1. SCOOP
Who we are
Stick ‘n’ Step is a
nationally-recognised
charity based in
Merseyside that was
formed in 2002 by a
group of parents who
have children with
cerebral palsy. We
provide free specialist
conductive education
and support services
to children with
cerebral palsy - and
their families and
carers - across the
North West of England
and North Wales.
The Stick ‘n’ Step
STEP SEVEN - SUMMER 2015
Stick 'n' Step
3 Croxteth Avenue, Wallasey CH44 5UL
Telephone: 0151 638 0888, Email: info@sticknstep.org
www.sticknstep.org
Registered Charity No. 1136997
Company limited by
guarantee 7257957.
A step
ahead
Visit our shops:
52 Brows Lane, Formby, L37 4ED
41a Bebington Road, New Ferry, CH62 5BE
8 The Stick ‘n’ Step Scoop - Summer 2015
Get in touch
Follow us on Twitter: @SticknStep1
Like our page on Facebook: Stick ‘n’ Step Charity
Watch us on YouTube: sticknstepcharity
Visit our website: www.sticknstep.org
Stick these dates in your diary
There are some fantastic organised events taking place in the North West over
the coming months that you could be a part of:
Tough Mudder
Description: A large team from Stick ‘n’ Step is currently training to get
muddy and we want more of you.
When: 13 September
Where: Cholmondeley Estate, Malpas
Speak to Joel Sweeney for further details or call 0151 638 0888
Wirral half marathon and 10K run
Description: Event of The Year winner at the Wirral Tourism Awards – this is one
race not to miss. If you don’t fancy Tough Mudder, why not try
running from Birkenhead Park to New Brighton instead?
When: 13 September
Where: Starting at Birkenhead Park.
Visit www.btrliverpool.com for more information.
Big Fun Run Manchester
Description: This is the run for those who want to have fun! The focus is on
doing something healthy with friends and family (under-fives
run for free) whilst raising money for a good cause.
When: 23 August
Where: Heaton Park, Manchester.
Visit www.bigfunrun.com for more information.
Thank you!
We appreciate the support of all of our fundraisers and love to know what you’ve been up to. Please don’t forget
to share your stories and pictures with us via our Facebook page, Twitter, Email or post – and you might even feature
in our next edition of Stick ‘n’ Step Scoop! If you would like help on how to fundraise for us – including sponsorship forms
and setting up a JustGiving webpage, Stick ‘n’ Step T-shirts or a fundraising pack – please call Natasha Miner
on 0151 638 0888 or email natasha@sticknstep.org.
World CP Day
Earlier this year we shared news of Sally Garster’s invention idea for a
house made of sponge being one of three shortlisted ideas to be pitched
to inventors worldwide. It’s part of World Cerebral Palsy Day and the
winner of the competition will be announce on 27 July. Keep an eye on
our Facebook page and www.worldcpday.org for news of the outcome.
2. Inside
Scoop
2 The Stick ‘n’ Step Scoop - Summer 2015
Tri4Life take to open waters for us
26 members of local community group Tri4Life are completing seven open water
swims ‘from Liverpool to North Wales’, covering 40 miles of coastal waters (and
a lake), during the summer to raise funds for us and other charities. The Big7Swim
Extreme is the first challenge of its kind.
Dave Walton visited us in 2012 and he’s been volunteering here ever since. We
wouldn’t be where we are now without fundraisers like Tri4Life – who have been
supporting us since our inception – and volunteers like Dave. Thank you all!
We’re talking Business
It’s an exciting time for Stick ‘n’ Step right now. Our Cheshire project is going
well and support continues to be strong in Merseyside. We want to be the best
charity that we can and use your money wisely.
In order to do this, we need sharp business skills
and the right knowledge.
We’re delighted to be one of 12 charities (out
of 200 shortlisted) in Northern England to benefit
from the Pilotlight scheme. Over the course of a
year, we will receive advice on various business-
related issues from senior business people at
some of the UK’s most prestigious organisations.
This puts us in a very special position and we’re
excited for the opportunities that might result.
Our year with the Mayor
On 13 May we were presented with an £8,000 donation from the Mayor’s
Special Charity Fund. It marked the end of our time as one of the Mayor’s
chosen charities, which has been an honour and a privilege.
In that year, Cllr Steve Foulkes has helped
us raise awareness of the charity, through
his weekly columns in both local newspapers,
and has gained us new supporters.
Commented Cllr Steve Foulkes, outgoing
Mayor of Wirral: “From our very first visit, Elaine
and I knew we had to get involved with this
great charity. We hope to stay in touch and
continue to help.” We look forward to
continuing our relationship with Cllr Foulkes
and his consort, Elaine Nolan.
Merseycats’ music makes money
Merseycats, a community group
that helps local bands from the
60’s reform in the company of old
friends, has been busy fundraising
for us. In May we were invited along to
one of their gigs to accept a cheque for £2,000. The money
was raised from ticket sales and raffles held at band nights. Merseycats has
supported us with donations several times over the years and we’re very grateful
for all they have done.
