In the closing days of the wondrous Tea Party I feel nothing but relief. After months of talking Tea Party, I will be finally free and taking a much need day off. I have loved receiving emails from those who have taken part and the pictures have been amazing! The enthusiasm people have for hosting their own Tea Party is contagious and I know the event will grow each year becoming bigger and better as the years pass. And hopefully this will lead to more staff to manage it!

I know once I return from my mini break, I will be going all speed ahead trying to make Wrong Trousers Day the biggest success story ever! If anybody has any ideas or would like their company to sponsor the day please get in touch, it would make my job a whole lot easier! Just between us we are thinking of having a green themed Wrong Trousers Day so get in touch with your suggestions! Email now!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Tea Party and if you haven’t taken part please do. You can donate to the Foundation in a number of ways:

1. Send a cheque to:
Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation, 24 Upper Maudlin Street, Bristol, BS2 8DJ

3. Pay money in at any branch any Lloyds TSB bank.
Get in touch for details!

5. Make a regular donation:
Simply visit are website www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org and download a Regular Donation Form (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader ). Print the form, fill it in and return to: Wallace & Gromit's Children's Foundation, Freepost SWB 315, Bristol, BS2 8ZZ

Or take part in 62 West Wallaby Street’s own Tea Party and make a donation today!

Thanks for reading!

Until next week.

Hello again, I hope everyone enjoyed my first ever blog and have come back to learn more!

Since my last and first blog, work has been hectic. Our Tea Party Underground campaign has started so keep your eyes peeled if you are in London and getting on to the tube, you may see us! I have also had a meeting about Recycling for the charity and have approached a few Corporates about sponsoring Wrong Trousers Day! Along with visiting the Science Museum to see the Wallace & Gromit exhibition one last time before it leaves London and to collect monies from the sale of our Wallace & Gromit pin badges!

I am also up in Wetherby (that’s Yorkshire for you Southerners) on Friday to hold a Press call with our beneficiary Martin’s House Hospice to help promote the Tea Party, so I have been dealing with the press and photographers all week!

Right I think that is it for a general overview of my hectic week, now to learning more about the Foundation! The Foundation funds a variety of projects that are needed for that specific local hospital or hospice. These include:

1. Sensory Therapy To help children in hospitals and hospices to stimulate their senses to aid recovery and support interaction, discovery and communication for children with special needs and life limiting illness. These facilities will also help re-habilitate children who have suffered major trauma such as a car accident.

2. Family Accommodation To create and run family accommodation facilities in children’s hospitals and hospices. For any parent with a sick child, it is comforting to know there is somewhere to stay close to their child. The simple act of being in hospital can compound the stress of illness for the child and without the close support of their family, their physical recovery can be adversely affected. Family accommodation is an invaluable resource to support families with sick children and create a home from home environment.

3. Therapeutic Toys To provide therapeutic toys for children with special needs including puppets for puppet therapy to help children who might find it difficult to communicate how they are feeling when they are in hospital or being cared for in a hospice. Therapeutic Toys are a fantastic resource for sick children to help stimulate and engage them.

4. Play Therapy Play is very important to help children adapt to difficulties they may have resulting from hospitalisation or whilst receiving respite care to make the experience less traumatic. The Play Specialists encourage the children to develop their creative skills to express their thoughts and worries and may use play techniques to help explain what is happening to them.

5. Medical Innovation To support the provision of state of the art equipment and revolutionary new services for sick and vulnerable children which are less invasive, less traumatic and aid recovery. To ensure children receive the very best medical care possible.

6. New Child Centred Environments With your help we will be able to support the building of and renovation of hospitals and hospices to be child focused, vibrant areas that are enhanced by art to help stimulate and distract children, hopefully making their stay in less scary and more fun. We will also ensure the needs of the entire family are catered for by supporting quiet family areas, play rooms and dinning/kitchen facilities.

7. Music Therapy To help children with a wide range of disorders and special needs. Creating and listening to music can be of considerable therapeutic value to children, particularly in encouraging communication skills, motor skills, social/interpersonal development, cognitive development, pain management and self-awareness. Music therapy offers a valuable creative outlet for the many different feelings that the children will experience whilst in hospital. It also provides an enjoyable diversion from all the invasive procedures and treatments the child faces each day.

I hope this gives you more of an idea why the work of Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation is so important and the crucial role the charity plays to your local community. If you want to learn more remember to visit www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org now!

As I have gone on for far too long I will say goodbye

”¦until next week!

Welcome to my first ever blog! My name is Rebecca, I am Fundraising Manager for Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation and I hope over the coming weeks you will gain a great understanding of what we do here, our highs and lows and even get involved and volunteer your services!

I hope to open your mind to the world of charity so firstly I would like to introduce the Foundation and our history. We were born in 2003 to address the need for a national charity to champion the causes of local children’s hospitals and hospices across the UK. We were generously given Wallace & Gromit by Nick Park and the creators to encourage the great work we do and are extremely thankful to them. We have two national fundraisers Wrong Trousers Day and The Great British Tea Party which raise the majority of our donations. Other funds come from corporate sponsors, successful Charity of the Year applications and of course the wonderful personal donations we get everyday. Either from individual fundraising, gifts in kind, leaving a legacy and much more!

We are a very small charity doing big things! There is myself, Marie (Head of Corporate Partnerships), Nicola (Director) and Anna (Finance Director). Only Marie and I are full time so there is never a dull day!

So you are now thinking how can I help? Well firstly, we are always looking for corporate partners so mention us to your CSR team at work or if you think you could help us out occasionally with your expertise whether it’s PR, Marketing, Online, Design, anything really then please get in touch!

If you don’t already know, we will be celebrating 20 YEARS of Wallace & Gromit with The Great British Tea Party between 4th to 14th November! It’s a great fun way to raise money for sick children and chat to your friends / colleagues and family whilst eating some yummy cake so please register at www.wallaceandgromitfoundation.org for your free fantastic fundraising pack now!

Right next week I promise to make less asks! I will be talking about how the credit crunch has shaped the Foundation, a bit more about the projects we fund, where we work, the pros and cons of being a small charity and what ever strange things have happened to us within the week!

Enjoy your week and remember to do something charitable!

Over and out.