you would not want to be dealt with it is also immensely reassuring that the hospital is one of a kind with all they offer the families who start on a journey with GOSH. It’s heart-warming to know they offer such an incredible space to those who visit.

We were lucky to have Louie, his Mum and Grandad David, who works for AJW, as part of the team who presented the cheque to Great Ormond Street. Louie is why we raised this money. David works for our Sawston Depot and put the charity forward to be our Charity of the year back in November 2021. It is because of this gorgeous five year old which we were all motivated to raise as much as we did.

I feel privileged that you were able to support such a fantastic charity and were able to raise £13, 218.56.

Thank you to our local printer Rutter’s for your generous donation of printing the cheque for FREE, as this was for charity. https://ruttersuk.com/