Latest news - January 2009

The start of 2009 has seen a couple of wonderful developments with regards to the appeal. Firstly, after numerous unforeseen delays, the second incubator, purchased back in the summer of 2008, has finally arrived in the neonatal department. We are due to formally present the incubator on Monday 26th January and we hope that it works a little magic for all the babies it holds. Secondly, following the Herculean efforts of many (see below) we have raised another £11,500 and have approached the hospital to see what is top of their current ‘wish list’. As a result we have confirmed the purchase of an infant resuscitation and warming station, which we hope will arrive in the spring.

The second half of 2008, we are delighted to say, saw a flurry of activity on behalf of Harry and Jock’s Appeal and we would like to acknowledge the kindness and generosity of those who have raised money and donated on our behalf. Red House Farm hosted its 4th annual fund raiser, and despite the weather’s best efforts to quite literally put a dampener on things, over £1,500 was raised. Ocean’s Sky held a raffle in honour of the charity and raised £250. At their annual Gala Ball, the Altrincham Chamber of Commerce raised £650 at their raffle and has also kindly donated that to us. We have also received the very generous donation of £1,000 from the Eric Kay Charitable Trust. St Peter’s Toddler Group in Hale has kindly nominated us as their chosen charity for 2008 – 2009 and has raised a stunning £1,109 at their recent GAN (good as new) sale. The best, however, has been saved for last. Jo Racle and Sarah Lines tackled the Coast to Coast walk, raising over £800 for their efforts and enduring all manner of adverse weather conditions and enormous blisters! Rob Worrall also endured all manner of adverse weather conditions during his Snowdonia Marathon effort, reaching the finish line in a little over 5 hours.

Finally, I received a ‘phone call a few weeks ago from a former colleague. To cut a long story short, her desperately longed-for twin grandchildren were born prematurely at 24 weeks. Tragically, the baby girl lost her fight for life after a few days. The baby boy, however, fought on, spending 10 weeks in the one of ‘our’ incubators and is expected to grow and thrive into a healthy little boy. So thanks to everyone for helping us to put the best equipment alongside the excellent staff to make the difference.

Thanks for your ongoing support!

How to make a donation

You can now make a donation to the Harry and Jock Appeal through Just Giving (www.justgiving.com). Type 'harry and jocks appeal' in the Find a Charity search box for charity details. Alternatively contact Steph or Sarah via info@harryandjocksappeal.org, Many thanks.

Events and previous news

****From August 2008****

We are delighted to say that July 2008 saw the purchase of the second incubator for the neonatal unit. At present, we are currently awaiting to officially present the incubator. The incubator selected by the staff came in at a little over £11,100 – a little cheaper than anticipated, which means we have a head start on saving for a third incubator. We would like to thank the following contributors: -

Neil Myerson Solicitors, who nominated Harry and Jock’s Appeal as one of their chosen charities to support as part of their 25th Anniversary celebrations, and raised £5,000.

Forest Primary School, Timperley, who nominated Harry and Jock’ Appeal as their chosen charity for the school year ‘07 – ’08. Thanks go to the staff, parents but, most especially the children whose various fundraising activities raised a wonderful £1,500.

The annual fundraising day at the Red House Farm Maize Maze on Sunday 24th August raised £1,700. The weather was kind and an enjoyable day was had by all who joined us.

We would also like to thank Claire Norton, Ocean Sky, the Flixton Townswomens Guild and all those who have donated recently.

We are also delighted to announce that Jo Racle is raising funds for the charity by completing the Coast to Coast Challenge, and the St Peter’s Parents and Toddlers in Hale have nominated us as their chosen charity for the forthcoming year.

As the four trustees, we’d just like to say that we never envisaged the level of support we would receive. Since we started the charity we’ve raised £40,000, an amount that has far exceeded our hopes and expectations. Thank you everyone who has supported us over the last three years.

**** From November 2007 ****

We’re delighted to report that there have been some exciting developments recently. Firstly, following the success of our third annual Maize Maze fundraiser, we are creeping ever closer towards reaching our £14,000 target for the second incubator.

Secondly we have been approached by three independent organisations and individuals keen to support the charity which, as charity trustees, we have found both delightful and humbling.

Forest School in Timperley have chosen Harry and Jock’s Appeal as their nominated charity for the academic year 2007 – 2008. We look forward to working with Mr Groves, the headmaster, the staff and, most importantly, the pupils over the next few months.

Neil Myerson Solicitors, based in Altrincham, are planning a series of fund-raising activities from Thursday November 22nd to Sunday November 25th and have chosen Harry and Jock’s Appeal as one of the charities to support.

And last, but by no means least, Claire Norton, of Tranquil Therapies, stumbled across our website and volunteered her considerable therapeutic abilities to any fundraising efforts. All being well, she will be working alongside the team from Neil Myerson to provide much needed relief from the more physical aspects of their fundraising efforts!

It is our great hope that, with all the aforementioned support, we will be able to install a second neonatal incubator at the special care baby unit at Wythenshawe Hospital, and possibly even set the ball rolling with regards saving for a third. When we initially started this charity we decided we wanted to know exactly where our funds were channelled.