Famous faces club together at our Golf Day
Alongside Rob Palmer, our ambassador, and supported by our Chair’s
company, Grenson Motors, we hosted our annual Golf Day at Pryor Hayes
Golf Club in May, which raised almost £30,000 – our best yet.
160 golfers took part and there were more famous faces than ever before
including Ally from The Mac Brothers, who appeared on BBC’s The Voice.
Famous ex-footballers also swapped clubs for a day, adding some healthy
competition between tees. Match of the Day pundit Guy Mowbray led the
winning team. We are thankful to Rob, the sponsors, Iain Robertson (our
volunteer ‘Beat the Pro’) and everyone who attended or donated a raffle
or auction prize, for making it such a success.
F
undraising helps ensure we can provide our services
for free. Since our last edition, people across the region
have stepped up to the challenge and they’ve donated
thousands. Our golf day was the most successful one
ever, businesses have been providing innovative solutions
to help us save money and our regular community supporters
have stayed loyal. But with the season of organised fundraising
events upon us, there’s still plenty more to come.
It’s been busy at the centre too! New beginnings have come
in the form of caterpillars, fruit and veg, Easter surprises, new
faces and more, and we said ‘thank you’ to the Mayor at the
end of our year as his charity. Overall it’s been a string of fun
activities and there’s more to look forward to.
Friends in high places
We’ve had some high profile
visitors at Stick ‘n’ Step over
recent months.
As Liverpool Echo’s Pride
of Merseyside Charity
Organisation, in April we
were honoured to host the
newspaper’s Editor Alastair
Machray and Wirral Reporter
Rob Pattinson – an avid
supporter of ours in recent
times.
Thanks to the help of our
friends at The Morgan
Foundation, we also
welcomed the Lord Lieutenant
of Cheshire, David Briggs,
M.B.E., K.St.J, to our centre in
June, which we hope will help
with our efforts in establishing
our profile in Cheshire.
Waste not, want not
Local waste company
B&M Waste Services is now
assisting with our waste
disposal costs at our centre
and the New Ferry shop. The
annual saving will be around
£3,000, which is almost the
annual equivalent of one
child’s place. Support comes
to us in different forms, each
of equal importance. This is
a significant solution that will
keep our running costs
down.
3. Step into
our world
The Stick ‘n’ Step Scoop - Summer 2015 5
Staff stories
Natasha Miner – Fundraiser
Our latest recruit has turned our fundraising team into
a trio. Natasha will be responsible for corporate and
community support. She will be managing the next
50/50 challenge and has already booked the ball
finale for spring 2016. As the person who will be out
and about in the community, meeting with our
supporters and encouraging new ones, we have
every faith in Natasha. She is a great addition to our
team and her personality really reflects who we are.
Stepping up our approach to staff training
We’ve received double award wins from
Progress to Excellence. This is the
organisation that our apprentice, Shannon
Sample, is doing her training through.
Shannon is a real asset to our team and the
staff at Progress to Excellence think so too.
They nominated her in the Apprentice of the
Year category at this year’s Training and
Education Awards. To our surprise, we were also
nominated for the Employer of the Year award.
The winners were announced at a celebratory
event at Crowne Plaza on 3 June, which our team
and Shannon attended.
Last year...
... we received support from 43 grant funders
… our 50/50 challenge for businesses and schools raised £42,000…
… and by December we reached our annual fundraising target of £350,000.
So far this year we’ve…
… launched a brand new Stick ‘n’ Step pilot project in Cheshire
… spent £8,000 upgrading and refurbishing our sensory room….
… and helped two of our families obtain specialist trikes so their children
can learn to ride!
Prince’s Trust funded Easter egg hunt
Once again the Prince’s Trust kindly funded a day out for us. This time we went
on an Easter Egg hunt around Tam O'Shanter Farm in Wirral. The children found
some real treats hidden along the way, with the help of some Prince’s Trust
volunteers. A great morning was had by all.
Green fingers
Our volunteer gardener
John has donated his
allotment to us for use,
which is a great way for
our children to practice
their fine motor skills. Joel
and Zoltan have been
busy preparing the soil
or another crop and our
children will soon spring
into action, digging and
planting the next batch
of fruit and veg.
Formby shop does Easter
in style
Our shop in Formby continues to
dress for all occasions. We’re not
talking mannequins, windows or
customers. We’re talking Easter
Bunnies! This Easter volunteer
employee Philip hopped straight
to it and made sure all the
children who came by got their
fair share of chocolate treats
from our Bunny, as a thank you
for their custom and support.
Our team at Formby have a real
knack for putting on displays
and the best way to make sure
you don’t miss out is to pop by
and see what they’re up to.
Heritage Lottery
funded trips
Our fundraisers have
been able to secure
funding from Heritage
Lottery that will
enable us to go on a series
of cultural trips in and around
Merseyside over the next few months. The locations are chosen by us, providing
they are heritage sites that will benefit the children’s appreciation of their local
area. The first of these trips was a visit to Liverpool’s Maritime Museum in May.
It was good practice for them to use what they
have learnt at Stick ‘n’ Step and
get out and about,
independently, whilst
supervised.
