As promised, heres the second part of our huge catch up!!  Enjoy! 
 
Lions Awareness day 100th year Celebrations - 19th August Peterborough Cathedral square
We were invited to join the 100 year celebrations at Peterborough cathedral square alongside Peterborough Association for the blind.  Sam and Elin had a lovely day talking to the public and raising awareness about what we do.  Huge thanks to the Whittlesey Lions for inviting us along.
We’d also like to say a massive thank you to McCains and Melanie Gowler for providing our leaflets and to Elin Fløe Styles and Eileen Nixon for helping on the day.
 
 
Thorney Music Festival –
We’d also like to thank the organisers of the Thorney live Music festival on the 28th August, to all who attended Thorney and all the wonderful musicians who gave their time for free, helping to raise a total of £4185.90 for Cancer Research UK, NGNPUK and Thorney Ex-servicemen’s.
 
Perkins Great Eastern Run – Lee and Sam
You’ve heard it here first folks!  Our very own Captain America and Wonder Woman will be taking part in the Perkins Great Eastern Run in Peterborough on 8th October raising money for syringe drivers.
Please pledge your support to our elite team if you can I think anyone willing to try and run 13 miles in outfits like those deserves a medal. No Gain No Pain ;) xx
 
As a charity we have chosen to use BT's MyDonate service as they do not charge a monthly fee unlike other online giving pages. It's just as easy to use and more money goes into the syringe driver pot.
 
Junior Quiz – Postponed
Due to time constraints we have sadly had to cancel our junior mastermind quiz planned for October. Thank you to Childers in Whittlesey for being so understanding who were letting us have their function room for free. We hope to do one in the future. Xx
 
Crowland – Diver urgently
We were contacted by a family desperate for a syringe driver and advice for their loved one. The family lived in the Crowland area which is sadly not covered by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation Trust which we are currently helping.
 
This is one of the main reasons we are trying to help other local areas. Crowland is not a million miles away from us and no one should have to wait. The family were enquiring to buy a driver for their loved one and then donate it to us afterwards as they were so worried about not having one when it was needed. We are pleased to say that after a few conversations, the family were able to exert some pressure and confirmed that a syringe was on the way to them which is a huge relief to everyone.
 
Whittlesey Festival – 11th September
 
This was our second year at the Whittlesey Festival and the first time on Market Street.  It promised to be a great day and we had undertaken a large amount of preparation.  Team NGNPUK had been busy organising our Jam Jar Tombola, and we were so fortunate to have so many lovely people fill a jam jar for us. 
 
A huge thank you to all of you Jam Jar donators (too many to mention, but you know who you all are), it was lovely to see so many thoughtfully filled jars with sweets and toys, pencils, crayons and even some money.  It was just as much fun looking for their winning jar!!  In total we received nearly 200 jam jars.
 
We also had to prepare to say goodbye to our new furry house guest.  The secretly named Panda was getting ready to move to his or her new home if someone could correctly guess the name.
 
It was fair to say that many people tried, however only one could prevail and that was Ebony who is now the proud owner of our beautiful panda Amanda.  Take a look in our Gallery to see that gorgeous first meeting of Ebony and Amanda…  We’re pleased to hear that Amanda has settled into her new home very well.
 
Another huge thank you to everyone who came to see us at the festival, trying to whack the rat and trying to guess Amanda's name. Another special thank you goes to Karen Kelley for donating Amanda the Panda to us.
 
We raised a whopping £258 and none of this would be possible without you all.
 
Donations galore.
We’re very lucky to have a wonderful team of people who support what we do, and without your help and donations things would be much harder.
 

• Noel and Leslie Muncey – Pencils, Booze and Stereo system
• Tammy Fulcher Roan – Car boot Takings

• Michelle Fountain
• Eileen Ladds from Castor who donated a total of £50 from plant sales and a wedding arrangement
• Heather – Sophie’s Tea room Customer.

This lovely lady met Louise and Mason at Sophie’s Tea room in Yaxley and fate transpired them to have to share a table. They had never met before but ended up sharing a table and having a lovely chat and putting the world to rights.  Heather gave us a donation for the syringe driver pot.  All these donations however big or small really do make a huge difference.

Thank you Heather it was lovely kindness.
 
 Finally for this long blog instalment, keep a look out for our NGNPUK Christmas Shopping Event
 
5th November @ The Eastrea Centre, 12:00 – 15:30.
 
