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News from 2007  Vale Royal Mayor Cllr Doug Shingler presented a number of awards at a special event in December. We were privileged to attend and had a good evening with great food and entertainment from a local school choir and Cheshire Cheerleaders. Barclays kindly organised a visit to Alder Hey from the 'Man in the Red Coat' himself in December. Gifts were handed out to all the children on the unit and in clinic. They also arranged a donation of a new TV and DVD player which were received by the oncology teenage unit. Many many thanks to Barclays for making the festive season a little brighter for those children who have to spend Christmas in hospital. Special thanks to Leanne Williams for organising this event.We were privileged to receive a cheque in September 07 for £3300 from the Grange School, Hartford following their very successful year of fund raising. It’s been very encouraging also to welcome individuals on board to help in further ways. Many thanks for all your support. The tragic loss of Abi Irlam and Bede Etherington earlier this year touched the hearts of many people locally. We have been told that they were both keen to become involved in their school's fundraising activities. As a consequence, Abi and Bede's parents requested that money collected from their children's memorial services would go to The Joshua Tree. This amounted to £2166.64 On behalf of all the Trustees of our charity, I would like to express my heartfelt sympathy to all family and friends of Bede and Abi and I pray that happy memories will help you through the pain of missing two very talented and beautiful youngsters.  The weather was just right for a gentle stroll through Anderton on Sunday 30th September 2007. The walk ended with a welcome cuppa and fresh cream and jam scones in a beautiful setting - perfect!  Vale Royal Mayor Cllr Doug Shingler kindly organised a charity Golf Day on 26th September 2007 which was a great success, bringing in approximately £2500. The winning team was Eric Johnson Ltd who also during the evening kindly presented David with a cheque for £1500 raised at their Gala Ball celebrating 60 years in business from June of this year. Also on Saturday 22nd September, Woolworths in Northwich organised a sale in the square by the back entrance to the shop which proved to be very successful. They are also organising a disco on Saturday 10th November to be held at the RAOB club. Many thanks for choosing The Joshua Tree as your charity to support.  Pupils from Leftwich High School enjoyed a pleasant day on Saturday 22nd September 2007 when they participated in a sponsored walk around Marbury Park. Family dogs joined in the fun too! Many thanks to teacher Kerry McKay for organising the event.Teresa McNelly recently entered the Liverpool 10k run and raised an amazing total of £600 Rollo Hawkins successfully completed the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon in June this year. It was challenging and involved two "Munros" over the two days. He covered 25k and 1100m of climb on day one and 15k and 1000m of climb on day two. He had some challenges with his ankle towards the end of day two but persevered through to the end. (Results and photos can be seen on www.lamm.co.uk) Many thanks to everyone who sponsored Rollo. A huge thank you too, Rollo for your determination. An amazing £505 was raised. Brilliant! After so much rain recently, it was great to wake up to beautiful sunshine on Saturday 14th July ready for two great events.  The morning was taken up with coffee, cakes and various stalls over in Kinmel Bay, North Wales. Many thanks, Graham and Denise, of Kinmel Bay Church for organising such a successful morning, to Margaret and Ann for opening up your home and of course, to all the willing band of helpers and visitors.It was good to have a visit from local Mayor, Cllr Geoff Corry and to have the opportunity to talk about what ‘The Joshua Tree’ is hoping to achieve. The morning managed to raise a staggering £1000  The afternoon saw lots of laughter, fun and games at JIGSAW nursery and pre-school in Northwich during their summer fete organised by owner Linda Farrow and staff. Many thanks to all the local businesses and parents who kindly donated raffle prizes.As well as having fun in the sunshine, the event raised an exceptional £640 for The Joshua Tree. Many thanks to you all.  The newly elected Mayor and Mayoress of Vale Royal, Cllr Doug and Pam Shingler have kindly agreed to take The Joshua Tree on as their charity for their term of office together with their other chosen charity Vale Royal Disability Services. They have set up a charity committee to which Tom and I are a part and there are going to be some great events to look forward to.Folk Club To round off April’s events, we enjoyed a great night on Saturday evening, when Northwich Folk Club put on a programme of entertainment at The Harlequin Theatre including acts Anthony John Clarke, Sad Pig, Bernard Cromarty and Ailsa and John Booth. 
Tom's Year As Mayor Tom’s year as Mayor finished on 14th May 2007 when our family were presented with a cheque for an incredible £22,540.82 His work with us will not end here, however. We are really pleased to announce that Tom has accepted the role of Patron for The Joshua Tree. He will be continuing to work along side me, representing the charity at various functions. Front Room
On Saturday 21st April, charity band, Front Room, entertained a full house at Winnington Park Recreation Club. It was a fantastic evening and raised £5836 for The Joshua Tree. The event was organised by a great team from local company PROJEN, Winnington Ave, Shane Pugh (band member),  Mark Warrington, Lynda Kirkham and Astrid Leather with Tom taking on the role as compere. The band very kindly offered to put on the evening free of charge. Everyone worked exceptionally hard to gain sponsorship for the evening as well as collect excellent raffle prizes including a Kepcamp Holiday abroad, a Spa Day for two at Rookery Hall, an overnight  stay at Frogg Manor Hotel and many more! During the evening PROJEN presented me with a cheque for an incredible £1000. Stagecoach, a local dance company, also very kindly gave £500 on the night.
 List of sponsors / providers of raffle prizes: Projen 
CRP
Northwich Victoria FC
Clancy Consultancy
GPW Recruitment
Winnington Park Recreation Club
Rookery Hall Hotel
Stagecoach
Alchem
Everton FC
Mid Cheshire Catering
Frogg Manor Hotel
Indigo Promotions
County Commercial
Davenports Florists
Cross
Enterprise rent-a-car
Quality Hotel Northwich - The Floatel
Luxury by Q Hotels
Tranmark FCX
Freeway Northwest
Keycamp Holidays
 100000m Row
On Wednesday 4th April a sponsored 100,000 metre row was held in Wigan at Fitness First gym. This was organised by Paul McCracken of Whitley and was completed with great determination in approximately 5 ½ hours by a team of 10 rowers. A ladies team also took part, completing a 42,000 metre row. During the challenge, the team were visited by a number of Wigan Rugby league players to cheer them on. What a great atmosphere! The day ended with champagne to celebrate the prospect of raising in the region of £15,000!!!!
 
The Joshua Tree Charity Race and Fun Run The 1st April 2007 was a bright, but crisp spring day. Approximately 170 people from schools, colleges, businesses and athletic clubs from across Cheshire turned up to support our very first Charity Race and Fun Run. Money raised so far is in excess of £1000 and we would like to give a huge thank you to all who supported us.
Valentines Concert February 2007 saw a wonderful performance by Crewe Male Voice Choir and soloist Jayne Johnson at The Grange Theatre, Hartford raising in the region of £650.
The Mayors Ball There was a great atmosphere at the Memorial Hall on 17th March as we listened to the wonderful sound of King of Swing Paul Pashley and later in the evening the sensational band Soul Society. As well as having a great night the evening raised approximately £3000. |