Tears of joy
Six year old Nathan McWilliam’s story is beautiful. After
struggling to get to school each day without crying,
Nathan’s nana, who drives him to school, had an
idea to help dry his eyes. One morning in January,
she told Nathan that if he could last the journey
to school without crying, she would give him 50p.
He did and for every day he didn’t cry, his nana
continued to give him 50p. Instead of keeping the
money, Nathan decided to donate the contents of his charity
box (all £30 of it) to charity and he chose us. This was a big gesture from the
heart of a truly generous little boy – thank you.
We had a BBQ
June saw our families congregate on a sunny Sunday at
Barnstondale Activity Centre for our AGM, where the children
enjoyed a day of wall climbing, abseiling, archery and shooting.
Taiko Dragons kindly supported the occasion by hosting drum
lessons too, which upped the tempo of the day!
4. Latest
scoop
6 The Stick ‘n’ Step Scoop - Summer 2015
You’re making a difference
A huge thank you to all of our fundraisers and volunteers
for helping to make a difference. We appreciate your
support! Here’s just a few examples of what you’ve been
up to recently:
• Dave Garster, whose daughter Sally attends Stick ‘n’
Step, has been running for us again. This time he did
the Liverpool Rock ‘n’ Roll marathon and has
raised £300 to date.
• Nick Champion and his daughter Alice did
a sponsored skydive because we were one
of the Mayor’s charities, raising £300 for us. We
thanked Nick at the Mayor’s end of year event.
• Staff from Simpson Millar LLP didn’t let the rain
dampen their spirits at the Liverpool Marathon this
year. They raised £1,000 for us.
• Georgina Roberts’ dad is one of the Tri4Life members.
Inspired by her dad and the team’s efforts, Georgia
decided to run the Edinburgh half marathon in May
and raised £360 for us.
• St Mary’s Old boys and Mosslands Old boys football
teams play a charity match against
each other every year in support of us.
Over £1,500 was raised – now that’s a great
sporting triumph!
• The local Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers
group never leave us lost at sea for long.
Once again, they’ve kindly donated
£1,002.50, which they raised at their
recent annual dinner.
Once again we’ve got the Scoop on what our friends, families and supporters have
been saying about us. Your feedback and comments are important to us and we’d
love to know what you’re thinking. You might find yourself featured in upcoming
editions of Scoop too.
Emma Richards responded to Kirsty’s post:
“Thank you for the donations. I don't know
where we would be without this wonderful
charity and the work that they do with Alfie.”
@tweetallymac
“Well that was a fairly epic weekend! Topped
off by an inspiring day with @SticknStep1.
Please give them a follow. They deserve
every success.”
Steve Hannam, Jack and Ollie’s dad
“Lovely afternoon out at the Maritime
museum. Thank you all.”
Famous faces get in the swing for chari-tee at Pryor Hayes - Golfers Local, May 2015
Golfers Local can be found at golf clubs across the UK and so too can the news of our recent golf day.
Charity hails Mayor’s work - Liverpool Echo, 10/05/15
We gave an insight on being the mayor’s charity, which the Echo and Wirral Globe both featured.
Stick your name down to step out - Wirral News, 29/04/15
We appealed for supporters to don their walking boots in aid of us at this year’s Wirral coastal walk.
Pilot project aims to help children take step forward - Chester and District Standard, 26/03/15
Our pilot project at Tarporley community centre in Cheshire made local headlines
Award recognition for Wirral’s unsung heroes - Wirral Globe, 17/03/15
New Ferry shop volunteers Ann Carter, Rose Lee and Doreen Mckinnon were celebrated in the news.
Wirral Charity Stick ‘n’ Step opens state-of-the-art sensory room - Wirral Globe, 09/03/15
Our refurbished sensory room was the talk of Wirral as the Mayor came to open it back in March.
Kirsty Duncalf via
Facebook
“We had a lovely
morning today visiting
Stick 'n' Step… We took
with us the donations we
so kindly received off our
lovely family and friends
in memory of John…We
came away knowing
every penny will be used
towards enriching the
lives of each one of the
66 children through their
amazing work.”
Be a Stick ‘n’ Step hero
Rose Rochford, who recently turned 90, is as dedicated
to us as she is to her baking. Her support is simple but
effective. Rose likes to bake cakes (and jam) and she
does it well. With her neighbours as customers, there’s
always demand for Rose to sell them in aid of us. She’s
got a real taste for what’s hot and what’s not, and
every few months Rose rolls up with a bag of petty
cash. A hundred pounds here, two hundred pounds
there, it all adds up, and soon enough Rose’s
fundraising total passed the thousand pounds mark –
all by making exceedingly good cakes.
Wirral walk
This June, the 30th
Wirral Coastal Walk
took place and Stick
‘n’ Step supporters
were there. Together
they walked 15 miles of
coast, from Seacombe
Ferry Terminal to Wirral
Country Park. Around
£3,000 has been
donated so far, with
donations still coming
in. This is the most
raised ever and will
fund one child’s place
here for a year. Thank
you all, once again, for
stepping out in support
of us.