Ronald McDonald House

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Martin Keown kicks off building with twins, Finley and Billy Kearns, and mum and dad, Laura and Robert.

Former Arsenal and England star Martin Keown has helped kick off building at the new accommodation for families with seriously ill children in Oxford. 

The footballer from Oxford broke ground at the new 62-bedroom Ronald McDonald House on the John Radcliffe Hospital site on Wednesday, 6th February. The house will provide families with free accommodation while their children are being treated to save them having to go to and from the hospital. 

Among those at the ceremony were two-year-old twins Finley and Billy Kearns, whose parents Laura and Robert spent more than four months at the current house after the twins were born prematurely. Billy needed surgery to reverse a stoma. The £14million facility is due to open in summer next year with 62 en-suite bedrooms and communal living facilities, including kitchens, lounges, playrooms, laundry rooms and a garden. 

The current 17-bedroom house has experienced a rise in demand over the last 15 years and while last year it accommodated 600 families, it had to turn a further 300 away. 

Ronald McDonald House Charities has raised £9million, Oxford Hospitals Charity has added £2.5million, Children with Cancer UK is donating more than £280,000 and McDonald’s employees and customers has raised £1.5million. A further £1million is still needed to fit and furnish the house and the charity is looking to the local community to help them in this fundraising effort, as well as for volunteers to help get the house ready and provide support.

CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities Jon Howard said last week they were delighted to begin the expansion work. Thanking all those who have helped, he added: “We know from research it is beneficial for the health of family members and their child to keep them close together, and that comfortable and supportive accommodation nearby is a key enabler in this process.” 

Head of the paediatric psychology department Dr Karen Steinhardt with the range of services available at Oxford, families are increasingly travelling from further afield for treatment. She said: “This new accommodation at Ronald McDonald House Oxford will allow more families to be close by in the hospital grounds. 

“It will allow them to get more rest and sleep, eat properly and lead as normal a life as possible ad importantly, feel able to make the best decisions about their child’s health.” 

The new building will be open to families with children being cared for at Oxford Children’s Hospital as well as Children’s Critical Care and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit on the John Radcliffe site. 

Picture credit: Richard Cave

  Read more about the Ronald McDonald House Charity

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Fundraising superhero: Oxfordshire charity Play2Give

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Changing, transforming and saving lives – that is exactly what one young Didcot fundraising stalwart has done tirelessly without pause for half of his life.

Last year was extra special for fundraising superhero Andy Baker. On the day he turned 30 he celebrated at The Queen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace and the organisation he founded, reached the £100,000 mark, his long-held dream.

Play2Give was launched in 2007 to say thank you for the help he received on two occasions in his life at the John Radcliffe Hospital. Andy fought for life in the Special Care Baby Unit and again, aged 12, after brain surgery.

The money raised by Play2Give over the years helped fund the building of Oxford Children’s Hospital. Recalling the support he received since his school days at St Birinus, he says: “Everybody has backed me from the beginning of my charity crusade – it’s such a team effort. I love helping those who are less fortunate, it’s been half my life.

“Being nominated last year to attend The Queen’s Garden Party was one of the highlights of my life and a lovely way to mark all I do to put my all back into giving to society. To share such a special day with my mum [Ann, pictured above], and up to 8,000 others was a humbling experience.”

The trip to the palace came on the back of him being honoured with a British Citizens Award in 2017 for his “exceptional endeavour”. It was also a memorable year in which a patient room for teenagers at the Children’s Hospital was named after the group in recognition of its efforts.

Play2Give now has its sights set on sponsoring a family room at £5,000 within Ronald McDonald House which provides accommodation for families of sick children while they are in hospital.

And if that weren’t enough, the group also provides funds for Headway Oxfordshire which supports people like Andy with acquired brain injuries – another cause close to his heart. Footsteps, Off the Streets, Be Free Young Carers and SeeSaw also benefit from Play2Give’s efforts.

But Andy acknowledges he couldn’t do it without the help and support of the community who join in his events which this year include a summer fayre on 3rd August in Edmonds Park, Didcot; a black-tie ball at the end of September at the town’s Civic Hall; golf days and your chance to show off your singing, dancing, juggling or comedy skills at Didcot’s Got Talent. Initial auditions are on Sunday, 24th February, at 10am at the Cornerstone with the final show on 29th June.

Inspirational Andy hopes to raise £15,000 through this year’s efforts.

 To find out more and how you can help, visit www.play2give.org.uk

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Gift of giving: Oxfordshire charity champion

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We chat to Didcot heroine Courtney Hughes who has set up a new befriending service for her local community and needs your help!

Love is the vital ingredient that helps community projects take off and gain momentum and Courtney Hughes BCAv has felt a lot of love this year.

