Bobath Summer Fete 2010

The sun shone brightly as visitors were transported in the Bobath TARDIS to an ‘out of this world’ summer fete experience on Saturday 26th June. A Dalek invaded the Bobath Garden for the day and delighted youngsters by squirting them with water, which was quite refreshing on such a hot day.

The Bobath Fete raised over £1,500 and we would like to thank GE Healthcare Limited for sponsoring the event again this year and all our wonderful volunteers who helped to make the day a great success.

 

Rat Pack Birthday Ball 2010

This year we transported our 237 guests back to the era of sophistication and swing for our Rat Pack Birthday Ball. Guests were greeted by Marilyn Monroe and posed for pictures next to a 1950’s pink American Cadillac. Feathered Las Vegas girls helped set the scene before guests enjoyed a delicious 4 course dinner followed by a flutter at the casino and a dance to the Phil Dando Big Band.

The Rat Pack Ball raised a profit of over £20,000 and we are grateful to the Jane Hodge Trust and PG Insurance for their sponsorship as well as the many who donated auction or raffle prizes. With special thanks to the Diamond Centre of Wales who generously donated a beautiful pink sapphire.

 

Pedalling in the Pounds

And boy did they pedal - 254 miles to be precise, from Holyhead to Cardiff Bay, covering 3 distinct mountain ranges and some of Wales’ most breathtaking scenery. We would like to say a huge thank you to all of our wonderful Lôn Las 2010 cyclists. Special thanks also to our challenge leaders, fire-fighters Alex Bland, Emma Burnside and Emrys Davies who for the 4th year have taken annual leave to support the event. We are also extremely grateful to See Wales, the Spar 122 Caerphilly Road, Cardiff and ACT Ltd for their sponsorship.

 

a question of women 2010

BBC Radio 2’s Lynn Bowles returned home to Cardiff on Friday 5th March to host an evening of questions to inspirational Welsh women. Lynne was joined on the panel by actress Di Botcher, author Lynne Barrett-Lee, Ruth Henke QC, Claude Annik Rapport, the Honorary Consul for France, and anti-bullying campaigner Gemma Lang.

The panel answered questions from an all-female audience on their careers, experiences and memories, as well as revealing a few secrets. Singer Paul Child brought the evening to a wonderful conclusion.

 

Bake for Bobath 2010

Diolch yn fawr to everyone who took part in Bake for Bobath 2010 and made, ate or bought Welsh cakes for Bobath. We’ve raised over £7,000 and are still counting! A special thank you to Morgan, who attends the Bobath Centre, and his class mates at Caersws Primary School, Powys, who held a very impressive cake sale and raised £132.86. We would also like to thank Tan y Castell Welshcakes for their continued support.

 

Lord Mayor’s Fashion Evening

The Lord Mayor of Cardiff hosted a ‘City Chic Celebration’ fashion evening on Sunday 21st February at the magnificent Mansion House, Cardiff. The exclusive event was compered by Amanda Protheroe-Thomas and included a host of leading clothes shops from around the capital and a hair show by Constantinous. Guests helped raise over £4,000.

 

Bobath has the X Factor

Oh What a Night! On 12th February we held The Lord Mayor’s Gala Concert in the City Hall Cardiff and have received wonderful acclaim from all quarters. This is due to the fantastic performers who took part and the help and support we received from Bobath ambassador, actress Margaret Williams.

The line up for this memorable event was X Factor star Rhydian, West End star Peter Karrie, world renown opera singer Dennis O’Neill, actress and singer Margaret Williams, Johnny Tudor, Roy Noble, bechyn bro taf, Charlie Lovell-Jones, Linda Morgan and the Castell Coch Choral Society, Justine Platt and the Cardiff County & Vale Youth Orchestra.

The concert would not have been possible without the support of so many people and we are extremely grateful to the wonderful performers, musical director John Quirk, sound engineers Neil & Mike and Limegreen Events for the lighting. Oh What a Concert!

Pictured with Rhydian is Claire Lubas who attends the Centre.

