Hi all.
 
Let us start by saying a belated Happy New year!!  We hope you had a wonderful holiday and that the New Year is full of opportunity and adventure.
 
We have been very busy here at NGNPUK HQ and it’s a job to know where to start, but it makes sense to catch up with some pre-Christmas updates.
 
After handing over our last batch of drivers and bags, we put our energy into raising awareness of what we’re doing. This involved writing articles for local magazines, contacting groups and communities through Facebook and social media in our neighbouring towns and villages.
 
It was a bit of a challenge at first, but as you may have come to realise, we don’t get put off easily!  With perseverance, we managed to have articles published in local magazines in Eye, Wansford and Collyweston. Also the community Facebook groups for Wansford, Collyweston, Wittering and Eye who were only too hapy to share our information.
 
We also received a write up from the Peterborough Evening Telegraph, the Wisbech Standard and the Cambridgeshire Times all of which has helped us to reach more people and raise awareness.  
 
Feedback...
Further proof of the difference this cause is making came in the form of some wonderful feedback from Liz Elliott who had volunteered to make some syringe driver bags.  Liz sent us this lovely message which said:
 
“I have seen first-hand today the difference the bags make to those people who are using syringe drivers. I hope you don't mind but one of the ones that I was making I've given out  :) xx”
 
This was fantastic news as it’s always good to hear when someone sees the difference they make. Liz has since made even more bags for us so thank you.
 
We were also starting to get more new visitors to our website and Facebook page so we thought we should write a small update on where we were now and how far we had come. This ended up being rather a long update, plus a few changes to the website, but we think we got it all in.
 
We were still lucky enough to be getting more of the new £5 notes as donations and this has added up to a whopping to £125 which is fantastic so a big thank you to all who donated. It really does illustrate the impact every little donation makes!.
 
Christmas Fayre...
We had our first Christmas fundraising event organised by the lovely Sonia Cirello and her mum Shelley, from Eye. Sadly, Sonia lost her dad earlier in the year and he had a syringe driver at home so the family appreciate what a difference one of these machines can make. Sonia and Shelley organised a Christmas craft fayre on 4th December and we would like to say a HUGE thank you, it was an amazing event and very well attended.  
 
We really are very grateful as we know so much work goes into organising something like this and we really appreciate everyone's hard work.

All we had to do on the day was turn up and support all the crafters and stall holders. We hope everyone who had a stall made lots of pennies and everyone who visited enjoyed it. Sonia and Shelley raised an amazing £600 to go towards purchasing a syringe driver for another area locally. This is a massive boost and will help to get more drivers out in the communities where they are needed.
 
Syringe Driver bags...
The syringe driver bags were going full steam ahead and we were lucky enough to get 3 boxes of material from Lee at Interior Goods Direct in Wakefield.  It was just what we needed as we had a small army of volunteers that came forward to help make them. Also, we would also like to say a big thank you to Pike Textiles in Wisbech for donating some lovely material to us. Another big thank you goes to Pelenna Patchworks who have sent us a scrap bag of material and to Sue Bavister-Welsford who also donated some lovely material to us.  
 
As well as getting the material in we have had some lovely completed bags handed back to us and would like to say a massive “Thank you” to each and every one of you.  Karen Weston had the hard job of making some bags for children in her batch which is a stark reminder that people of any age may sadly need a syringe driver.
 
We have also had some further great news in that the “Fitzwilliam Patchworks” group have decided that they will be making syringe drivers bags as their project for 2017. If anyone would like any material or instructions in how to make the bags, please get in touch they are always needed. The only ingredient needed is you x
 
We also read in our local newspaper that the March District Nursing Association handed over 2 syringe drivers in their area which is great news. A huge well done to them!  The more machines out in our communities, the better. Let’s keep spreading the word about Syringe drivers wherever we can!
 
Many more thanks...
Another big “thank you” goes out to Jane Sumner who donated half her wages for 2 days to NGNPUK as well as doubling up her first brand new £5 and sending an extra £10. Thanks Jane.
 
With Christmas drawing nearer one lovely lady decided to do a festive auction for us. Sarah Hann kindly organised a festive auction for one of her beautiful handmade Christmas wreaths which was won by Karen Pidduck who also made the final amount up to £20. Thank you very much ladies. X
 
More thanks go to Tracey Quinn-Kefford and Richard Anthony who sent us a lovely donation along with their Christmas card.
 
Also even more thanks must go to Donna McKean-Smith from Riverside Beads in Market Deeping who donated some fab bags for our reindeer food for children to sprinkle outside on Christmas Eve.  We sold the reindeer food for 75p a bag and raised £62.50 in total, so thank you to everyone who bought some and to Parkers Newsagents of Whittlesey and The House of Hair in Stanground for helping us to sell it.  We have it on good authority that Rudolf and the team really loved it!
 
Our final thoughts and thank you of this update goes to the family of Ethel Thrower.
 
It's always hard to write these posts when families lose loved ones, as no words ever seem enough..
 
Ethel’s family very kindly donated the money collected at Ethel's funeral to NGNPUK. We were pleased to hear Ethel had a syringe driver in her last days and that it helped keep her comfortable at home.

Many thanks to all Ethel's family and friends for their generosity. Their donation will go towards a syringe driver in the Whittlesey area in the future. Xx
 
See you all in Feb :) xx
 
Louise, Sam & Lee
​NPNGUK

Hi all.

It's been a while!
 
Firstly, let us start off by saying a huge “well done” to Lisa Weston, Sarah Weston, Anna Foster and our own Sam Carter who all successfully completed the Perkins Great Eastern half marathon on the 9th October 2016.
 