The Didcot teenager, who works at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital acute admissions unit, has had a phenomenally busy year by anyone’s standards, including accepting an invitation to a certain wedding in Windsor. “The Royal Wedding was this year’s the highlight for me,” says Courtney. “It was a day I was so glad to share with Mum as she supports me so much all year. We were humbled to be surrounded by so many inspirational people who do good in their community. It does drive you to carry on when you meet like-minded people.”

Courtney, who also suffers from acute ME and was regional runner-up in the Pride of Britain Awards., founded the Secret Santa charity in 2014 inspired by her great grandmother. She wanted to brighten up the lives of those who find themselves on a hospital ward, especially at Christmas, and set about collecting gifts for poorly, elderly and vulnerable people. She has been bowled over by the response to her project and now the charity operates all year round.

Courtney subsequently launched The Secret Santa Hands of Friendship last month. “This is a new befriending service which will be carried out by my team of volunteers,” she says. “They can offer a friendly chat, a cup of tea and a social meet-and-greet. Anyone who is vulnerable, whether elderly or in need, or knows someone who is, can email us.”

This year, Courtney has furnished another two properties for women moving out of local emergency refuge accommodation and is hoping to extend this to neighbouring counties.

Volunteers are urged to get in touch and donations of new toys, toiletries, books, knitted items, non-perishable food, crafts, vouchers, DVDs, games and more are urgently needed. Drop these at Didcot Street Fair on 29th November, SOHA Housing Didcot, Element Six Harwell, K&K Printing and Embroidery Didcot, Innovation Centre Milton Park, Cornerstone, Boundary Park GWP Didcot, Sainsbury Didcot (1st December), Morrisons Carterton (from December) and the Christmas Gift Fayre in the Civic Hall on 17th November or get in touch to arrange collection.

Courtney is also planning her homeless outreach, charity shopping afternoon on 25th November at the Marlborough Club, 12-5pm raising money for AAU and Didcot Hospital and the wrapping party on Sunday, 2nd December.

If you’re a local business, Courtney would love to hear from you about sponsorship to help her continue. Please follow @charitysecretsanta on Instagram and Facebook and @SantaCharity on Twitter.

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Side by side: Fulham Good Neighbours

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Chris Mikata-Pralat explains how Fulham Good Neighbours have been helping the community for over half a century – and how you can return the favour.

For those of us used to getting everything done via the multitude of apps on our phone, the idea of asking a neighbour for practical help might seem old-fashioned.

Many of us would like to know our neighbours better but do not know where to start. Fulham Good Neighbours is an award-winning local charity that has been linking people in need of help with those who can offer it for more than 50 years.

Those seeking support are usually members of the fourth generations: older people in their eighties and nineties. Those offering it come from all walks of life: from university students, via city professionals to retirees. What unites them is the desire to make Fulham a friendlier, more neighbourly place to live in.

Requests for help vary from changing a light bulb or putting together flat- pack furniture to garden clearances and decorating. The charity also offers befriending, digital inclusion and a range of relaxed social clubs to get local pensioners out of their homes. In recent years, they took over organisation of the annual Parsons Green Fair.

The work of Fulham Good Neighbours is possible only thanks to the dedication and support of nearly 100 volunteers, some of whom have supported the charity since the 1970s.

Whether you are a local business or individual offering or seeking help, contact them today to see how you could get involved and make Fulham a community where neighbours look out and care for each other.

Call 020 7385 8850, follow @FulGdNeighbours and FulhamGoodNeighbours (Facebook), email [email protected] or visit www.fulhamgoodneighbours.org

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Whole hearted: supporting the sick

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Supporting those who need it the most is at the heart of one local charity’s mission.

Founded in 2006, Full Circle Fund Therapies is a small innovative charity committed to one theme: to preserve the human spirit of very sick children and adults. Its vision delivers the best integrated medicine approaches in critical care areas through a range of therapies including infant massage, reflexology, clinical massage therapies, relaxation training, reiki and hypnotherapy and mindfulness. It is now looking beyond its base at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, to take the award-winning Full Circle know-how to two more hospitals in South East England.

At the heart of the charity is its founder, Suzanne Ruggles, whose life was turned following a near death experience caused by meningitis. What was brought into sharp focus to her at that time, was the need to provide compassionate and safe support to very sick, hospitalized children and adults.

The charity is part of a growing movement in medicine which recognises the importance of supporting the whole person, not just the illness. Their evidence-based approach enhances patient resilience to cope with the trauma of a life-threatening diagnosis providing the positive counterbalance to keep a person feeling human when so much has been stripped away. To date the charity’s pioneering approach has helped more than 7,000 individuals, many battling cancers, traumatic injuries or life-threatening, incurable inherited conditions but it needs your support to continue its vital research and work.

To support the charity and find out more please visit www.fullcirclefund.org.uk

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