Garden Party - Fundraising for Leukaemia Research

I wrote a few months ago about Alfie in this blog post, who has been through three years of treatment for Leukaemia. His Granny (my Auntie Jean) and his Mum (Aimi, my cousin) arranged 'Granny's Garden Party' in Northamptonshire last weekend to raise funds for Leukaemia Research and the Our Space Appeal.  It was a great day and we had lots of fun.  We aren't often all together so it was a good way to spend a Sunday

! Luckily, Auntie Jean has an amazing garden in which the event was held.  The sunshine even came out to say hello!  The morning was hectic to say the least and we were all there for 9am to help set up.

Auntie Jean had made hundreds of scones, Auntie Iris had made lots of jams with Hannah who also made lots of lovely bags, bunting, jam pot covers etc.  Auntie Myra was in charge of teas and coffees with Uncle Pete, Charlotte, Sue and Pauline were fab waitresses.  Aimi manned the raffle, Emma W was in charge of bric-a-brac.  Alfie, Lili, Callum, Tom and Ellis played on the bouncy castle, had some body painting done and Finn rolled around on the grass as he was too small for the bouncy castle.My mum (Enid) was in charge of 'decorate your own gingerbread man' along with Lucy.  Granny Maud was in charge of 'name the teddy'!  Recognise any of those names?  They're the names of my fabric bundles, I have to remember them all somehow!  That is the fabric, rather than the people, I can remember them ok!

We had a raffle and there were lots of generous prizes donated by various individuals and companies. One in particular I'm going to write about tomorrow... It was a long day but a huge success. £2,100 was raised for Leukaemia Research and the Our Space Appeal. I know the family wanted to do something to 'give back' to the cause for the excellent treatment, care and support they had received from the moment Alfie was diagnosed, just weeks after he first started school. The Garden Party was opened by Alfie's nurse Corrine who they had seen almost every week since Alfie's diagnosis, often at school where she would take his blood for testing.

There were lots of visitors and lots of purchases which contributed to the rather fantastic grand total. I know that the family will hand over the money with pride. It was a long day so after we'd cleared up we had a BBQ and then made the journey back to Kent, rather sun burnt (who'd have thought it!).

Aimi has been chosen to run with the Olympic Flame when it reaches the Midlands.  She started running to fundraise so this is a great culmination of all the hard work she's put in.  Her blog can be found here.

A final mention goes to Lesley Bee, wonderwoman photographer, who produced the lovely collage image at the end of this post.  Please have a look at Lesley's website and Facebook page.  She is based in the Midlands and I would definitely recommend her, she's one of those lovely photographers, not the type that shouts at you at a wedding to get into place (we've all met one of those haven't we?!).

All in all a great weekend.  Thank you to the sunshine for making an appearance, I hope we will see you again soon!