Kingscote School balloon launch - September 2002
Newsletter 2002
Fulmer pub - Wishing Well - 9 January 2002
Special
balloon launch to mark new phase for William's Fund
Hundreds of balloons were released into the sky to raise funds for a children's cancer charity set up in memory of a four year old boy who died of the disease. William Dodd, who lived with parents Johanna and Peter, died of spinal cancer two years ago.
The event was organised by Cannons Health Club in Wexham Street, near Stoke Poges, and the balloons were launched at William's old school, Kingscote Pre-Preparatory, in Oval Way, Gerrards Cross.
William's Fund was set up by William's parents to raise money for the Childhood Cancer Research Fund, based at the John Radcliffe Hospital, in Oxford.
Debbie Jones, spokesperson for the health club, said: "It was really poignant to release the balloons at the school where William was so loved by everyone."
Around £200 was raised at the event.
William's parents also used the event to mark he launch of their Christmas card, The Rehearsal, selling around 1000 cards on the day. The design is a reproduction of a watercolour original by William's grandmother, Elizabeth Cox, of Old Basing, Hampshire.
Newsletter Nº 1 September 2002
Welcome to the Newsletter. We aim to keep you as up to date as possible, if you have any news to add please let us know on info@williamsfund.co.uk
William's Fund' supporters have been working hard since our last newsletter in January and the total raised to date is a fantastic £98,500. We would like to say 'Thank You' to all our supporters but a special mention to those below.
STOP PRESS... Christmas Card 2002...'The Rehearsal' available soon
The "William’s Wobblers" team took part in the Gerrards Cross Fun Run and the total amount raised is now £2,223.60 so far - with still more to come!
Andrew Dormer, who heard about William’s Fund through a work colleague, offered to run in the Reading Half Marathon for us. Andrew collected an amazing £200.00 for William's Fund - thank you Andrew!
Stone Challenge Golf Day. This event was organised by Amanda & Greg Myers of Gerrards Cross. Amanda’s brother was engaged to Andrea Stone, who sadly died from cancer in the same year as William. The family chose to support William’s Fund in memory of Andrea and this is the second year the Stone Challenge Golf Day has been held. The golfers had a glorious day for the golf and the dinner took place at Beaconsfield Golf Club afterwards. Amanda & Greg kindly invited Chris Mitchell to the dinner. Chris is responsible for the research project funded by William’s Fund and was the founder of the Childhood Cancer Research Fund in Oxford. He was also William’s consultant during his treatment at Oxford. Chris addressed the golfers to explain a little about the research project and how important the event was in raising funds. The day was a great success raising £4,300.00. We are very grateful to the golfers for their generosity and would like to thank the Myers family for supporting us with this very fitting tribute to Andrea.
Mortimer’s Jubilee Day. Mortimer’s Salon in Chalfont St Peter held a Jubilee Day in support of William’s Fund. The Wishing Well appeared again, but the highlight was all the staff wearing ‘Queen’ style wigs and tiaras! The staff donated their tips for the day and the customers were invited to make donations. The Jubilee Day raised £200.00 - thank you Mortimer’s!
Self Defence Evening. Jane Ferris organised a self-defence evening for women at Cannons Health Club in Wexham. Cannons have been very supportive in the past and were happy to host the event. Jane and her friends learnt how to fend off attackers and disarm them in this very useful evening. The event raised £180. Thank you to Jane (a regular supporter of William’s fund), Cannons and all who took part.
St Mary’s School, Old Basing, Hampshire. William’s cousin Freddie (aged 10) asked his headmistress if the school would support William’s Fund when they held their annual charity day. Luckily for us, Freddie did a good job of promoting our cause (Freddie had to explain about the charity and why he wanted to support it) as the school agreed and donated £250 following tabletop sales. Johanna felt particularly pleased that the school agreed, as it was the school she attended all those years ago…well not many years ago!? Well done Freddie! It is lovely to know William is now well known to Johanna's old village school. Thank you to everyone who helped.