As photos will testify, it started off a bit cold and damp, which is apparently ideal weather for running, but during the course of the day, and certainly as all of our runners sprinted past us with a mile to go to the finish, the sun had come out to make it a lovely end to a brilliant event.
 
It was an amazing achievement from the ladies (it’s prompted our token male to consider pulling on his own running shoes next year!!) and they raised over an amazing £550.
 
It was a small consolation but there was cake at the end :) and the difference these ladies have made to NGNPUK and to those who benefit from have a syringe driver available makes their achievement worthwhile.
 
Thanks once again ladies!!

​Plastic money.
We’ve also been lucky enough to receive a swathe of donations from people looking to find a good charitable home for their first new £5 note.  This followed on the back of a story in the media about an initiative to donate the first £5 note received by a person to a charitable cause and we’re so grateful to have come to the minds of so many people looking to contribute to us.
 
We’ve also found suitable homes for our own £5 notes so the hope is that so many good causes benefit from this selfless act. (click here to read more).

Our crafting army…..
As we’ve undertaken this journey, we’ve made some really good contacts and been fortunate enough to have been able to collaborate with people to help raise awareness of what we’re doing here an NGNPUK.
 
One of the more personal touches we’ve been able to build on is the syringe driver bags that the drivers are put into when in a patient’s home, which with your help has allowed us to provide 74 driver bags to the CPFT.
 
We published this on twitter and even got a “re-tweet” from the handmade goddess Kirsty Allsop during her handmade fair at Hampton court palace.
  
A big Thank You to Jo Hunt for the lovely syringe driver bags that you made. We have been told what a massive difference it makes to patients and their families to know someone took the time and effort to make a bag for them. Xx

More thank yous....
We would also like to say a big thank you to Lucy Morton at Hidden Gems in Whittlesey for the kind donation of £21. Lucy runs a psychic evening at the Falcon once a month and has donated half the raffle money raised to us.

Also, a big thank you to Jane Sumner who donated half her wages for 2 days to NGNPUK as well as doubling up her first brand new £5 and sending an extra £10. 
 
Raising awareness elsewhere. 
We’ve been starting to have success in raising awareness away from Whittlesey etc, and have now established good contacts in Oundle, Wansford and Collyweston and are starting to appear in loads of parish leaflets, commutiny groups and magazines.

ITV News - National coverage
On 17th October we were visited by a camera crew from the ITN news who wanted Louise to comment on the NHS, and in particular a poll asking if the public were prepared to pay more tax if it went directly to the NHS (click here to see more).

There was a short piece featuring Louise's story but sadly there was no time to talk about what we are doing at NGNPUK on this occasion but something does need to change to make sure people get the correct equipment when they need it.  

We can only hope it makes more people aware of the importance of a syringe driver and the lack of them out there in the community.  We'll also keep working with the press in the future to keep this issue firmly in the public eye.
​
Handover
The 14th October was a huge day for us here at NGNPUK headquarters.  It saw the result of all the hardwork that our community has done to ensure we had these vital pieces of equipment in the hands of those people who need them.

We visited Aliwal Manor Care Centre in Whittlesey to hand over 8 syringe drivers, 9 lockboxes and 74 syringe driver bags to the CPFT.  To say that it was a very heartwarming and fulfilling moment for everyone involved was an understatment, but it was very much gratefully recieved.

7 drivers were destined for the Whittlesey, Thorney, Eye and Stanground areas and one will be going to do its job in the community around the Wansford area, who like, us only had 2 to share between a large numbers of residents.

The 74 Syringe driver bags were very welcome and some were taken straight off to patients so a massive thank you again to all of you who helped achieve this. 2 of our previous donated drivers are currently being serviced so the new ones were timed just right as 2 were needed straight away. 

We would like to say a huge Thank you to everyone who gave up their time to make a total of 74 of these beautiful syringe driver bags. These will be given to patients when they have a syringe driver in their home. We have been told these really mean a lot to both patients and families.
Thank you to
Karyn McCarthy, Jo Hunt, Karen Kelly, Karen Weston, Debbie Walker and Tracy Thompson and anyone else we may have missed.

Also a big Thank you to Julie from Making for Charity for pointing us in the right direction and to Lee Fisher from Interior Good Direct for sending us lots and lots of free material :)

Please continue to support us. Like and share our page to keep up to date on what’s going on. These machines are vital in palliative care and make a huge difference to patients their families and the district nurses. No one should have to wait and everyone who needs one should have one. 
A huge thank you from the NGNPUK Team, Louise, Lee and Sam. xx

Hi All.
 
It’s been another busy month for us here at NGNPUK HQ with lots of exciting events, activities and stories that we’ve to share with you.  To get the most up to date happenings, follow us on twitter (@NGNPUK) or like our Facebook page or continue to check out our blog,
 
So, what’s new?
 
The ladies here at NGNPUK found a unique way of raising a few quid by signing up the “men” to run as human hounds at the Peterborough greyhound stadium on Friday 9th September. 
 
It was a great opportunity for local charities to compete in a half track dash towards a pot of gold, with all competitors receiving a donation to their chosen charity, and the winners progressing to the next heats and then ultimately into the final.  Each heat ensured a further donation with a substantial cash donation for the finalists and the competition winner.
 
It was “decided” (and by no means were the words “we’ve signed you both up so man up!” used at all :-) ) that Brian (Sam’s husband) and Lee would “run” for us.
 
The night consisted of a special human hounds race during the regular racing schedule, where our intrepid hounds, “Chewbarker” and “Jabba the Mutt”, lined up with hounds from Little Miracles; Free Kicks foundations; Young Minds/Beyond food and Mellon Educate.
 
