Our very own Claire McDowell, Coventry Fundraising and Front of House Lead, headed to Arley Primary Academy to present an assembly to the children about The Myton Hospices, covering our services and who we support.
Unbeknownst to us, a mother to three pupils at the school had recently died of cancer, aged just 32. Although she wasn’t cared for by Myton, the assembly sparked a connection and the school chose the charity to fundraise for.
Mrs Parkes, Headteacher at Arley Primary Academy, said:
After her funeral, the children asked if we could hold a memorial to show their friends that they were thinking of them. As the mother was full of glitter and sparkle, we decided to host a ‘Glitter Day’.
The children came to school dressed in sparkles, we had glitter tattoos (temporary, of course), sparkly balloons and cakes with lots of sprinkles on them! We wanted the day to be full of remembrance, so we let off balloons at the end of the day.
We’re a very close-knit community and the school is the heart of everything. We were honoured that everyone contributed and got involved to remember a very special lady.
Not only was the day full of remembrance and celebrations, the school also fundraised for Myton, raising an amazing £300. We invited Mrs Parkes and a few of the children to our Coventry Myton Hospice to say a big thank you for all their support. We were lucky to be joined by eight pupils, India, Tayron, Bobby, Major, Finley, Gabi, Beatrice and Lizzie.
The school also wanted to give something tangible for our hospices so their gardening club, headed by Mrs Graham, put their green fingers into action. Mrs Graham commented:
We started our gardening club to add a bit of colour to our school grounds so we planted wildflowers. We decided we wanted to give the patients and their families something to smile at when at the hospice.
The school kindly donated two planters of their wildflowers, in recycled pots made from plastic from the ocean! We agree that they will put smiles on our patients faces!
India said:
We used lots of different kinds of flowers to make it as colourful as possible. We hope there is something in the pots that the patients will like!
Beatrice added:
My favourites are the ones that look like peppermint swirls! I call them candy flowers! We spend our Monday lunch breaks at gardening club and we are so happy we are giving some of our flowers to Myton!
Mrs Parkes commented on how proud she is of all of her pupils:
Seeing our pupils come together to support their peers during a difficult time and fundraise for a local cause fills me with immense pride. Their compassion and dedication to helping others reflect the core values of our school. Well done to all our children for making a meaningful difference in our community.
This year alone we need to raise £11 million to continue providing our services free of charge to patients and their loved ones. We rely on donations and support from our local community and every penny raised really does make a big difference.
Join us in saying a huge thank you to everyone at Arley Primary School.
If your school would like to fundraise for The Myton Hospices we would love to hear from you! We have a new appeal launching in September, in addition to some of our tried and trusted favourites, or you can do your own fundraising.
Find out more about organising your own fundraising HERE!
