Posted by PaulClabburn on Jan 19, 2016 in 2016, Donations
James Matthews, centre, with Chris Chalmers, right, of Whitman and Co.
The cracking start to the new year for Tom and Claire’s Fund has continued with the handing over of a cheque for £1,000 by Chiswick estate agents Whitman and Co.
James Matthews, director of the company, said: “We heard about the work of the fund on behalf of Cardiac Risk in the Young and thought it a very worthy cause. We like to play our part in the community by supporting such initiatives.”
Paul Clabburn said: “We are very grateful to Whitman and Co for the donation, which will allow nearly 30 young people to be screened by CRY . We will be sponsoring further free screenings in west London in the autumn of 2016. Anyone who wishes to be screened before then should visit http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/cardiac-screening/.”
Posted by PaulClabburn on Jan 9, 2016 in 2016, Awareness, Cardiac Risk in the Young, Claire Prosser, CRY screenings, Tom Clabburn
Left to right: CRY founder Alison Cox, research fellow Dr Keteepe-Arachi and patron Ben Brown.
This morning I went to see your latest fund-raising efforts turn into potentially life-saving work at the CRY Centre For Inherited Cardiovascular Conditions and Sports Cardiology, St George’s Hospital, Tooting.
All the running, climbing, book-selling, cake baking and myriad other activities you’ve taken part in since our fund started in 2008 has now raised more than £150,000 for CRY.
So it was great to
- See the first of six days of subsidised screenings get underway. The fund is supporting the screenings between January and March at a cost of £18,000. Young people aged 14-35 attend from all over the UK and around 110 screenings are booked per session.
- Have a look at the brand new echocardiogram machine sporting Tom and Claire’s names that was bought at a cost of £27,000.
- Meet Dr Tracey Keteepe-Arachi, the CRY research fellow who was leading the day’s screening programme. Our fund has donated £10,000 towards research.
It was particularly fitting that the BBC’s Ben Brown, family friend and CRY patron, was able to attend the launch because he represents each and every one of you who has ever supported CRY. Not only has Ben done whatever he can to raise awareness, he has also fund-raised by putting in the hard miles running half and full marathons.
It was also, of course, a pleasure to have a chat once again with Alison Cox. CRY’s founder may have stepped down as Chief Executive but she is still getting up at the crack on a Saturday morning to support events such as these.
Last year alone, CRY screened 23,000 young people. It shows a need, it shows the demand, but there’s a long way to go before there’s a national screening programme to replace the efforts of CRY. Since starting in 1995, the charity has screened more than 80,000 young people.
Part of that total is down to you. On the way home I heard Patti Smith on Radio 4’s Saturday Live. She talked about writing the song ‘People Have The Power’, which includes the line ‘We can turn the world around.’ Because of your efforts to turn at least one part of the world around, Tom and Claire’s Fund has sponsored more than 1,200 of those screenings.
That’s 1,200 who have been given a chance Tom did not have.
For today at least, then, it seems right to reflect with great pride on the efforts of a remarkable group of CRY supporters, a group that has raised £150,000 in Tom and Claire’s names.
Thank you.
The echo bought with your fund-raising efforts.
Posted by PaulClabburn on Dec 21, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, Cardiac Risk in the Young
Cardiac Risk in the Young have published ‘Christmas following a young sudden cardiac death’, the latest in a series of ‘Grief Booklets’ produced by the charity.
As with the others, it is a series of stories told by those who have been directly affected by the loss of a young person.
CRY’s founder and outgoing Chief Executive, Alison Cox, writes in the foreword: “There is no escaping the memories of past Christmases ‘before’ their lives were destroyed by tragedy. They flood back invading every moment.”
She adds: ‘My hope is that this booklet of stories written by some of CRY’s Bereavement Supporters will help provide you with how others have developed coping strategies which are intensely personal and which they have so willingly shared.”
It is a booklet not just for those who have lost a child but for anyone who knows someone who has and wonders what to say or how to behave at this time of year. The answer, naturally, is that there is no ‘right thing’ but it may give readers a better understanding.
As with the other CRY booklets, written by fathers, mothers, siblings and partners, it could also resonate with those who have lost a child in different circumstances.
You can order this booklet and find details of the others here.
Posted by PaulClabburn on Dec 17, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, BBC, Book sale, Fund-raising event
There was plenty of interest in the book sale in aid of CRY at the BBC.
A book sale in aid of Tom and Claire’s Fund at the BBC’s New Broadcasting House raised £437 on Tuesday, December 15.
‘It was a day of reminiscing as we all came together to remember our friend and colleague Claire Prosser, who passed away a year ago this month,” said Ruth Arulanandam, who organised the event.
“Many of our colleagues came to donate money in Claire’s memory and to learn more about CRY. Having helped Claire run the previous sales at the BBC, it felt right to carry on the tradition in her memory and, of course, to continue to raise money for the Claire and Tom fund.”
The cake making tradition also continued: “Lorna Donlon made brownies and Sam Upton made some mince pies which were all sold out by the end of the sale,” said Ruth.
Brownies and mince pies were also on offer.
She added: “We had plenty of helpers on the day, Isabel Turner and her son Felix, Jacky Hems, Suzanne Yates, Sam Upton, Jane Palmer, and my sister-in-law, Angeline Arulanandam.
“I must also mention those important people who made the sale happen; Jess Latimer at 5Live for collecting the books, Matthew Dickinson and Michael Angelo for transporting the books to London, Gillian Dear and Sue Ellis.”
Ruth, centre, with some of the team of helpers.
