Cake, Cake and More Cake!!!

Sorry for the late writing of this post, we've been a bit busy in the McLean household recently after the birth of Stanleys baby brother in November!

I just wanted everyone to know how amazingly successful the bake sale was at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on the 3rd of December, for the second year in a row. The lovely Becky Simmons, yet again, rallied the troops from A&E and got them all baking for the sale. It was a fab turn out, with tonnes of cakes, cookies, mince pies, cupcakes, rocky road, coconut ice, the list goes on! It didn't take long before it was a total sell out.

The bake sale ended up raising an amazing £507.63 for Stanley's Charity which just proves what great bakers the A&E department have!

Thanks again to Becky for organising it and to her Mum and Jessie for helping to sell all the yummy cakes on the day. A huge thanks to everyone who baked, bought and ate!

Debbie
 xxx 

2nd Stanley McLean Memorial Charity Golf Day a Major Success!

 The 2nd Annual Stanley McLean Charity Golf Day was held on 20th September at the beautiful Marriott Sprowston Manor Hotel and Country Club with 30 teams of golfers enjoying the sunshine and great golf.  The golf course was in fantastic condition with many competitors commenting on the greens saying they were the smoothest and quickest they had played on all year.

Ready for the golfers!

The day started with everyone arriving for their bacon loin roll and receiving their welcome gift of a Brighter Future's Mug stuffed with Titleist Golf Balls and a keepsake Poker Chip Ball marker amongst other items.  Golfers from as far away as Derby, Northampton and Maidstone made the journey to join a number of local golfers including Sprowston Manor Members and staff for a fun day of on course competitions.

Golfers arriving on the day

There were fantastic prizes to be had including nearest the pin prizes such as a laptop donated by InTouch Systems, Titleist Drivers and the chance for one lucky golfer to drive away in a brand new Mini from Cooper Norwich Mini.  Unfortunately nobody managed a hole in one but the cars looked great on the tee box and in the marquee during the dinner!

Your winners of the best dressed!

Woodfordes brewery donated boxes of Wherry Ale for all to enjoy as they went around the course, and Deb and Diane baked flapjakes, cookies and sausage rolls which were gone within 2 hours and raised over £100.  Local station Mustard TV showed up to feature one team of golfers whose total age exceeded 310 along with an interview and footage of the golf day which you can watch here . 

The teams of four were competing for the Stanley McLean Memorial Trophy, team prizes, individual prizes and everyones favorite competition, the dreaded yellow ball.  Unlike last year nearly every team returned their yellow ball, which was a sense of enormous pride as no one wanted to be responsible for losing it! 

The Norfolk Suite ready for dinner

Finalists of heads & tails

After the golf all the competitors headed to the Norfolk Suite for the drinks reception sponsored by InTouch Systems and the chance to bid on the silent auction items which included great golf courses such as West Sussex and Burhill, a signed Norwich City Football top and ball, a signed Stuart Pierce photo montage, and many many more.  The bidding was fierce and friendly with groups of tables egging each other on to drive the bids higher. 

Enjoying the meal and company

A fantastic 3 course meal was served and in between courses prizes and raffles tickets were drawn and handed out, with the main auction items held until last where the bidding again was both comical and very successful, raising over £4k just in auction items. 
The end of the evening saw the overall team winners handed out and congratulations to the team of Kevin Gooch, James Hazel, Dave Hewson and Sam Taylor who are the 2013 Stanley McLean Memorial Golf Day Champions.

Overall the day was a major success with over £10.2K raised so a huge thank you goes to everyone who played and donated so generously!

This money will go towards helping us to fund a portable echo machine at GOSH as well as fund the Quidenham EACH hospice for just one day, on what would have been Stanley's 3rd birthday: January 2nd, 2014.  Both Deb and I can think of no more fitting tribute to give back to GOSH and EACH in this way and we want to thank everyone who donated prizes, time and most of all played in the day and dug so deep.

I cannot wait for the 3rd Stanley McLean Memorial Charity Golf day on Friday September 19th, 2014 and hope to see you there!

Thank you again,

Brad 

 

Just over one week until our Charity Golf Day!

We now have 30 teams confirmed for Stanley's Memorial Charity Golf Day on Friday September 20th and with a target of £10.6k to raise we can now proudly let everyone know what that money is going to go towards.

EACH

EACH have launched a "Fund the Hospice for a day" scheme and we are very proud to be the first ones on this new scheme.  £5,300 helps Quidenham operate for just one day, allowing children and their families to access the care and support they need. This includes:

• Short break care which allows families to have a much needed rest knowing their child is receiving the best possible care
• 24/7 symptom management by EACH's True Colours Symptom Management Team
• Hydrotherapy to promote relaxation, improve muscle strength and movement and to relieve pain
• Music therapy to aid communication, expression and to encourage physical and cognitive development
• Specialist play to help build confidence, promote choice, create memories and help understand, cope and reflect on medical experiences
• Care at end of life including memory making and funeral planning
• Family support sessions offering emotional and psychological support including bereavement support

All of these are invaluable and mean a tremendous amount to the children and their families.