Suffice to say, that with the introduction of the “hound costumes”, we knew this was going to be a challenge, specifically as visibility was restricted to a 2 x 1” square.  Our cheering supporters were pleased to see our hounds come home as 5th and 6th winners raising over £100.  
 
Overall, it was a great night for all charities involved.
 
Currently the “mutts” and their agents are “negotiating” “contracts” for the next event… watch this space ;-).  
 
The word really is spreading about what we’re attempting to do and we’re now fortunate to have people looking to raise money on our behalf, which is truly amazing.
 
Sonia Ciriello contacted us after her dad sadly needed a Syringe Driver earlier in the year. She informed us that she was looking to organise a Christmas craft fair for us in Eye.  Sonia has had huge interest and has confirmed the date for Sunday 4th December at Manor Farm Community Centre Eye.  Further details of the event can be found here.

We also attended a car boot sale over the August bank holiday weekend to sell some of the lovely items that had been donated to us.  It was a gorgeous weekend and put a further few coppers into the kitty and gave us some time to talk to the public (as well as top up our tans!)
 
As we’ve been exploring the work we can do in areas away from Whittlesey, we’ve been closely working with the CPFT who mentioned that “Whittlesey and surrounding areas have used the pumps constantly since 1st May – there have only been 4 days where none have been used” This is amazing news, and just proves what a difference this community has made to the people who live among it, and we hope to continue to spread the word. 
 
We’ve started to campaign in other areas, with posters going up in GP surgeries and shops, and on the 5th September has some amazing news.  We had applied for a grant from the Burghley trust to supply a syringe driver to Wansford and surrounding areas (Wansford to Laxton covering Tixover, Wittering, Collyweston, Stibbington, Barnack, Sutton, Castor and Ailsworth and all the surrounding villages).
 
They currently have two drivers to cover this area, much the same as when we started tackling Whittlesey and through this grant, we were able to do 2 things.  Firstly we can provide a driver for our first area away from Whittlesey, and secondly, we now had enough funds to make a bulk purchase of 5 drivers which also gave us a further discount on each one. 
 
We also received some fantastic news from Bruce and the regulars at the Letter B public house (details found here ) who invited us along to a presentation evening following their Charity bike ride on 16th July where 50 riders rode 53 miles. 
 
We were astounded to receive a cheque for £3300, a staggering amount, further enabling us to purchase another 3 drivers for Whittlesey, Thorney, Eye and Stanground.  We really cannot explain the difference this makes to the community, and cannot thank Bruce, Denise, all the cyclists and the regulars of the Letter B pub.
 
This meant that we were able to purchase a further 7 drivers for Whittlesey, Thorney, Eye and Stanground. On top of this with the money we are now able to save through VAT and bulk buying, we were also able to purchase an additional  lockbox as these need replacing more frequently due to the nature of their use.
 
We expect to hand these over to the CPFT on 14th October.
 
As always, we continue to work behind the scenes to make your donations work as far as we can, so we have been busy getting successfully registered to allow us to receive “gift aid” contributions.  In essence, this allows us to claim back 25% of your donation (if you are a UK tax payer) from income tax paid by you from the government.  This means that every £100 of donations is worth £125 to us. 
 
We have also had some interest from people who have wanted to fundraise for us and they have enquired if we are on justgiving.  As we have mentioned, we have been exploring the “MyDonate” service, hosted by BT and are now pleased to announce that it is all up and running. 
 
We now have 4 people signed up to do the Perkins Great Eastern half marathon run on 9th October, including our own Sam Carter.  We really do appreciate the efforts people are making to support our cause, and of course, would like to say a big thank you to Lisa Weston, Sarah Weston and Anna Foster (who is donation half her sponsorship to NGNPUK and half to Defibrilators for All) . For details on how sponsor or donate to Lisa, Sarah, Sam and Anna, click of the following links:
 
Sam Carter 
Lisa Weston 
Sarah Weston
Anna Foster
 
We wish the best of luck for the run to you all, we’ll see you at the finish line :-) 
 
We also attended our first major public appearance on the 11th September at the Whittlesey Festival.  It was a glorious day, sun was shining and we had a great time “whacking the rat” and selling our wares. 
 
We managed to have lots of conversations with the public and it was lovely to see so many faces and be able to thank you in person for the support you’ve shown us.  We really couldn’t have achieved so much without the amazing community we’re proud to help.
 
We’ll be updating our gallery shortly as we’ve plenty of great photos from all of our recent events.
 
One of the ways we’ve been asking people to help us recently involves nothing more than time….
 
We’d been asked by the CPFT to see if it was possible to supply bags for the drivers to be put into when they are placed into patients homes.
 
These bags can only be used once, and are disposed of afterwards.  We have been very fortunate to make contact with Julie from Making for charity who have given us some wonderful advice and put us in touch with Lee Fisher from Interior Goods Direct in Wakefield who has been kind enough to donate material for us to make these bags.
 
We asked for volunteers to make these syringe driver bags, providing them with material, instructions and a pattern for them, and as usual you guys have been incredible with your time and generosity. 
 
Its proof, that even the smallest act of kindness such as donating some of your time can have such an amazing impact. Please get in contact with us if you would like to help.
 
Finally, we’d like to thank everyone who continues to donate to our cause and continues to think of us, what we’re doing and help to spread the word.  It really does mean the world to us.
 
Louise, Sam & Lee
​NPNGUK
 

Hi all.
As usual, apologies for the tardiness of this blog!  As usual, we’ve been hard at it, beavering away behind the scenes and we’ve sooo much to update you with.

Firstly, the most brilliant news!!

Yes, it’s official.  We are now a registered charity!!  We have an official charity number and everything (for those interested, our number is 1168339)!

