Laura Pratt, DebRA’s Regional Manager for the South, South West and South Wales, loves looking after her area.
Laura, pictured left in a photograph by Chris Twilley, said: “I meet so many wonderful people and it’s a huge privilege to work with them. I am so grateful when someone contacts me to ask if I will help with their fundraising. And DebRA is such a special charity – our members are fantastic and we have some of the best supporters of any charity in the country!
"We do need some help with raising awareness though, so if your club, school, company or church would like me to come along to one of your meetings to tell you more about DebRA and EB, please let me know. I look forward to the possibility of meeting you before too long!”
Please let Laura know of any events you are organising in aid of DebRA.
You can contact Laura at laura.pratt@debra.org.uk or on 023 8084 2905.
Can you help, please?
Collection boxes across the country can raise many thousands of pounds for DebRA. Do you know of a local shop, pub or club that would have one of our boxes? If so, perhaps you could let me know and we can arrange for one to be put in the post - and perhaps you'd be kind enough to look after it for us.
Payroll Giving is a wonderfully easy way to support DebRA. Regular donations can be taken from your pay before tax thereby enabling your donation to cost you less - it's almost magic! Please contact me if you'd like to know more about giving this way.
THANKS!
It would be impossible to thank everyone here but these are some supporters who have helped recently. If your name is not here, please don’t think we have forgotten you – you are just as important to us and I hope you know just how much we appreciate your support.
Valley Sports & Classic Cars Club
Earlier this year, I was thrilled to receive a cheque for £2,350 from the organisers of this club's 2007 Car Run through the valleys of South Wales. Ably assisted by Hannah and Niamh Rosser, who helped to wave the cars off, we watched 120 cars set off on a sunny morning, ending the run at Llancaich Fawr where a superb buffet was waiting. The club event raised an impressive £4,450 and also supported the Caerphilly Miners' Hospital.
The Office of National Statistics
Supporters for many years, staff at the ONS raise a great deal of money for DebRA by line-dancing during lunch breaks. It keeps them - and DebRA's coffers - very healthy! Thank you Diane Burnard and your band of dancers for your recent gift of £464.
We also thank Clare Dawson, who is taking part in the Great South Run for us - Good Luck!
Sallys' Stompers
Diane is a member of Sally's Stompers line- dancing club too and they recently held a coffee morning which raised £60 - and I was pleased to be invited to tell them all about DebRA so they can help us raise awareness as well.
Tony Caunter, star of EastEnders
Tony was invited to re-open The Wheatsheaf pub near Eastbourne but only said "yes" if DebRA could benefit! Tony is a loyal and longstanding supporter of the charity and his lovely family joined him for the East End London themed night, which raised £671.92. Thank you Martin Hughes at The Wheatsheaf - and thank you, Tony, for an excellent performance! Didn't we do well with the Quiz?
Jeff Etherington and the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes
When Jeff was appointed Provincial Grand Primo of the RAOB, he knew he wanted to promote and raise funds for DebRA during his year because his grandson, Chris, is friends with Oliver, who lives with EB. Jeff and his family have been tremendous supporters of the charity for many years and the remarkable £4,000 that was presented to me on 24th May is a reflection of the time and effort that Jeff has put into raising funds and awareness for us over the past year. To everyone who has helped to make this gift possible - thank you.
Warlingham & District Anglers' Society (WADAS)
The members of WADAS took DebRA on as their charity during their Diamond Jubilee Year and I spent some enjoyable hours at Charts Plain Fishery when they held some matches in aid of the charity. This, added to all the other fundraising they did, resulted in donations totalling almost £4,000, a fantastic sum. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this donation.
Sandhurst Ladies Golden Circle
DebRA's new Chief Executive, Ben Merrett, was so pleased he was able to go along to the AGM of the Ladies Golden Circle because they presented the charity with a fantastic donation of £1,200 - and he met some lovely ladies too! He must have made a great impression because they are supporting DebRA again this year. Thank you all so much for all your hard work involved in raising this magnificent sum - and thank you for taking us on for another year.
Bournemouth & District Concert Band
DebRA founder, Phyllis Hilton, was delighted when she saw the Bournemouth & District Concert Band "busking" in Bournemouth just before Christmas and she chatted to the members about how the charity began. I was delighted to be invited to a concert in Wimborne recently to accept a donation of £400, which was raised by their efforts outside Asda. Thank you all so much for choosing DebRA to benefit from your playing.
Rotary and Inner Wheel Clubs
John Parker, Regional Manager for Greater London, East Anglia and Kent, and I attend the national conferences for Rotary and Inner Wheel where we invite delegates to watch our short video. The majority of people have never heard of DebRA and are shocked to find a condition as devastating as EB - and that it is so unknown. We ask them to invite us to one of their meetings so we can tell them about the charity and about the people we support - and many go on to support us...
Rotary Club of Basingstoke & Deane
Roy Schuster found out about DebRA and decided it was an organisation he wanted the club to support during his Presidential Year - they raised a superb £1,500. Thank you so much.
Rotary Club of Reigate
Some clubs have been DebRA supporters for some time and Reigate members recently raised a further £417 by holding a Quiz Night. Thank you so much - by the way, who won?
Rotary Club of Easthampstead
I attended a lovely Christmas Service organised by Easthampstead Rotary Club in 2000 when I joined DebRA - and they presented me with a huge cheque for £3,500 at the end of George Pollard's year as President in 2008! Thank you all for keeping DebRA in your thoughts and for raising such a wonderful contribution to help fund our work.
Round Table of Sandhurst & Yateley
These Tablers raised an incredible £3,000 when they chose to support DebRA for 2007. Much of the money was raised by collecting outside Waitrose in Sandhurst and Yateley and by their Christmas float. Thank you to everyone who helped to raise this donation.
Rotary Club of Braunton
Braunton Rotarians were moved to want to help DebRA when they learnt about the courage and determination of people with EB and they recently sent us a donation of £350, of which £100 was a personal gift from a member. Thank you all for your kindness and generosity.
Forthcoming fundraising events
Stuart Morrissey's UK Ride - Coast to Coast
Stuart sets off from Plymouth on 8th July to ride around the UK, using only A & B roads, on his 125cc Honda motorbike. Despite suffering from severe back problems, Stuart is determined to raise as much as he can for DebRA and the COBB Society, which supports injured bikers. He will arrive back in Plymouth on 20th July where the John Wade Memorial Bike Meet takes place. A ride in a Honda Powerboat has been generously donated as an auction prize to raise funds for DebRA, by Richard George who is taking part in the Honda F4s races - why not go along and bid for this fantastic prize?
You can donate to DebRA in support of Stuart's ride at http://justgiving.com/stuartmorrissey or find out more about the event at http://www.madrider1961.co.uk/31.html
24th April 2009
Chepstow Male Voice Choir will be singing in aid of DebRA at a concert in the superb setting of Bristol Cathedral. More details will appear here soon but why not put the date in your diary now!