Yasmin Bushnell Bike Ride!: Yasmin (age 12) lives in Fulmer Village, home of the Black Horse Pub… great supporters of William’s Fund. Yasmin lives in THE house in Fulmer…the one with the amazing Christmas lights and more recently the fantastic Jubilee decorations. Yasmin’s family have been extremely supportive of William’s Fund and I cannot list all of the ideas they come up with! Recently Yasmin decided to ride her bike around the village and managed to get £27.96 from the locals for doing so! Well done Yasmin.. keep it up!
London – Oxford Bike Ride 2002: Peter Dodd, Paul Cruci and Andy Wait once again rode this 60 mile journey, Peter rode in an impressive 3½ hrs followed closely (ish) by Andy and Paul!? The sponsorship money raised so far by Peter, Paul and Andy is an impressive £3,730.00. Well done boys…see you there next year?!
The Black Horse Pub in Fulmer Village has once again excelled themselves in supporting William's Fund. The pub put in a team for the London-Oxford Bike ride, (D.Johnson and Sara) raising £532, well done for completing 60 miles!! There have also been other activities going on at the Black Horse....a mirror sold, a purse lost and reward paid, collections and more raising an extra £207.12. This brings the total to £739.12, Thank you to all at the Black Horse for your generosity. (We did of course receive a whopping £1,620 from the Black Horse in December 2001,thank you for your continued support).
The Beehive and Honeycomb Nursery School also in Fulmer held a Teddy Bear's Picnic at the end of June and they collected donations for charity, they decided to support William's Fund in memory of William. We are very grateful to the children, parents and staff for their donations, it was a lovely surprise to receive a letter from Mrs Cunnington telling us of their support. Thank you.
Sue and Helen Cox, a pair of dedicated supporters of William's Fund, have been collecting at their trampoline lessons. I think 'dress up or pay up' was the theme at the end of term! Thank you girls and trampolinists for your collection of £41.95, we appreciate your continued support.
Swim Baby Swim held a baby sponsored swim for all its pupils in July. SBS is run by Nicola van Barthold and teaches the underwater method for swimming to babies from birth to 3yrs. There were a lot of willing participants in the swim and they raised a staggering £2,089. Thank you to all our little swimmers! Thank you also to The Chiltern Hospital for donating the pool time for the swim.
There will be a range of events and activities held throughout 2002 in support of William's Fund. Keep checking the coming events page. Events planned in the near future include a half marathon, bike ride and we are in the early stages of a very exciting project! We already have Chris and Ingrid Tarrant waiting in the sidelines to back this project and they have kindly agreed to help William’s Fund by supporting this massive fundraiser.
Thank you to Kathryn & Colin Edmonds (son Mark is at Kingscote) for their introduction to Chris & Ingrid. We do need lots of celebrity couples for our project, so if you have any personal contacts in the celebrity world please talk to us about including them. With your help we can make this a staggering success to raise money for the Childhood Cancer Research Fund in Oxford, all in memory of William Dodd.
William's
wishing well has raised £500. Wishes with a charity in mind
A wooden wishing well owned by a toddler who died of cancer is helping to raise money to fund research into the causes of childhood cancer.
Kind hearted landlords Kay and Brendan Keane of the Black Horse pub, Fulmer, put up the wishing well for regulars to donate money to William's Fund, set up by his parents, Johanna and Peter Dodd. The Chalfont St Peter couple have raised more than £42,000 in the past year to fund research after 4 year old William lost his 2½ year battle against spinal cancer a year ago.
Family friend Eleanor Bushnell, who lives opposite the pub in Windmill Road, got in touch with Mr Keane who was only too willing to help. Mrs Bushnell, who runs film services company Filmscope, provides the village's Christmas lights and thought she could coincide the big switch-on on her daughter Yasmin's birthday on December 8, with a fundraising idea. William saw the lights last year just days before he died, said Mrs Bushnell, and when shopping for Christmas lights this year she bought one extra, an illuminated train, in his memory and plans to display it every year. "I had been waiting for the right charity to come along and this was certainly it, "Mrs Bushnell explained. "They are such a lovely family and it was the least I could do."
In the first 2 weeks the £500 was raised through the wishing well. "Peter and Johanna want to thank all those who have contributed so far," Mrs Bushnell added.
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