Posted by PaulClabburn on Dec 7, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, Book sale, Fund-raising event
Gina Bentley, Anne Marie Reilly and Justine O’Driscoll at the night market.
A bookstall at the Northfields Christmas Night Market in Ealing raised £100 for CRY.
Anne Marie Reilly, who helped to run the stall, said: “People were focused on buying Christmas presents from a range of stalls but being in a good location we were able to grab the attention of customers, some of whom made donations, and also to raise awareness about CRY.
“Our most enthusiastic purchasers of books were older children who were less keen on Christmas shopping! We’d like to thank everyone who bought books, donated or asked about CRY’s work and, of course, we’ve very grateful to Ealing Mums in Business for making CRY their charity for the night.”
Anne Marie added: “Our local MP, Rupa Huq, spent time talking to us and was interested to hear about CRY and we also had a visit from Northfields councillor Fabio Conti.”
Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq, a CRY supporter, visited the bookstall.
Posted by PaulClabburn on Dec 4, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, Book sale, Fund-raising event
Northfields Christmas Night Market will play host to a bookstall raising funds for CRY at Kingsdown Methodist Church from 6.30pm on Saturday, December 5.
One of those running the stall, Anne Marie Reilly, said: “Ealing Mums in Business have invited CRY to be their chosen charity at this year’s event. Last year they had approached Claire to run a stall but sadly that was not to prove possible.”
Anne Marie explained that along with Claire’s friends Gina Bentley, Justine O’Driscoll and Debbie Young they would run the stall in memory of Claire and to continue her work for CRY.
She added: “It is something we want to do for Claire, who was so generous and supportive of those she knew.
“There’ll be nearly new books on sale for both adults and children. Come along and support us and stock up on reading for the winter days ahead. It will be a lively evening with music, food and opportunities to buy locally produced Christmas presents.”
Posted by PaulClabburn on Dec 1, 2015 in 2015, Claire Prosser
CLAIRE
(In memory of Claire Prosser)
We hold true to your joy of being,
your heartache and your soul.
We return, each, to the last time
we met, the last time you smiled
that ready smile, then the time
before that, and that … We recall the
hours we shared and those that were
still to come, and mull the years to come
unshared, over bridges that we crossed,
along streets that chime unchanged,
– all, henceforth, haunted by your shade.
Memory must suffice, the store
in which to treasure your timeline.
It is what we cleave to now –
friend after friend after friend …
Published by permission of author and poet, James Ballantyne.
Thanks Jim.
Posted by PaulClabburn on Nov 26, 2015 in 2015, Awareness, Cardiac Risk in the Young, Donations, Uncategorized
CRY: a voice for Tom and all those like him.
This week is CRY’s awareness week. Tomorrow is Tom’s birthday. This coming Tuesday is Claire’s anniversary. A time, then, for reflection, for reminiscence and, perhaps, a time to look forward as well, for both Tom and Claire’s Fund and CRY.
As many of you will know, after we started the Fund in 2008 it was Claire’s great wish that it should raise £100,000 in support of CRY. When we lost Claire, it was just short of that figure. It is now well in excess.
We’ve therefore spent much time talking to CRY about how we might put that money to work. There’s no point in people raising or donating cash only for it to sit in an account. So we’ve agreed with CRY to spend:
• £27,000 on the purchase of a new echocardiogram machine as part of the expansion of the CRY screening programme, enabling more young people to have access to cardiac screening.
• £18,000 to fund six days of screening between January and March, 2016, at CRY’s national screening centre at St George’s hospital, Tooting, London. Young people aged 14-35 travel from all over the country to this regular clinic.
• £10,000 to fund research into young sudden cardiac death, supporting CRY research fellowship grants which are focussed on developing a greater understanding of the conditions that cause young sudden cardiac death and improving the way the young people at greatest risk are identified.
Additionally, we’ll spend further money sponsoring free screenings in Ealing in Autumn 2016, Spring 2017 and Autumn 2017.
You raised it. We’re spending it on your behalf. We hope you approve. It will leave little in the pot but, as people keep so brilliantly running, baking, selling, donating and so on, we’re sure that the Fund will be able to carry on sponsoring free screenings in 2018 and beyond.
Although we can but hope that by then we are doing so in tandem with a change of UK policy on cardiac screening that properly addresses the loss of at least 12 young lives aged 14-35 each week to undiagnosed heart conditions.
At last night’s CRY All Party Parliamentary Group event in the Commons, the charity officially launched a bold new campaign. It aims to put names to all those who make up the 12 a week statistic, to give a voice to those we have lost. CRY want to make clear to the Government the extent of the problem following the flawed decision in the summer by the UK National Screening Committee not to recommend a national screening programme. CRY have decided this cannot go unchallenged.
The new campaign will be led by Dr Steve Cox, currently CRY’s deputy chief executive, who will become its new CEO.
By which you’ll note that there’s also going to be a change at the top. CRY’s founder and CEO, Alison Cox, has decided to step down after 20 years. Alison is a remarkable woman who took on the medical and political establishment in order to shine a light on the extent of young sudden cardiac death in the UK. But for her, families like ours would have had no specialist charity to turn to for counselling, for advice and, as importantly, for a sense that there is much work to be done.
In a letter to CRY supporters, Alison wrote “I have been so privileged to be Chief Executive of CRY for so long but now would like more time to focus on the development of how we support CRY families, which is how I would like to continue in my role for the foreseeable future.”
We, too, have been privileged in being able to witness at first-hand the drive, rigour and, above all, humanity, that Alison brought to her task. We hope that you will join us in wishing Alison well as she changes direction and to Steve as he takes CRY forward.
Paul and Ellen x