The day that we have nominated to fund is January 2nd, 2014 which would have been Stanley's 3rd birthday.  We can think of no more fitting tribute!

GOSH

With GOSH we have elected to put funds towards equipment that will directly benefit the Cardiac department.  So far this year we have put £5k towards part sponsoring a cardio probe to be used with an Echo machine which is a crucial piece of equipment in the diagnoses of heart conditions.  We have also nominated a portable echo machine with funding required of £80,000 as our next piece of equipment to part fund.  Both of these help to diagnose heart conditions within children and are simply a vital piece of equipment.  We know from Stanley's experiences how often they are used, and how important these items are.
 
Brad

The 2nd Stanley McLean Memorial Charity Golf Day is fast approaching!

After the success of last years golf day where over £9,400 was raised we are looking forward to the 2013 edition with even more exciting prizes and auction items.  An expected 128 golfers will be set to tee off on the 20th September not only raising thousands for Stanley's Trust but also giving themselves a chance to win some amazing prizes.  One of our main sponsors on the day, Intouch Systems will be putting up a laptop as a nearest the pin prize on the 6th hole, while Mini Cooper Norwich will have a brand new Mini on the 14th tee for any lucky competitior who scores a hole in one!

Marriott Hotels and Country Clubs have once again shown tremendous support to our events and so far we have received overnight stay with golf at the stunning Dalmahoy near Edinburgh, Hollins Hall which is on the doorstep of the Yorkshire Dales, Tudor Park, just minutes away from Leeds Castle in Kent and the grand Breadsall Priory just minutes from Derby.

In addition to great hotels breaks we will be auctioning of a signed Chelsea Team top, signed Liverpool team top, Ian Poulter signed picture and a Teddy Sheringham signed Titleist cap amongst other items.  Stoke City have generously donated 2 tickets to the Norwich City game on the 29th September in Stoke along with car parking and entry into their Sky Lounge.

We are always on the lookout for more items that we can either use for prizes, raffles or auction and if you have something that you would like to donate to help us raise thousands for these great charities please contact Brad on 07963827051.

One year on.........

 It has been just over one year since we lost our beautiful boy Stanley after his 3rd heart surgery at GOSH.  While every day is a challenge knowing that he is continuing to help other children through everyones fundraising efforts gives us a tremendous amount of comfort.  In one year over £35,000 was raised to support GOSH so that they can continue their lifesaving work.  We are now into our second year and we hope to be able to continue to raise money not only for GOSH but also for EACH, who have given our family tremendous support.

For everyone who has taken on a fundraising challenge, donated time and money, attended one of our events or just simply became more aware of why GOSH and EACH are so special, we thank you.

An amazing amount raised!

The first Stanley McLean Brighter Futures Dinner and Dance is now in the books and with the inclredible generosity of everyone who attended we managed to raise a staggering:

£3,416.24!!!

Thank you to everyone who came on the night, bought raffle tickets, bid on the silent auction, and just continued to reach into their pockets to continue to give!

From the glorious weather to the fantastic disco the entire evening was a great success.  Thanks has to go to the team at Sprowston Manor for the fantastic food and great service and highlights of the night have to include Jenny riding her raffle prize of a childs bike across the dance floor, Paul winning a silent auction prize that he didn't even bid on, and a certain 2 nurses who, in their own words, "owned the dance floor!"

Mickey from the Optimum Group has organised a link where you can purchase photos on the night, with a portion of those proceeds also going to the Charity.  Click here to see the photos on the night!

Once again,

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

Brad and Debbie

One night to go!

Everything is just about ready for the very first Stanley McLean Trust Brighter Futures Gala Dinner and Dance tomorrow night.   73 people will be in attendance at the stunning Marriott Sprowston Manor to enjoy a 3 course meal, raffles and games before dancing the night away.   We have been receiving more amazing raffle prizes including overnight breaks from Marriott Hotels such as:

• Sprowston Manor, A Marriott Hotel & Country Club
• London Marriott Maida Vale
• London Marriott West India Quay
• London Marriott Marble Arch
• Marriott Peterborough

The Great Ormond Street Children's Charity have very generously sent up an Xbox360, PSP, Nintendo 3D DS and a child's bike, all of which will be raffled off to raise as much as possible.  Over £500 worth of raffle tickets have already been sold, with more to come on the night.


Check back later to see photos and how much was raised for Stanley's Brighter Future Fund at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital!

Brad