It’s taken quite a bit of work getting the application together for the charity commission to gain our charitable status, and we learned so many things along the way, but the end result is that as a charity, we’re now able to make all of your support go even further.  As our mission is to provide syringe drivers to the CPFT, we are eligible for 0% rated VAT. 

What does this mean?
Basically, we can buy our drivers at cost price, no VAT to pay, which allows us to save a further 20% on each and every driver and lockbox we buy.  This means the savings made on every 5 drivers would allow us to purchase a 6th. This is such a huge benefit, that the late night form filling and preparation has made it all worthwhile. As we have charitable status, we can now start the process for looking at extra benefits such as gift aid which allows us to claim tax back from HMRC on the donations you make to us, meaning your pound will be worth £1.25!! It also allows us to be selected as a local charity by fund raisers all over the country (should they wish). 

This leads nicely onto our next action…
We’ve been asked quite a bit about featuring on sites such as just giving, as those who have wanted to fundraise for us have found this an easy way to start. Quite early on, we investigated the possibility of signing up, however there is a monthly subscription charge that as a charity we need to pay, in addition to a transaction fee taken from the gift aid claim. We felt that we would rather use every penny we raised buying and supplying drivers to communities rather than pay to use such services.  We have a number of ways that people can donate to us, at the lowest cost possible to us. 

One new way we’re currently exploring BT’s “MyDonate” scheme. It seems that all such schemes have a transaction fee of sorts, but “MyDonate” takes the smallest fee only from a gift aid claim.  While it’s not ideal, we can at least ensure that any funding received this way maximises the most of any donations.

We’re also well underway with our efforts to raise awareness of the shortage of drivers in the rest of the CPFT area.  We have started talks with Oundle and Wansford, and thanks to loads of feedback we’ve been able to contact the Oundle Advertiser, Inspire Benefice News, The Village Connect, Living Villages, Nene Living and the Castor and Ailsworth Magazine, as well as their local Facebook pages so watch this space as things develop.
 
We’re also beginning to develop a brand and style that we hope you like.  Expect to see our new logo, colour schemes and material over the next few weeks! Hopefully it stands out and makes us memorable!
 
What else,
 
Wood off cuts:
We’ve had a generous offer from a kind “woodsman” (not the fairy tale kind) who is happy to make some beautiful wooden planters if we can supply the wood. So any offcuts, please let us know as we can sure find a home for them. J
 
Charity Bike Ride:
16th July; Bruce and a team of 50 riders from the Letter B organised a 53 mile cycle ride to help raise money for syringe drivers.  It was a huge success and massively appreciated.  Thanks Bruce and the Patrons of the riders of the Letter B.
 
Donations, donations, donations
23rd July; Bella Craven and the Marholm pudding club made a lovely donation to the fund.   The pudding club get together once a month and share their homemade puddings. That sounds like our kind of club
15th August; Rosemary Marson and the Whittlesey Tangent club delivered a very generous donation to us. It was a lovely surprise to receive the letter and donation.
16th August; we had an exclusive sale of Bearded Lithuanian Iris (for those green fingered fiends) provided by a stately home that were not available in the shops.  We were really pleased with how well they sold at £4 a bag.
 
The Kids are alright!!
16th August; not wishing to be left out, Mason (son of Louise and Lee) declared his “Rock shop” open for business!!   He opened his “shop” selling painted rocks and fossils and the odd dinosaur tooth and made a wonderful £14.  All his own initiative and a keen desire to help “grandad’s” charity.  The children really ARE the future!!
 
Feedback
16th August – We had a lovely email back from the CPFT in July about the Whittlesey drivers, yet again providing evidence of how vital these devices are:
 
"You are right about the 5 drivers being used over the weekend but it is now ongoing and the District Nurses report that they have had 7 running at once. This is an unprecedented number at one time, but I can tell you that the comments were, thank goodness we had the extra drivers from NGNPUK".
 
Sweetie appeal
 
We also appealed for any lose packets of sweets kicking around to be used at future events and we were overwhelmed by generosity.
 
Donations of sweeties galore for our sweetie tombola, too numerous to mention, but a MASSIVE thank you to each and every one of you. It really is appreciated!  We also received a donation of a large number of cuddly toys (thanks Lisa Hedges), so expect to see them popping up at our events in the future!!
 
And finally,
 
We’re attending the Whittlesey Festival on 11th September.  We’ll be located in St Mary’s churchyard, so please pop by to “whack the rat”, visit our stall of goodies or just to say hi!!
 
Louise, Sam & Lee
​NPNGUK

Hi all.

Apologies for the time taken to update this blog, but I can assure you we’ve been hard at work pushing our message, tackling the huge amount of paperwork to apply to become a registered charity, fundraising and even making an appearance at our public event, the Park Lane school fete (thank you FOPLS for including us in that)!

The most important work we’ve been undertaking this last couple of months has been making the decision to officially register as a charity.  This decision has come about for a number of reasons.  When we initially started this journey, our aim was to supply a syringe driver every year to the Whittlesey, Thorney and Eye nursing team to help make sure that people didn’t have to suffer needless pain waiting for drivers to become available, but the further we went into this journey, we came to realise the scale of issues facing the community, and the CPFT (Cambridgeshire Peterborough Foundation Trust). With the Whittlesey community behind us we’ve made a massive impact, delivering 4 additional drivers to date with more planned, and developing a closer working relationship with the CPFT.

We’ve also has wonderful feedback from the CPFT and nursing team specifically around the difference the new drivers have made to them since they received them.  In particular, the email below:

Morning Lee, Just a short note to thank you so much for your help. On the weekend of May 8th/9th Whittlesey required 5 x T34 Syringe Pumps to be running at different locations across the town at the same time, without the extra pumps you had bought, the District Nurses would have been rushing to and fro across Peterborough to find pumps from other areas not being used. Your pumps enabled timely symptom relief to be given.
Thank you.

