Children Today - For A Brighter Tomorrow

On Wednesday 22 July Regional Fundraising Manager, Elizabeth Okaes (pictured) delivered a wonderfully informative presentation about Children Today to the Rotary Club of Bolton Lever. Current president Susan Southern and Past President Rebecca Harrison (pictured)  presented Liz with a donation of £500 which will help enhace the life of a disabled child. Children Today would like to thank them for their generous donantion.

On Saturday 11th July, twenty-five keen ghost hunters participated in yet another of Children Today’s highly successful supernatural investigations at Castle Keep, Newcastle. This late night vigil took place from 8.30pm – 3am and was expertly led by professional paranormal investigators The Ghostwhisperers.

 

Castle Keep is steeped in history and renowned for spooky things taking place and it did not disappoint! The team used highly sensitive and sophisticated equipment to detect and record paranormal activity. The following is some of what they discovered.

 

In the Chapel Room of the castle, members of the Ghostwhisperers team did some calling out and got some slight responses so they decided to try table tipping to see if they could get anything going. The table tipping was very successful with good movement and a male in spirit was coming through, this male was saying that he was convicted of something he hadn’t done but then turned it round by saying he was lying? The table dramatically scrapped along the floor where it made all participants jump! Another male presence was picked up on. It was a monk in habit with gold round his neck and a rope.

 

This was a fantastic and highly enjoyable event for everyone involved but the main reason this ghost hunt was organised was to raise money for disabled children. This event has raised a wonderful £2500! Thank you everyone who worked so hard to raise these funds, it will make a real difference to a child’s life.

Twenty four brave volunteers took part in an abseil at Abberley Clock Tower, Worcestershire, on Sunday 12th July.  The supporters were raising money on behalf of children’s charity, Children Today.

 

The use of this idyllic location was kindly donated by Abberley School, and it proved to be the perfect back drop for this challenge. Participants climbed the spiral stairs to the top of the tower to be rewarded with panoramic views of six counties, before descending on a rope 161 feet to the bottom of the Clock Tower!

 

So far the event has raised £1500, and sponsorship money is still coming in! Money raised will go towards helping Children Today purchased specialised equipment for disabled children and young people in the local area. Children such as Holly aged six, who Children Today recently supported. Holly is pictured here enjoying the event with a few of her family members who took part in the challenge.

 

Thank you to everyone who took part in this event.

After months of planning and anticipation the group of adventurers who volunteered for the Children Today PFA South Africa Challenge 2009 have returned from this amazing event!

 

18 intrepid travellers were led in to the mountainous regions of the Golden Gate National Park and the Spionkop region by four ex-premiership football players, Bob Bolder, Glenn Keeley, David Oldfield and Peter Nicholson. Each player captained a team of volunteers over eight days where they took on the ultimate challenge!

 

Day One

After 16 hours of travelling to reach their South African destination, the team rested up before the challenge began.

 

Day Two

Everyone was ready for some action! A 60k cycle ride through Golden Gate National Park along a rough stone trail with many difficult ascents but happy to report everyone survived!

 

Day Three

This was an early start and saw everyone take part in a 7k hike where stunning panoramic views could be seen for miles.

 

Day Four

A very busy day for Team Children Today! Everyone travelled to Spionkop Activity Centre where the challenges included mountain boarding, quad biking, archery and a 300m zip wire! After all that excitement an enjoyable 5k hike took place, where along the way zebras and giraffes were spotted! In the evening the team were treated to a fascinating presentation by Raymond Heron on the history of the Boer War and the affects on the people of South Africa.

 

Day Five

This was a particularly special and unique day for all those involved -  the community day. Each member of the team was transferred to Mpondweni School where they built a jungle gym and donated stationery and other items as well as the bikes from the previous cycle challenge to the children  as some of the children have up to a 20k round journey to school each day. Each member of the challenge was extremely humbled by this and it is something they will never forget. They finished the day with a horse riding challenge where more of the local wild life was observed.

 

Day Six

Another early start! Heading to the Drakensberg National Park where a tricky 12k trek was undertaken. This sounds like a walk in the park compared to some of the other challenges but the short distance means nothing when the gradients are this extreme!

 

Day seven

The final day. Water was the theme for today - rafting to be more precise.   The current was strong so this in turn meant a very physically demanding challenge. After all this hard work of the last few days, Team Children Today went for a well earned drink before returning home tomorrow.

 

Team Blackburn Rovers with captain Glenn Keeley won the challenge, but all the participants were winners on this incredible journey. Not only did each and every one complete the series of challenges, but they have all raised significant funds to help disabled children throughout the UK.

 

Thank you everyone for all your hard work. Hope to see you next time on the PFA Malaysia Challenge 2011!

 

Sunday 21st June saw the third instalment of our It’s a Knockout Challenges 2009 at Platt Fields, Manchester.

 

On this warm day spectators turned out in their droves to support the eight teams that took part and who collectively raised £8 000 for disabled children!

 

Every team was brimming with enthusiasm as they prepared to take on the many daft inflatable, wet games involved in this challenge. By the end of the games there was not a dry contestant in the arena!

 

Children Today would like to say well done to Expotel Reservations who were crowned the winners of the Manchester event. We would also like to thank all the other teams who took part and worked hard to raise their sponsorship money, Bolton Barmy Army, North Manchester Youth Offending Service, the three teams from the Greater Manchester Police, The Albert Inn and the Foster Care Association.