Category: News

A big fear of mine is that people will start to forget to remember Milly, the years will pass and she will just slip their minds.

Milly’s 19th birthday and the 8th annual walk for her proved to me that people still hold her in their hearts and are happy to come and join us for a walk to remember her with us.

Huge thank you to everyone who joined us, it was so lovely to see you all again, and it was lovely to see new faces there too.

We had over 140 people walking with us, they braved the rain, which fortunately stopped we set off.

We had wonderful support from the police cadets they were exemplary, and did an amazing job as always.

The food was wonderful and there wasn’t a crumb left by the end of the event.

A special thank you has to go to my lovely work friend, Claire, who made an array of cupcakes and a birthday cake for Milly, these were a massive hit with everyone, and tasted delicious!

The food and refreshments were kindly sponsored by Fielding & Porter Solicitors, one of our charity partners for the year. A huge thank you to them for their wonderful support throughout the year, they have made such a differnce to us throughout the year.

12 months ago, Kerry the lovely community champion from Tesco, Great Harwood, got in touch with us to ask about setting up a book swap stand in the store.

Kerry wanted to run the book stand in store and ask for donations to Milly’s Smiles.

The book swap has been a massive success, with people regulary bringing books to swap and making very generous donations as well.

In the 12 months the stand has been running the store has raised over £6,000! Far more than any of us ever expected.

A huge thank you to Kerry for having the dedication to run the stand week on week, and for choosing Milly’s Smiles to support. The money has been amazing for us, and we are so grateful for every penny we receive.

A huge thank you also goes to all the customers who donate books and money, because of you we can support 42 newly diagnosed families which is just amazing!

We made a delivery to RMCH on the 23 November and took a further 20 Milly Bags for Ward 86. Graeme and John kindly made the journey over to the hospital for us and successfully delivered all our bags.

They also took a special treat for the nurses and the parents in the form of 2 Christmas hampers courtesy of Fieldings Porter Solicitors.

As always we thank everyone involved in supporting us and allowing us to make a difference to newly diagnosed families every day.

A huge thank you also to Fielding Porter Solicitors who are one of our charity partners for this year. Their support has been wonderful and I am sure the nurses and parents will enjoy the treats in their hampers!

Getting messages from families who have received a Milly Bag is extremely heart-warming and makes all our hard work so worthwhile.

At the time when parents receive a bag their world has just been turned upside down with emotions and feelings running wild.

To receive a message of thanks at this time means everything.

Today we received this lovely message and photo that we wanted to share…

“Thank you so much for the amazing bag and goodies .

Nellie-Jae was diagnosed with leukaemia three weeks ago and she has taken a real shine to the rainbow fleece blanket, it comes with us everywhere she goes .

We are so grateful. Thankyou x

We are continually grateful and humbled to be able to make a difference to children newly diagosed with a cancer related illness every day.

We received these beautiful pictures and lovely message from Ward 3B mum Beth, whose son was recently diagnosed with leukaemia…..

“Just want to say a big thank you for the kind bag we received at alder hey hosptial. Our little boy bailey is 11 months old and sadly was diagnosed with leukaemia! This bag was such a lovely gesture and cheered us all up.”

Messages like this truly warm our heart and reminds us that every single day we are making a huge difference.

Last December we were supported by Innov8 Development Solutions and Zen Consultancy in Manchester where they raised a staggering £15,000 at the Christmas Lunch Fundraiser.

In July this year, the company held a Summer B-B-Q to continue with the fundraising. It was a brilliant afternoon, with DJ Adam Guy donating his time to play some great tunes and Jason Rea Magic also donating his time to thrill people with his magic tricks.

The afternoon was a big success and a further £4525 was raised for Milly’s Smiles. This takes their grand total to £19,525!

We have been so grateful for all the support we have received over the last year, it really has made a massive difference to us and allows us to continue our work in supporting newly diagnosed children when they are admitted into hospital.

A huge thank you to Innov8 and Zen Consultancy for all their hard work in organising such brilliant events!

For the second year running Sabden Cricket Club have hosted a charity golf day to support Milly’s Smiles.

This year the event took place at Whalley Golf Club and 40 players took part.

The sun shone throughout the day and a fabulous time was had by all who attended.

The club have raised a wonderful £2,000 for us, which is incredible and very gratefully received.

A huge thank you goes to everyone who supported the club and a special thank you to Nick for his organsiational skills in bringing the whole day together.

See you again next year!

As we approach September, we head towards Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Before Milly was diagnosed with Leukaemia, this was a world that I knew very little about. I knew that children got cancer but beyond that my knowledge was very limited.

Every year there are around 1635 children under the age of 15 diagnosed with childhood cancer, and I am sure that everyone knows someone who has been touched by this dreadful disease.

Awareness is vital if things are to change. There needs to be better treatments with more favourable outcomes for our children.

I wish there was no need for our Milly Bags but as long as children continue to be diagnosed Milly’s Smiles will continue to support them.

We are there to make a small difference to families at the start of their journey, at one of the most frightening times in their lives. It is a time when nothing is certain and where you have very little control over what is happening to your child.

Last month we delivered a further 20 Milly Bags to Ward 84/86 at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, and this takes our total to 740 Milly Bags.

We thank everyone who continues to believe in us and everyone who continues to support us. With your help we make a difference everyday to a family somewhere across the North of England

We love a unique challenge and this one by Preston Running Club was certainly one of a kind!

Riversway Road Runners took on their biggest challenge yet, running 14 Park Run UK courses starting on the east coast of England and finishing on the west coast – in one day, running over 70km!

The club travelled to Scarbourgh which is where their epic journey from the Eastcoast to Westcoast began. They were supported by Andy from Wright Way to Travel, who not only dramatically reduced the fee for the mini bus but also kindly donated the fee to the Club’s charity page.

The Park Run schedule was:

4:30am – North Yorkshire Water Park parkrun.

5:50am – Dalby Forest parkrun

7:40am – New Earswick parkrun

9am – York parkrun

10:20am – Wetherby parkrun

11:30am – Conyngham Hall parkrun

12:25pm – Harrogate parkrun

1:45pm – Chevin Forest parkrun

3pm Bradford parkrun

4pm – Myrtle parkrun

5pm – Cliffe Castle parkrun

6:50pm – Skipton parkrun

8:25pm – Clitheroe Castle parkrun

9:20pm – Preston parkrun

We were lucky enough to catch the runners on their penultimate run at Clitheroe, where they all looked fresh and full of energy, despite the tough challenge already faced.

We also were fortunate to watch their last run at Preston, and we were truly in awe at their commitment and dedication. A fantastic achievment for themsevles and for Milly’s Smiles.

The club have raised a staggering £3,897.00!

Huge congratulations to everyone involved, and a massive thank you to all the runners and the organisers for supporting Milly’s Smiles.

We were thrilled to receive a wonderful donation of £500 from the Cumbria Armed Forces Breakfast Club.

Army veterans John and Alison Chippendale came down to the Summer Fayre last month to present us with the cheque.

This means such a lot to us, John and Alison are related to Milly and their support and kindness means the world.

Thank you to everyone involved in raising the money.