These drivers have had a massive impact for the district nurses, and we can only imagine the difference this has made to the patient and their families.

Our relationship with the CPFT has enabled us to better understand the issues that they face, but it has also really highlighted the size of the problem across the whole of their area, and in particular, our neighbouring towns and villages.  The information we have learned to date has helped inform our next course of action.

The CPFT covers a huge area from close to Corby (the Northamptonshire border), down to Yaxley and Stilton (close to the Huntingdonshire border), across to Thorney, Eye and out almost to March and beyond including all of Peterborough city centre.
 
Most of the GP surgeries hold 2 drivers for the nursing team to cover their respective towns and Villages.  To put this into perspective, here are 2 examples from the areas they have to support:
 
Wansford surgery:
Wansford has 2 drivers to cover from Wansford to Laxton covering Tixover, Wittering, Collyweston, Stibbington, Barnack, Sutton, and Castor & Alisworth; including all surrounding villages and parishes in this area.
 
Oundle surgery:
Oundle has 2 drivers and covers as Achurch, Pilton, Lutton, Benefield, Polebrook, and Warmington; including all surrounding villages and parishes in this area which makes the list even larger still.
 
The CPFT also hold a small amount of drivers centrally at the city care centre, which can be collected and used by the District Nurses from all areas.  This is not ideal, as under these circumstances the patient has to wait longer to receive a driver, whilst the nurses need to drive miles to collect them.  They are also dependent upon them being available and not already in use elsewhere.  The problem is compounded during evenings and weekends when GP surgeries are locked and the nursing staff are unable to obtain ones held there. 

There is no doubt that the nurses time is much better spent with the person in need and their families and keeping the patient comfortable.

It’s been noticed and appreciated by the District nurses that the situation in Whittlesey is improving with the addition of the extra drivers.  We have now been contacted by District nurses from some of these other areas who are asking if we can help in their communities too. We wholeheartedly want to help increase their numbers if we can as people should not be waiting for these machines.

We now want to expand our campaign to the whole of the CPFT’s region helping other local towns and villages, and also look to the future to make sure there is always a sufficient number of devices available where needed.  We will be seeking ways of engaging with these communities to raise awareness and improve funding for their areas.

We are fortunate to have great support in Whittlesey from Facebook discussion and community pages, local webpages such as Whittlesey Street-life and also have the vibrant local magazines such as Whittlesey Discovery and the Fens.  We would love to hear from anyone who can help us make a difference in these other communities the same way we have made in our own.  We want to set the example for pulling together to really make a difference to those in pain.

Do you have friends or relatives that live in these areas?  Could you let them know who we are?  Do they know what a syringe driver is, or how invaluable they are in the community?  Can you help spread our message?  Can you give us any information that could help us to get the message across?  This really will help us to make a difference where it’s needed.
 
What else…
 
We’ve also been really fortunate to have received several donations from some wonderful events over the last couple of months.  Firstly, 5 lovely young ladies completed a challenging 48hr sponsored silence to help raise money for more Syringe Drivers in the area.
 
The girls who were aged 10 go to Hampton Vale and St Botolphs schools who allowed them to complete one of their quiet days at school.  They originally set out to reach a £200 target which they absolutely smashed as they raised an incredible £600.  It’s fantastic to see that even children understand the importance of these machines and are willing to make a difference. It was a wonderfully thoughtful thing to do and the girls should be very proud.  A huge thank you to the girls and all those that supported them.
 
Next we wanted to say a huge thank you to the Whittlesey Singers who have delivered us a fantastic donation of £500 towards another Whittlesey syringe driver. We cannot thank people enough for their generosity.
 
Next, we were fortunate to receive a contribution of £950 from Rachael Smith and Michelle Birch following their Motor City Vipers gig at the Ivy Leaf. It was a fantastic evening due to their hard work and organisation, and special mention to the band who were great.  We had a great night, met loads of people and put our dancing shoes to work!
Thank you for thinking of the syringe Driver fund and donating.  This will go a long way to providing another driver.
 
We have also been lucky enough to have been awarded grants from the Whittlesey Charity for another Syringe driver. We would like to say a massive thank you to the charity who have been gracious enough to make the award.
 
On the 5th July, Louise was lucky enough to collect a cheque from Buckles solicitors.  Mr Stephen Duffy delivered a donation of £500 to help towards funding a syringe driver for one of our other neighbouring towns and villages. These sorts of donations make a huge difference as it would take us months to raise this sort of money.
 
Amongst selling various items, plants, honey etc., we also attended our first school fete at Park Lane School and we’d like to thank everyone who visited the fete and our stall.  We were so glad we were set up inside the hall, as the heavens certainly opened that day!  We made £108 in total so it was well worth the effort.  A special mention to Kim Fountain for helping us out and all the FOPLS for organising a great fete.
 
Finally, on the 6th June, we met with Katy Harrison at the CPFT to hand over 6 lock boxes at the city care centre. These lock boxes keep the syringe drivers as safe as possible while they are being used in the community. They can protect the drivers if they are dropped and also stop anyone tampering with the medication once it's in place.
 
Drivers can’t be used without a lock box and we always purchase a box with each driver we get, however we have found that these do get broken on occasions. These additional boxes will help ensure the drivers we provided continue doing their job.
 
Lee, Louise & Sam
​NPNGUK

Hi all.

We’re back with an even bigger and better update!
 