We have therefore liaised closely with the clinical staff that cared for Harry during his short life, supported Sarah and Mark following Jock’s still-birth and provided compassion and assistance to all of us both during our hospital admissions and beyond, to find out exactly what was needed. A ‘wish list’ was generated and at the top were six new incubators. We have purchased smaller pieces of equipment as requested, and furnished a room on the ante-natal suite but now, with guidance from the Paediatricians and Midwives, our attention has returned to the incubators. There was nothing further that could have been done to save Harry or Jock, but we like to think we are doing what we can to provide the best possible opportunity to those babies that can be saved…

And finally, both Harry and Jock are now big brothers. Monty Peter Hewitt was born safe and well on August 2nd, and Daniel Mark Johnson arrived alive and kicking on 12th October. With thanks to everyone for their good wishes xxx

**** From early 2007 ****

Since the charity began in 2005 we have, so far, raised over £20,000. Of this, £13,500 has been used to purchase a specialist incubator for the neonatal unit. This incubator is used by the poorliest of babies on the unit. We have also purchased smaller pieces of equipment for the neonatal, maternity and ante natal units including televisions for the Snowdrop rooms and cooling fans for the delivery suites.

Our most recent project is the transformation of a room on the ante natal unit. With the generous help and support of Halo Antiques, Altrincham, we have refurnished a room which will be used by parents, doctors and mid-wives for times when privacy, comfort and quiet are required to discuss various situations which may occur during a pregnancy.

We would also like to pass on our sincere thanks to our most recent supporters. As we have mentioned, the generosity of Halo Antiques, Altrincham has enabled us to acquire some beautiful furniture for which we are extremely grateful. Altrincham Young Farmers Club have generously sacrificed the funtioning of their livers and a few of their brain cells to raise £250 on a pub crawl of Altrincham. And our good friend Andy York is running the Manchester 10k in aid of Harry and Jock's Appeal. Andy has set up a page on 'just giving', which is an excellent way for people to donate. Just click on the Just Giving link below and type Andrew York into the Sponsor a Friend box. We'd just like to take this opportunity to wish Andy all the best - we hope you enjoy the event as much as we did last year. We'll keep our fingers crossed for slightly less rain!

We will be holding our annual fund-raising day on Sunday August 26th at the pirate themed Maize Maze at Red House Farm. Quite simply, you get all the fun-filled maze activities at the standard price, and we simply donate the proceeds from the day. At present, we are about half-way towards raising sufficient funds for a second specialist incubator. We are hoping that, by the end of the year, we will be much closer to the target of £13,500 for this second incubator.

**** From 2006 ****

W we were invited to officially present our first incubator to the neonatal unit. The incubator cost around £14,000 and is an 'all-singing, all-dancing' machine that will help to support the lives of the poorliest babies. To say it was an emotional return to the unit would be an understatement. It brought back a flood of memories about the precious little time we had with our boy. Yet, at the same time, surrounded by tiny babies, we were also touched with pride and hope.

One of the regular shoppers at Red House Farm commented to Alan the other day that, whilst Harry may only have spent a short time in this world, he's done an awful lot of good. That just about sums it us for us.

So, once again, many thanks to everyone who has helped us

The Red House Farm Maize Maze hosted its annual charity day on Sunday 27th August. We raised £4,000 and, together with some recent donations, takes the total our charity has raised to over the £20,000 mark. Overwhelming, to say the least...Thank you to everyone.


We have received news from the Charity Commission to say the The Harry and Jock's Appeal is now an official charity! (number 1114355).

On 25th April 2006, Harry's first birthday, we received a cheque for £120 from some friends. Not only had they remembered the date, they had been kind enough to organise a collection for the appeal. And so, 8 months after our appeal was launched, we have reached our first target - £15,000 for the purchase of an incubator in memory of our beautiful little boy. So many thanks to everyone who has donated, and allowed us to honour our son's life in this way.

Jonny and Steph
xxx

Mark, Steph and Jonny successfully finished (despite very little training!) the BUPA 10K in Manchester on Sunday 21st May in aid of the appeal. Final figures are not yet in but we should have raised over £400, which will go towards buying some television equipment for the Snowdrop and Green room at the Wythenshawe hospital.

Times: Mark - 48:57 Jonny - 53.05, Steph - 56:47.

About the appeal

Steph and Jonny Hewitt started the fund after they lost their baby boy, Harry, on the 26th April 2005. Steph and Jonny were overwhelmed by the compassion and support they received from the staff at Wythenshawe hospital and decided to raise £15000 for a specialist incubator for their neonatal unit. Their hope was that this donation would help prevent other parents suffering the same ‘living hell’ of losing their baby.

The fund was kick started with a charity day in memory of Harry at the Maize Maze at Redhouse Farm Dunham Massey, where Jonny is one of the directors. Together with personal donations from friends, family and Redhouse farm customers, the fund has reached over £13000.

Another set of parents grieving the loss of their baby, Jock, read an article in the Sale and Altrincham Messenger and decided to get in touch to offer their support to the fund. Sarah and Mark Johnson lost their son in August 2005 when he was born prematurely at 23 weeks. The two couples have since become firm friends.

The fund was then renamed Harry and Jock’s Appeal and intends to donate as much equipment to the hospital as possible. Some of the donations will also be used to support the Snowdrop Room at Wythenshawe Hospital. This is a special room at the hospital where those whose babies have died (either before or after birth) can stay in comfort away from the main maternity ward. Both couples feel this is a positive way to celebrate two such short lives and that their names will live on.

Poems

We have collected a number of poignant poems and sayings that reflect the emotions caused by the loss of a baby. Please Click here

Contact us

Please contact us in the first instance at info@harryandjocksappeal.org.