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LATEST NEWS
Sparkles & Surprises
Princess & Pirates Day
Sat 6th September 11am-4pm
Brighton Marina
Outside the Bowlplex
Come dress up as Pirates and walk the plank, dig for buried treasure, pan for gold while your parants enjoy the pieces of ate at the Seafood Festival nearby. Beautiful Princesses rerquired for makoves and dressing up and a 5 star limo ride. All money donated goes to the charity.
Danny House
Thank you to Danny House fpr the beautiful Garden Party and old fashioned fairground rides, all the complex special needs children and their familes had a wonderful time.
St George's Day
Children's Parade
Hove Town Hall to George Street, Hove
Wednesday 23rd April 2008
Once again a huge success building on last years St Georges Day Parade in George Street, Hove, it proved to be the only parade celebrated on the correct day south of London. Thanks to the support of the local children, businesses and the Business Forum, local charity Sparkles & Surprises was able to put on the event at very short notice, giving no time for the local schools and nurseries to take part. The event raised over £650 to take local complex special needs children and their families on the Bluebell Railway last Christmas Eve. The Children’s Parade caught the imagination of the press, with BBC South East and Meridian TV filming and broadcasting several minutes on prime time TV, The Argus gave a full page in colour and Juice FM promoted the event and did live broadcast from the street plus interviews with Southern FM and Radio Reverb. Thank you to Masquerade for the costumes and Drama for Fun for the wonderful play. The best bit was Paul, our cheif fundraiser leading the parade in his wheelchair. Paul has raised a lot of money and we are truly inspired by him.
Disneyland Paris trip a huge success
EuroStar, Q-Parks and Disneyland were truly wonderful, doing everything possible to accommodate us... we took 10 families with complex special needs children to Disneyland Paris back in August. It was so magical with everyone enjoying the Disney parade and a tea party with the characters.
Eurostar has worked closely with Sparkles & Surprises to ensure special arrangements are in place so
that the trip worked within Eurostar's disabled policy.
A great deal of work by Eurostar
colleagues has gone in to ensuring the success of the trip and we are so greatfull to everyone at Eurostar.
Also a special thank you to Q-Parks who have made parking possible by donating spaces at their very busy Waterloo car park.
The next event planned is two trips on Christmas Eve on the Bluebell Railway Santa Steam Train Special.
BBC Springwatch
Sparkles & Surprises had a fund raising stall at the BBC Springwatch Festival in Stanmer Park on Sunday 10th June 2007, next year we are also looking to provide some nature fun (like riding ponies) for complex special needs children - any ideas on activities let me know please.
Who is behind Sparkles and Surprises?
Sparkles & Surprises takes complex special needs children AND their families on magical trips leaving the whole family with wonderful memories and smiles.
Jacqui Dolton is a nurse, who used to work at Chailey Heritage a long time ago and is currently employed by Advantage Healthcare (formerly BUPA) and is dedicated to specialize in making a difference to children with complex physical, mental and sensory disabilities.
100 of the most disables children in the country are being helped towards a colourful, meaningful existence, some of them to a degree of independence.
Only two of the children at the school can walk and that is with a frame. Few of them can talk, and some cannot see. Most are unable to swallow and have to be fed by gastrostomy – liquid nourishment through a peg in the stomach.
Sparkles & Surprises is a project (she doesn’t like the word charity), which is very close Jacqui’s heart as she was blessed with having a 3rd brother with downs syndrome, who then died very young.
Jacqui raised some of the money by holding a raffle at the Brighton & Hove Farmers Market and Food Festivals. The experience of organising festivals with both Frank and Paul has been great training for these trips.
Why Sparkle & Surprises?
In early 2006 Jacqui completed a personal development course that gave her great courage and direction to create a project that would make a difference to physically challenged children. She then discovered the Bluebell Railway had a steam train with a disabled carriage and a wheelchair lift, so she booked it for Christmas Eve to take the children of Chailey Heritage.
Jacqui named the trip Sparkles & Surprises because she planned to give the children and their families a special day out full of smiles and wonder for all.
Chailey Heritage School
The project is chosen for and yet completely independent from Chailey Heritage. However the school is very touched and would love the trip to be an annual event for the residents of the school, which it will. As this is an independent trip, Chailey Heritage takes no responsibility for arrangements etc. The families require no money, as it is raised by Sparkles & Surprises for this event to go ‘full steam ahead!’ All parents take full responsibility for their child’s welfare and for any medication throughout the trip. Health & safety and risk assessments are all covered and taken care of.
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Last years trip on Christmas Eve
This was a complete success; one parent thanked Jacqui afterwards and said ‘We never do anything as a family, thank you’. A few weeks later a Mum from the trip called to say ‘Are you sitting down? My boy hasn’t been able to speak for 5 years and yesterday said his first words ‘Choo Choo.”
During the trip all the children were given wooden train whistles as a ‘memory hook’ gift to remind them of the day. Recently a 11yr old boy who came on last years trip sadly died, ‘Sparkles & Surprises’ were told he had his best Christmas ever thanks to the trip. At the funeral the parents asked Jacqui not to stop the good work. A memorial plaque in his honour will be unveiled at the Bluebell Railway in the New Year.
The trip was more amazing than could have been hoped, with a magical 90 minute train ride looking at the beautiful scenery, mince pies and drinks on board, magicians and clowns entertaining the children and then Santa giving wonderful presents to all the children on the return trip. Organiser Jacqui dresses as an Angel and her partner Frank as an Elf (Elf & Safety). The trip was over subscribed so booked a New Year Special and did a second trip.
 How is the money raised?
Collection boxes are placed in the 99p shop in Brighton and the pennies collected every week are banked in the Sparkles & Surprises account, plus generous donations from people and organisations who care about the children and see what these trips provide. There are also raffles at Farmers Markets and Food & Drink Festivals, and the project grows month by month as peoples hearts get touched.
What next?
Once again the Bluebell Railway has been booked for Christmas Eve and another trip to Disneyland Paris next Summer.
So lots of fundraising and organising to do!
It’s not what they can’t do -
it's what they can…
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