We’ve had an eventful month and things have been flying along, so much so that we’ve barely had time to catch breath.
.
Firstly, we have to say a massive thanks to Bruce and Denise and all their regulars at the Letter B pub in Whittlesey, who have made a generous donation of £500 to us.  We were privileged to receive a donation alongside the Whittlesey Christmas lights committee and money towards a Defibrillator placed at the “Field of Dreams”.  It really is wonderful to see our community pulling together for such amazing local causes.

We’re also pleased (and relieved) to say that we’ve had our first successful quiz night, and the feedback we have received has been amazing, so we really appreciate it.  To say that there were a few “hearty discussions” leading up to the event is an understatement, but we hope that the tone of the night re questions set and the atmosphere made this a memorable event for those that came.  For those that didn’t make it, we hope to have a repeat performance next year (based on all the wonderful feedback), so hopefully we’ll see you there (with a shorter raffle!!)

We really cannot thank everyone enough for coming along to support us, raising awareness and generally allowing us to do what we can to help.

We had a massive success, with a donation from Jonathan Dale on behalf of the Whittlesey Angling Association for another driver.  This is particularly poignant, as Dave (Louise’s Dad) was a keen angler all his life and immersed himself in the club dedicating time to teaching and encouraging the young anglers.  With the money made from the quiz night, we’re able to keep supplying the nursing team drivers whenever they need. 

This leads on nicely to the day of Wednesday 13th April....

We had the opportunity to handover another 2 Syringe drivers to the community nursing team, amongst them was Aiden Thomas, Chief Executive of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust who wanted to come and personally thank us for our efforts, none of which would have been possible without the support from all of you, so again, we really cannot thank you all enough and emphasise the difference these machines make.

We also had a very useful and informative meeting with the lovely ladies at the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT for short).  Among the things we discussed were the issues that are faced with using these machines. They go into people’s homes and therefore can have unfortunate things happen to them such as the sad case of a patient who was suffering from Alzheimer’s throwing the driver against a wall as they were not aware what they were doing.  The lock box was smashed but thankfully the driver was safe.

This goes to show how important these boxes are in protecting the driver itself. These Syringe drivers cannot be used unless they are in a secure box so we have agreed with the CPFT to buy 6 more lock boxes to keep the drivers safe and free from damage and to ensure that they are always out there in our communities in working order.

We have some support from a bunch of lovely young ladies who have offered to “shut up” for 48 hrs. 

On the 6th & 7th May 2016, Imogen Hamilton Hirniak, Amber Homer, both aged 10, and three of their friends are taking on the very difficult challenge of not speaking for 48 hours in order to raise money.  We wish them all the best as having 3 children under the age of 10 between us all here at NGNPUK, we know this is NOT an easy task to undertake, but we can be sure all of the parents involved will find it “difficult” with all this new found peace and quiet.

Please support the girls in any way you can… it is such an amazing gesture!
Thank you Imogen, Amber and friends!!  

For further details or if you wish to sponsor the girls, click here 
 
Finally, we’d also like to thank all those involved with the Motor City Vipers charity gig at the Ivy Leaf on 14th May at 19:30, particularly Rachael Smith and Michelle Burke, who have offered to donate proceeds from this night to ourselves and Whittlesey Defibrillators for All.

For more info, or to buy tickets, click here
We hope that the night is a massive success and we hope to see you there!!.  Dancing shoes at the ready!!
 
Lee, Louise & Sam
​NPNGUK

So it’s been a while since we put an update out on our blog, and you could be forgiven for thinking, well mission accomplished.  We’ve successfully raised enough money to put 2 more drivers into the hands of our local nursing team, that’ll do….. But oh no no no!!!!

We’ve been busily preparing the way for our first quiz night event (16th April 2016, St Andrews Hall, Whittlesey, tickets still available  ) but at the same time, we’ve been trying to raise awareness and get this into the spotlight.

We’ve been aided by the wonderful people in the Whittlesey discussion group on Facebook and countless others (really too many to name – but you all know who you are!!) to really bring this issue into our communities focus.

It has been growing steadily, but the last 2 weeks in particular has been bonkers!!

It started with Louise writing a heartfelt post to our Facebook page with the underlying impact that unavailability can have.  We have never wanted to make this campaign about a person or a particular incident, but about the lack of equipment available to those in need. 

We have been asked on so many occasions, “What is a syringe driver”? and the truth is in cold light of day, it’s an automated pump for delivering medicine.  “Oh”, is pretty much what people reply.  A perfectly valid response, however, when you explain a little further the penny drops, it clicks and people understand.  

We’ve had this response from people from all walks of life and more interestingly, from some within the health care profession where they were certainly unaware of the cost of these things.  

We have learned that these drivers/pumps had been thrown away, accidently damaged and lost mainly due to a lack of understanding about them. 

So, to illustrate the difference that one of these devices can make to a person in need, Louise wrote her piece (you can read it here).  This was also posted on the Whittlesey Facebook discussion group and Whittlesey Street life.  It was a very poignant piece, but the reaction to it has been more than we could ever dream of.

Since then, we have had so many people contact us to offer support, make donations and offer prizes for our raffle which has been brilliant.  To add to this, on Mother’s day we had some amazing news.  We received a beautiful letter and an anonymous donation for the full amount for the next syringe driver.  To say we were staggered is beyond words.

This has been further backed by Whittlesey Town council, who awarded us £500 from the grant they received from Tesco’s for distribution to worthy causes.  To say we were honoured was an understatement (well, they do say that “Every little helps”  )

We have also been lucky to have Totally Chocolicious work alongside us by running a raffle for all kinds of chocolate goodies to be drawn on Easter Sunday.   This is proving to be very popular, and tickets are available from Total Chocolicious (Click here) or by contacting us (Click here).

Our campaigning through Facebook prior to Louise’s post reached about 250 people and we had on average 70 likes for our page.
 
