30th Anniversary of the Fire Engine Trip

Piam Brown News

Welcome to the Piam Brown Ward newsletter where we try to share our gratitude to those who support our families as well as letting you know what is happening on the ward.

AUTUMN 2018

Coordinated by the wonderful Keith and Jon with the Fire Preservation Society, this year being the pearl anniversary meant it was bigger and better than ever before.

We had 30 fire trucks which travelled down to Southampton from all over the UK, each filled with an excited PB family.

It is hard to believe that the extremely popular Fire Engine Trip has been running for 30 years.

Paulton’s Park gave us exclusive use of their Cedar room and

provided a very tasty picnic lunch as well as hot refreshments. The tea party at Romsey Fire Station was astonishing, with so much cake. What a great day!

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PB FestOur first ever PB Fest was a huge success thanks to the generous donation from The Seward Cancer Foundation. The sun shone down on us facilitating a brilliant afternoon enjoyed by all the PB families who were able to attend.We enjoyed live music, a BBQ, participating in a samba drumming workshop, lots of arts and crafts, a bouncy castle and slide, face painting, hair braiding, as well as some fabulous traditional games.

“It was lovely to meet up

with the other families.”

“ Thanks for the opportunity to meet other kids like me.”

“It was lovely to meet some of the

faces behind the charities that have done so much to help us. It was so nice to be able to thank them

face to face.”

“ Great opportunity to get out and have some fun in a safe environment.”

3Special thanks to Jamie and his team at The Concorde Club and the Rotary Club of Southampton West for their part in making the day such a success.

“ The highlight was the drumming workshop. What a lovely thing to be part of!”

“We were so happy to see many

of her friends looking so well and enjoying themselves. That in itself was priceless.”

“Thank you for giving us the

opportunity to meet people in the same

boat so we felt less alone :)”

“ Thank you so much for organising a great event to distract children and families from treatment.”

Trips & EventsA Day Out with ThomasThe Watercress Line continues to show amazing support for our families, sponsoring family days out at both the Easter and summer events. Thanks to their generosity, many PB families enjoyed meeting Thomas the Tank Engine and friends.

Derren BrownIn the spring we gave our PB families the opportunity to watch a performance of the world renowned illusionist Derren Brown in Bournemouth.

“Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to enjoy a family night out and to enjoy an amazing show.”

The Joe Glover TrustThe JGT continue to organise wonderful trips, give individual support to families and provide our snacks in the ward family kitchen. The fly fishing trip was very popular and excellent fun with families enjoying the beautiful Meon Springs as well as learning fly fishing techniques.

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War HorseThe stunning and emotional stage adaptation of the Michael Morpurgo novel transfixed us at The Mayflower in May. The puppetry is legendary and

the horses and other animals became real in moments. An unforgettable performance.

Piam Brown Ward Fund sits under the umbrella of the

Southampton Hospital Charity, registered charity number 1051543, with all donations

used to enhance the experience of our patients and their families while under the care of our ward. We are generously supported by many individuals, families and organisations, enabling us to consider funding all sorts of ideas.

If you would like to get involved in fundraising or charity events, please contact Rachel on the details at the end of this newsletter. 5

Circus StarrEach May Southampton’s Riverside Park hosts a marvellous circus performance with acrobats, flying aerialists and clowns. We are lucky to be donated tickets each year to give our families a treasured family outing in a wonderfully inclusive setting.

Merlin’s Magic WandPiam Brown Ward continues to be supported by Merlin’s Magic Wand, enabling us to offer tickets to Legoland, Chessington, Thorpe Park and The London Eye as a one off family experience. If you have not yet had tickets from Merlin’s Magic Wand please do let Rachel know your preferred option.

Popham Escape DayStarlight hosted its annual southern event at Popham Airfield. We were lucky enough to invite a number of families to this amazing event.

“What a BRILLIANT and memorable day we had. We took part in everything that was available and I just couldn’t believe the scale of the event. Being able to travel around in such a huge variety of cars, motorbikes and aircraft put a big smile on my face, not just Aiden’s! Nothing will ever top how excited he was in the helicopter that we travelled in. It was amazing to have a break from the norm of hospital visits to a day that we could just forget the worries of treatment and have fun as a family.”

Ellen MacArthur Sailing TripThe annual four day sailing trip with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust was another huge success. Their attention to detail, amazing events and activities make this a trip every young person from PB should consider when appropriate.

