Dress up day Wear your festive best for young patients
THROUGHOUT December businesses, schools, individuals, and NHS staff are dressing up in their jolliest jumpers, tinsel ties and glitzy get-up to raise money for sick children and their families.
Wallace & Gromit’s BIG Christmas Dress Up, sponsored by Nutricia is raising money for The Grand Appeal, the dedicated charity for Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Staff from the hospital have got behind the fundraising initiative by wearing their festive best, and are now encouraging businesses and schools to follow suit by gathering their colleagues, priming their pupils and recruiting their friends.
For many of us, Christmas will be different this year and so will life in hospital during the festive season. There will be no Christmas pantomime for patients to enjoy, or bedside visits from Father Christmas. Despite this, children across the South West and South Wales will find themselves needing urgent care, often unexpectedly, while patients already in hospital who are too sick to leave will spend their Christmas in hospital far from home.
The money raised for the BIG Christmas Dress Up will help The Grand Appeal with their mission to make this Christmas as special as it can be for the young patients at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
Nathan Fuller, the Grand Appeal senior events co-ordinator, said: “At the end of a challenging year, we all need a bit of festive merriment in our lives. So, while you are wearing your jolliest jumpers we are asking for your help – to make this Christmas as special as it can be for the patients and families at Bristol Children’s Hospital.
“Whether you’re working remotely, meeting friends for a socially distanced walk or heading to school all you need to do is throw on your festive finery and make a donation to this year’s BIG Christmas Dress Up.”
Every donation, however big or small will help bring the festive spirit to the hospital this year. From helping to provide the comfort of a place to stay for parents in The Grand Appeal’s family accommodation houses, to the distraction of a music therapy session and the funding of the specialist support staff, research and equipment that will help save lives.
» £20 could fund a present for a child or young adult spending their Christmas in hospital
» £50 could fund themed craft and play activities delivered by the Play Department
£100 could fund four music therapy sessions,
£200 could fund a week’s stay in family accommodation allowing parents to stay close to their child and be together at this special time of year.
As the Bristol Children’s Hospital charity, The Grand Appeal funds ground-breaking medical equipment, three family accommodation houses, 20 specialist support staff and a programme of art, music and play in partnership with the hospital and its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St Michael’s Hospital.
To join Wallace & Gromit’s BIG Christmas Dress Up and start fundraising visit www.grandappeal.org.uk.