Louise posted her story on 2nd March and within 24 hours; this post had reached over 6500 people!!
 
To say we were blown away is an understatement, but our guess is people have truly grasped the human element of what these machines actually do and who benefits from them.  It’s not about the device itself, but about the difference it makes to those in need and their loved ones.
 
Words will never be enough to thank all those who have shared our story; donated; offered words of support; advice and promoted our cause.
 
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!
 
Lee, Louise & Sam
​NPNGUK

NGNPUK are pleased to announce we have just received a grant from the Earl Fitzwilliam Charitable trust.

We would like to says a massive thank you to the trustees, Sir Philip and Lady Isabella Naylor-Leyland, for their wonderful donation to our cause.

The trust represents a commitment to local community involvement and initiatives.

Gestures such as these allow us to continue on our journey, allowing us to supply more syringe drivers into our communities.  This helps people have their pain successfully managed at home providing dignity for the patient and their loved ones when the time comes.

This grant allows us to purchase the next syringe driver. This means we have now been able to double the amount of drivers in the local community in just our first year.

Once again, we would very much like to thank the Earl Fitzwilliam Charitable trust and Sir Philip and Lady Isabella Naylor-Leyland for their contribution.

With warmest gratitude

Louise, Lee and Sam

NGNPUK Team

So Christmas has been and gone, many many mince pies have been eaten and it's now time for the NGNPUK team to get focused on our next task...

We've undertaken a number of smaller activities since October.  We've had various items donated to us, gratefully received and allowing us to add to the fund, and had a first successful visit to the Marholm CoE craft fair where we had a stand selling lots of lovely homemade arts, crafts and goodies.

We've now organised our first quiz night on 16th April 2016 at St Andrews Hall, Whittlesey.

Tickets will be on sale shortly for £5 per person with teams of up to 8.  Bring your own food, drinks and yes, you can bring alcohol ;).

We'll be making a few delish cakes to sell at half time and holding a raffle.  

Come and join us for a fun night out :) x x

NGNPUK

So it's been a bit quiet on the NGNPUK front over the summer holidays.  everyone involved has had numerous commitments to attend to, and the school holidays seem to have flown by at breakneck speed!!

We've continued to raise funds, mainly by continuing to sell items that have been donated to the cause, and we have had a large amount of success selling various plants, horse tack, some beautiful little watering cans and numerous other items all while we start to prepare for our next event...

Today, were also lucky enough to handover the very first syringe driver to the Whittlesey community nursing team.

It was gratefully received on behalf of the team by Ingrid Randall (Team Manager, Community Nursing Services) and Deborah Smith (District Nurse - Whittlesey), who provided a little more insight into how these devices are used.

Ingrid explained that there are 2 devices allocated to the Whittlesey area which when both are in use, means the nursing team have to spend vital time travelling around to obtain devices from other locations to fulfil their need, although this is not always possible.

Very often, there may be cases where 2 drivers are needed for an individual, such as cases when multiple medications are needed that cannot be delivered together through one device, or when devices are sent away for mandatory servicing which can take up to 2 weeks for their return. 

Ingrid also explained that sometimes devices are needed for longer term care, or get damaged or lost during usage, and as a result this can leave them low in numbers, so any additional devices can make such a positive difference.

The manufactures explained that the"average" life expectancy of a syringe driver if used daily will be around 7 years, but is very much dependent on their usage, and for them not to be dropped into the bath or put into a sharps bin, as Ingrid explained, has been known to happen.

It feels wonderful to know that we have the ability to make a difference and that providing syringe drivers, we are directly helping people who are truly in need.

We really appreciate all the help and donations that we have received to help make the delivery of Driver no 1 a reality.  Please forgive us as we continue to bombard, beg and plead for your generosity to keep providing for this worthwhile cause.

Lee, Louise & Sam
​NPNGUK

L to R: Sam, Louise, Deborah, Ingrid & Lee

So today was our first equestrian table top sale which was very well attended with seller, but a little disappointing with the number of buyers, so we'd like to thank those that attended, those that brought tables and hopefully many bargains were still had .....

It's our first attempt as a specialist event such as this, so we hope to learn many lessons, and feedback from those that attended have suggested that these types of events are few and far between!!

We have managed to add to our total, and still have a number of horsey items and plants for sale....

Louise's baking, cakes and savouries went down a treat so overall a relatively good day :-). 

We'd like to thank Bella Craven for the donation of the rugs, Nicki Johnson and fellow stall holders who kindly donated their stuff to the cause, and to everyone who made and donated cakes.

Marholm Sportive update..

We've now added photos and videos from our Marholm 50 sportive cycle ride.  Take a look at these in our gallery.

Sam Smith Raffle.

Finally, there is a week left to purchase raffle tickets for Sam Smiths comeback concert at Thetford forest on Friday 3rd July.

This will be his first live appearance since undergoing vocal chord surgery, so we're expecting an explosive show!!

We'll be making the draw on Sunday 21st June, so keep an eye out for the results which we'll post to this site.

NGNPUK Team

Don't forget to come and see us between 10-12 for some horsey bargains at our Equestrian Table top sale at Marholm Village hall:

For Sat Nav users
18 Castor Rd, Peterborough PE6 7JA, UK

Or follow the directions at the link below

http://bit.ly/1ecWVZi

See you there 
NGNPUK

So we did it...... Massive, massive achievement for us riders.  We managed to complete the 54 miles of the Marholm Sportive in just over 4 hours.  Not bad if we do say so ourselves for a bunch of guys who've never done this distance before!

The first 30 miles were hard, head wind, up and down hill, and all the more frustrating as the first feed station had run out of cake!!!