Pop along before the Fireworks
 
Big thanks to Lisa Hedges and Nicky Bedford for organising this event. So far they have over 30 stalls all selling something different. We will be there of course selling tea and cake and there will be a raffle too.
 
https://www.facebook.com/events/1122711511162507/
 
​Louise, Lee and Sam
Team NGNPUK

Wow, what a summer, it’s hard to believe our last blog was back in May, and we’re so excited to bring you all up to date to what’s been going on over the summer… So much good news and fortune for the team at NGNPUK and it truly beggars belief at the generosity of people in both their time, money and consideration to our aims of helping our local communities.  So where do we start:
 
Park Lane School fete.
After the whirlwind preparation that was the NGNUK Quiz night, we were going to take some time aside to do the boring admin type of things that we need to do, however, we were given the opportunity to attend The Park Lane school fete, whereby we put together a plant sale and a “name the bear” competition.  It was a lovely day and we met some great people and overall it was our delight to hand over Olly the bear to Rosie, the competition winner.
 
After the success of our last handover of syringe drivers and in particular, the new kit boxes, we were asked if we could provide another 9 boxes for the remaining syringe drivers that the Nursing team held. It made such a difference for them to be able to take a fully loaded kit box, which helped to deliver the message of the charity, and also helped patients and their families recognise the importance of looking after the equipment as well as helping with the successful return of all the drivers to date.  A huge thank you to Irene and Graham Lawrence, Carol Dilorio, Janet Smith, Sue Trenter, Jo Hunt and Julie Taylor for providing these Kit boxes.
 
Donations
We also continue to be privileged to receive donations from people, and in particular those from families who’s loved ones have benefited from the use of a syringe driver.
Thank you to the family of Andy Griffiths for your amazing donation of £1011.70 from Andy’s funeral.  This is enough to purchase a syringe driver outright and will help so many people in his memory.
 
We’d like to thank the lovely Whittlesey singers for their wonderful donation of £500 which will go towards providing syringe drivers to the local community.
 
 
We were also lucky enough to receive a number of donations from other kind folk, such as Louise Jenkins from the Whittlesey Lions club, who organised a charity golf day.  We were invited to the 19th hole to talk about what we do and about the aims of the charity. The Lions raised an amazing £1100 on the day which was boosted by Louise’s employers Lloyds Bank through fund matching by another £500.
 
Our story and work is now getting recognised in other areas covered by the district nursing team, and articles such as the one about our Oundle handover being put into the Village Connect magazine which has a circulation of over 20K homes is certainly helping.
 
Sunday 2nd July - Paston Lent Lunches:
We received an email from the lovely Rev Mark Bridger from All Saints Church in Paston to say that his parishioners and he were looking to do something for a local charity and NGNPUK had been brought to his attention.  He was planning a series of “lent lunches” to raise funds and on Sunday 2dy July, we were invited to come and speak to the congregation about what we do and to receive a cheque for £468.62 raised across a series of lunches held during lent.  We had a lovely day, and met many wonderful people with stories and offers of help. 
 
NGNPUK collection tubs
By now, you may have seen our collections tubs dotted around Whittlesey and a few other local areas.  We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has taken the time to drop a few pennies in.. They really do add up.  We’d also like to thank all those everyone who has offered to hold one of our boxes.  You can find one in the following locations:

• Quinns Bar
• The Railway restaurant and pub
• Parkers Newsagents
• Peterborough City Care centre
• Westfield Nursery
• Sarah Savage’s Hairdressers

 
We’d also like to thank the trustees at Buckles solicitors for their donation of £1000 on the 26th July that can be used to provide a syringe driver to the local communities.
 
We’d also like to thank the Thorney Post magazine for their donation of £50 into the syringe driver kitty.
 
Closer to home…
If you have been following our journey for a while, you may have learned from our story that the original intention was to provide a syringe driver in memory of Louise’s dad David, who sadly needed a driver at a time when they were more difficult to get. 
 
Over time we have had feedback from families of patients and nurses about the difference these devices made, and sadly Louise’s lovely Nan, Mavis Henson, became very ill very quickly at the grand age of 101yrs old, and needed a syringe driver to help her remain at home with us which is where she wanted to be.
 
When we handed over those machines, we didn't for one minute contemplate that it may again be a member of our family needing one. 
 
We would like to thank the wonderful district nursing team who were so kind and caring to us all, they really are amazing, also the hospital at home ladies. We are so lucky to have such fantastic people out there looking after patients at the end of their life.
 
Thank you Nicky Taylor and colleagues, Diane Carpenter, Vicki Sims, Esther McLaughlan and Sally Page to name just a few. Again thank you to EVERYONE who has helped us so far to provide these invaluable machines for people like Mavis to benefit from.
 