 

Festive Fundraising

On Monday 8th December St Mary’s Parish Church resonated with Christmas Carols at our annual Carol Concert. The event was a great success raising over £5,000. Thank you to our official sponsor, Legal and General, who have kindly supported the Carol Concert for the past six years. Many thanks also to The Caldicot Male Voice Choir, the very funny Don McClean and all our wonderful readers and performers who helped to make it a very special evening. Father Christmas delighted youngsters on Saturday 21st November when he presided in his sensory snow cave at Bobath’s Christmas Market. The Market raised over £2,000 and we would like to thank all our fantastic volunteers who helped to make the day a great success.

For the few weeks in December, the fundraising office was more like Santa’s grotto, as the Bobath Elves were busy making reindeer food and writing Father Christmas letters. The personalised letters, in English or Welsh, were a big success and thank you for all the lovely comments we received. Bobath Elves will be helping Father Christmas again this year, so please look out for our fundraising letters. Thank you to everyone who got their knitting needles out and made wonderful Christmas decorations to sell in aid of Bobath. Due to the success of this appeal, we would now like to encourage more supporters to ‘Knit for Bobath’. Please contact the Fundraising Team for a FREE Bobath Knitting Booklet.

We are also extremely grateful to all our supporters who organised their own festive fundraising events, with special thanks to Radyr Primary School whose Christmas concerts raised £1,500 and the New Theatre, Cardiff who organised bucket collections during the panto season and raised £6,616.43. And finally a BIG thank you to everyone who purchased tickets for our Christmas Prize Draw and helped raise thousands of pounds for the Centre. Congratulations to the top 3 prize winners: Marc Gwilt, Rhun Jones and Barbara Rhys. A full list of winners can be obtained from the fundraising office.

 

Welly Walk

It was certainly a day for wellingtons as Bobath supporters turned out in force for our Welly Walk to help launch Cerebral Palsy Awareness Week 10th – 17th October. Many of our families who attend the Centre came from across South Wales and even as far as West Wales in a variety of wellies to plod through the puddles to raise money for Bobath. Volunteer coordinator, Emma Bennetts said, ‘Apart from the weather everything went well and it was great to see so many families come out and show their support.’

 

Big Fun Run

Runners put themselves through their paces for Bobath at Cardiff’s Big Fun Run on Saturday 26th September. The 5k run took runners through scenic Bute Park with the sun even coming out just in time. The run has hopefully raised around £2,000.

 

Race the Dragon’ Boat Race

What fun we had! For the first time Bobath Children’s Therapy Centre Wales, in partnership with The Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor of Cardiff, set sail and launched a Dragon Boat Race on Sunday 13th September. Teams of 11 paddlers entered into the spirit of the event with some fantastic fancy dress costumes on display. Tactics were discussed at great length with every crew highly motivated and in high spirits. There was much laughter and camaraderie as they raced in Chinese-style Dragon Boats over a 250 metre stretch of Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff Bay. The winning team was ‘Load of Bricks’ (Taylor Wimpey, with help from Sam and Kat) and the best dressed crew as judged by the Lady Mayoress was Yabadabadoo (Gwent Police).

We know we have raised over £12,000, with more sponsorship money still to come in. We would like to thank Race the Dragon, The Wharf Pub and The Express By Holiday Inn for all of their support. Our thanks also go to the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress for joining us and helping to make it a day to remember. Our biggest thanks go to all of the teams who participated in the boat race for raising such fantastic amounts and being such good sports! Following the success of this year’s boat race we are now planning a Dragon Boat Race in Swansea in the spring, as well as another race in Cardiff. So why not splash out and join us in 2010 when we will awaken the Dragon once more!

 

Summer Shows

The fundraising team have had a very busy summer visiting many shows across Wales, including the South Wales Classic Car Show, Royal Welsh, Vale of Glamorgan, Monmouthshire and Pembrokeshire shows. The summer shows provide us with a wonderful opportunity of meeting people and telling them about the important work of the Centre, as well as raising funds. We would like to thank our fantastic volunteers John, Penny, Carolyn and Gill who so generously donated their time and energy to help at the shows. Pictured with Emma Bennetts, Bobath’s Volunteer Coordinator is the Royal Welsh’s Lady Ambassador for 2009, Lucinda Dargavel.