Teenager Theatre OutingsWelly Walk has sponsored two theatre outings especially for the teenagers with a meal out together as well. We saw Hairspray the Musical and Flash Dance, both hugely

enjoyable shows. We have tickets for Wicked as the next teenagers outing with dinner out.

A Better LifeThe small Winchester based charity, A Better Life, generously sponsored Olivia and her family for a very special trip to London. They were transported by Limo to see the epic show Lion King.

“A day filled with sunshine, surprises, smiles and laughter. It is most certainly a day we will always remember as a family – thank you for making it happen!”

A Better Life are also supporting an upgrade in our anaesthetic treatment room where we will be installing a distraction wall and a TV/DVD player.

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Alison Trigell chose to walk The West Highland Way in memory of her mum and in support of PB where her great niece Olivia Gallienne was cared for back in 2007.

Reggie’s big brother Brad has long been involved in Football for Cancer. Having recently been persuaded to return to playing, Football for Cancer have donated £1,500 in support of Reggie.

In addition to this, Reggie’s School Westbourne Primary have also donated £1,860 to show their support. How amazing!

Our SupportersWe are truly grateful for all donations given in support of our ward, no matter how big or small – a huge thank you goes to everyone who has donated. Sadly we cannot include everyone, but we would like to mention the following:

We received a super donation of

£250 from Overton Football Club who organised a charity

football match in support of Sebbie.

The Burnett Family love their big beards. The boys embraced the opportunity to go bald in support of Tyler and raised over £3,000.

Our very own Dave Rodger from hospital

security took on the challenge of a

skydive and raised over £1,000.

Torri’s family and school friends have been very supportive, raising in excess of £800. Here are her school friends running a stall at their local Bourton Fundraiser.

The Colour Run Team raised £400 in support of Edith. Edith seemed to enjoy it as well!

Helping Jonah was a Guernsey charity set up in support of Jonah who was

treated on PB between 2014-15. Celebrating Jonah‘s end of treatment,

they donated £1,000.

The Bishop Family have fundraised tirelessly since the death of dear Holly to support the

research work Dr Juliet Gray is pioneering into Neuroblastoma. Their dedication is inspiring.

Alice has supported her brother Amir in so many ways through his treatment, and has now moved us all by donating her beautiful long hair to The Little Princesses Trust.

Maria and four girlfriends braced the scorching temperatures and completed the Race for Life in support of Ed Brandon. Maria and team raised over £1,000.

Colin at Southsea Golf Club was inspired by Crystal’s experience of being on PB some years ago.

The golf club donated over £900.

Ex Patient is Now MumRachel Pleydel Brown was a patient on PB in the 1980s. She is now a beautiful wife and mother, who was inspired to run the

Brighton Marathon for PB. An emotional visit to the refurbished ward brought back many memories and with grateful thanks Rachel presented us with £2,642.

Tamba ParkWe have now successfully linked up with Tamba Park in Jersey for our families to spend a day

there. Please let Rachel know if you are interested.

Robin Hill & Blackgang ChineVectis Venture on the Isle of Wight have generously offered to support a small number of families visiting their parks on The Isle of Wight. Please let Rachel know if you would like to visit either site.

Wedding BellsAngela has supported PB for many years through collections at her salon. This year I received a wedding photo with the donation.

“Daniel was diagnosed in 1999 with Hodgkin disease and here we are 19 years on at his wedding and he is in wonderful health. We owe so much to the wonderful doctors and nurses there on the Piam Brown Ward for saving my wonderful son’s life – thank you all so much.”

Good News

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Princess Caroline 23rd September

Teens Wicked Trip 19th October

Film and Pizza Night 30th November

VW Santa Run 2nd December

Marwell Christmas Experience through December

Paultons Park Christmas Experience through December

Children’s Christmas Party 9th December

Dick Whittington 20th December

Dick Whittington 29th December

Worst Witch 8th March

A Day Out with Thomas April 2019

Dates for the Diary

8Southampton Children’s Hospital Charity is part of Southampton Hospital Charity

Do email me if you are interested in any of these trips. Priority will be given to those currently on treatment.

Email ContactHave we got your email address? Please email with any thoughts about the newsletter or ideas for events in your area to rachel.funnell@uhs.nhs.uk We are keen to enable equal access to trips, so please get in touch if you would like to attend any of our forthcoming events.

Are you signed up to receive details about our events? Email me and ensure that you have given permission to be contacted for events, on rachel.funnell@uhs.nhs.uk

Oliver was pleased to give Big Bear a new home

Georgia and family enjoying Paulton’s Park

Fin enjoying a sunny trip to watch football