Fortunately there was respite in a little cafe for a cuppa and slice in the next village.

Sam and Louise rode magnificently, never complaining (cake excepted) and with smiles on their faces, and as we rounded the corner to gain a back wind, there was even talk of beating this years times next year!!

The final 12 miles were a joy to ride as we know we were close to the finish, roads became familiar, and kept up with the pack (thought to see some of the 70 mile riders coming past us was a sight to see... those guys could motor).

The countryside was stunning and the weather was as perfect as could be (wind aside) and it was all worthwhile as we've raised £1100 so far, with more expected.

Our real celebration came as we all arrived home in the form of a Chinese take-out (yum!!).

Photos and video will be uploaded shortly, so please check them out!

We want to thank everyone for their support, for their generosity and kind comments, but please forgive us as we continue to pester and harass you all, we really can make a difference,

Also, a final note to wish Jane a speedy recovery and hope to see her on her bike with us next year :-)

NGNPUK Team

So we're under starters orders with the Marholm sportive being only 2 days away.    We've been given our numbers, start times and route (54 miles in total) and more importantly, opening times for the pub!!

Everyone has been training hard so we're in the best position to complete this first challenge as a team, however unfortunately, Jane is unable to ride under medical advice.  

We're deeply disappointed for her as we know how hard she has worked to be ready to ride, but we hope to see her on the day, and recognise the massive effort and support she has and continues to make.

NGNPUK

So as part of our efforts, we have been fortunate enough to have obtained 2 tickets to see Sam Smith for Friday 3rd July 2015 at Thetford Forest.  


We are raffling these off at £1 a ticket and the draw will take place on Sunday 21st June.

This should be his first concert after his throat operation, however, if the concert happens to get cancelled we will refund all ticket money :) 


Thanks Louise.

Well I can't believe I managed 104 miles in total last week with the most in one day being 32 miles:) the weather made a big difference.

I've had a tyre blow out, a puncture and a broken brake cable . I'll be a bike mechanic by the end of this:).  I've managed a few cups of coffee and the odd bit of cake on the way :) I was also joined by friends who helped with the motivation.  

My trusty steed had a rest at the weekend but we were off out again Monday and Tuesday was a nightmare!!  


The wind and rain was madness. I was soaked to the bone but so glad I went out and faced it.. The thought of someone waiting that very moment for one of those machines kept me moving. 

I know I am lucky to be able to actually get on my bike and move unlike people who are In need of these machines :( 

I also learnt how to tweet this week which is a new one for me but needs must when fundraising :) 

We are up to about £500 now between us all  which is great going, really hoping to raise enough for at least one of these machines. I think the Sam Smith tickets we are raffling will be popular..

Sam (not Smith lol) is at the Marholm car boot on Monday 4th May, so please pop along, pick up a bargain and help this worthwhile cause.

So things have been moving on at a pace now and efforts are going well.  We're starting to recieve sponsorship and donations, although not as fast as we'd like, so please please please donate if you can.

To boost the funds, Jane has been a busy little worker bee. Amongst things she's been up to are:

• Trying to organise article in the Melton Times and the Rutland Times..

• A table top sale at Whissendine sports club, Sat 2nd May at 1:00-15:00 (The kids will be serving Tea and Coffee) - There is still room and a for need buyers and sellers, so please spread the word and help support the cause.
• A raffle, including prizes from Aston Vauxhall in Melton, Waterfield Gym in Melton, A carvery meal for 2 at The White Lion, Whissendine, A cut and blow dry from Antonia Skerrit hair at home , A back ,neck and shoulder massage from Jane herself!!!
  

We have a poster advertising the event, and Jane has been successful in having the put up in  Wilkinsons, Tesco' s, various coffee shops, Pets at home in Oakham and Melton,  she has got the message out on parent mail around Whissendine primary school so this should help spread the word..

As for training, Jane has managed to get to 19 miles, and now feeling brave, is pushing to 23 and is feeling pretty good save for some shoulder ache (I know that feeling too well)!!

Way to go Jane!!

Lee

So I've really stepped up a gear with my training now as it's only just over 4 weeks to go... Scary!!  With the weather being so good this last week, I've been able to put some more miles on the clock thanks to the help of Lee's bike and Strava. A lighter bike really does make a difference, I think I've just inherited a new bike ;-)

I've found a good route from Whittlesey to Ferry Meadows, via the boating lake at Thorpe meadows.  With a couple of circuits around the boating lake, then heading onto ferry meadows and around the sailing lake, before heading back home, this comes in at 24 miles, which I've completed in 2 hours, so I'm very pleased.

Head wind on the way home nearly made me want to give up, but I was determined to do this run without stopping. I'm praying that on the day, it's not windy! I had to have serious worlds with myself about why I was doing this ride to motivate me to finish.. 

By the time I'd finished, I had serious back and bum ache!  I've realised that I'll need a stop for fuel (cake & coffee lol) before the 25 mile point.  The thought of doing another 25 miles on top is going to be a tough mental challenge!!

Admittedly, there is very little in the way of hills, but its been good for getting some distance (plus meeting up occasionally for a coffee with Lee or friends)!

Strava tells me I've ridden 80 miles this week, so I'm hopefully making progress.

50 miles in one day is another story, but the reason is all worth while.

Love Lou

So this last week or so, I've had a little problem with the car which has meant that I've had to spend more time than necessary on the bike...

It's been a blessing really, during which time I've managed to get in a few miles and catch up with Lee and Louise for a ride around ferry meadows with the families.

A nice time was had by all, and I've managed to gain an a deputy assistant cyclist... Little Molly is now a firm member of the team, after making serious efforts to push Mummy up the hills of castor on her new tag-along....

There is no stopping me now...

Love Sam.