It’s not just us….
Team NGNPUK are not the only ones who have been hard at work this summer raising money and awareness, but some other wonderful people have been doing the same.  On Saturday 15th July, we were lucky enough to pop down to see Bruce Roan and the regulars at the Letter B set off for their annual B2B 54 mile bike ride.  It was a glorious sunny day and the riders looked in fine form.  We were quite envious and really fancied pulling on our cycling shorts but unfortunately we had other matters to attend to.
 
The afternoon of the 15th also saw our first event for Wansford near Stamford.  One of our wonderful supporters, Elin Fløe Styles and her husband Paul, opened their home and garden for a rock concert with difference.
 
Elin is a member of the Wansford Ukulele folk (WUF) and organised a Garden Party which saw the WUF perform an afternoon of ukulele classics to a picnicking audience down by the river. It was such an amazing event, the weather stayed fine and the photos and video are a must see… Take a look at the gallery for a taste of the day. 
 
We would like to say a HUGE thank you to Elin and Paul for organising such a fantastic day. Thank you for opening up your beautiful home and garden in Wansford for everyone to enjoy and a special thank you to the WUF for putting on such a brilliant show.
 
The day was a massive success and they raised an astounding £1010 which will buy another syringe driver!
 
Special mentions and thank you to Satish and Heena at Wansford post office for supplying the welcome drink and malteasers, Sainsbury’s for the Doritos, Kings cliff Bakery for the rolls, Joan and Alan Bolton-Frost for the pork pies, Angela Roberts for the smoked salmon, Barbara Jones, Jane Hein, Jennie Gatheral, Jo Roberts, Molly Turner and Sheila Presland for the cakes, The Black horse Nassington, The Paper Mills, Mandi Veni, John Hale, Sue Kirk, and Jane Hein.
 
We though the amount raised was incredible, however a few days later, Elin delivered another £90 to NGNPUK making the total amount raised from the Ukulele Garden party an impressive £1100!!!
 
This is enough to purchase a complete syringe driver and lockbox for the Wansford area. This syringe driver will be shared between Wansford, Thornhaugh, Water Newton, Laxton, Tixover, Wittering, Collyweston, Stibbington, Barnack, Sutton, Castor & Alisworth and all surrounding towns and villages. Each machine can help so many people. Well done to everyone involved!
 
Finally, a big THANK YOU to everyone who bought a ticket and came along. We hoped you had as an enjoyable day as we did.
 
Excelcare
One of the nice things about doing what we do is the chance to meet so many lovely people.  During one particular handover at Aliwal Manor, we came to the attention of the owner of Excel Care, the owners of Aliwal manor.  During the summer, and to celebrate the 50th Birthday of Mr Ertosun, the founder of Excelcare, the staff of all 10 of Excelcare homes, visitors and some of the people living in the homes completed a sponsored 50 mile “exercise” bike ride and raised a whopping £1600. 
 
The owner, Mr Ertosun was extremely proud to have a donation to such a valuable charity made on his behalf.  Mr Ertosun had earlier this year raised well over £10,000 for another charity by walking to base camp on Mount Everest.
 
The money donated will buy 1 and a half syringe drivers for the local community and was handed over by the staff at Aliwal Manor in Whittlesey, the local Excelcare home.
 
We were blown away to be invited to receive a cheque from the Excel Care team, and thank Mr Ertosun and everyone involved for their kindness and generosity.
 
Syringe driver bags:
Not everything we do is about syringe drivers, and there are still plenty of ways to get involved.  One of the nicest ways to contribute if you have the sewing know how is to follow the easy to make syringe driver pattern on the website.  This is exactly what the Fitzwilliam Quilters have done and we’re delighted to have received 150 bags that have been lovingly crafted and will go into a patients home when the time is right.
 
These thoughtful gifts tell the patients and their families that someone is thinking of them.
 
John Lewis – Community Matters
The final date for the dropping in the tokens was 31/7/17.  A massive thank you to everyone who popped a token in for us at John Lewis coffee shop! You helped us raise a staggering £660 for which we will be picking up a cheque (and maybe a piece of cake) shortly, 
 
This will go a long way to providing another syringe driver to be shared by all out local areas.
 
We were pleased to receive a donation from the family of Steve Marriot, as well as a lovely card for the district nursing team that were able to pass on the 27th July.  These nurses do an amazing job out there and really do take care of families at a difficult time.
 
As you can see so much has been going on. As well as all this we have been busy behind the scenes with all charity paperwork and all the ins and outs that come with running a charity. We have been preparing our first annual report for the charity commission which we will be sending off shortly.  As well are writing a few articles for magazines and answering letters and emails coming in. It’s been a busy few months!
 
That’s the end of part one of this mammoth blog part two to follow! 

​Louise, Lee and Sam
Team NGNPUK