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Summer Fun Workshops in Aid of Watford Mencap

We had parachute games, singing, dancing and....	Our party theme, turned into a real party for birthday girl Lucy
Thank you to everyone who came along and made our summer workshops in Watford & Radlett such a success. I will post how much was raised for Watford Mencap on the website, as soon as all the calculations have been finalised. Here's some pictures from the final workshop in Radlett on Thursday 21st August, with our 'Party Time' theme.
....lots of fun!

   Barnado's Big Toddle - A Big Success

 Thank you to all of you that joined us at Cassiobury Park on Sunday 20th July. To get us in the mood, Big Jo helped us to warm up to some of our favourite songs, before he waved us off with a smile. Despite the wind, we managed our 1/2 mile toddle through the park, hunting for red ribbons on trees guiding our way. Even though the toddle was quite a long way for little legs and rumbling tummy's, everyone made it and we raised an estimated £600 for Barnado's. Well done to everyone, your medals and certificates were very well deserved!

Jo helps us to limber up for the toddle		Jo with some medal winners

Jo Jingles classes help to build social skills and confidence

Channel 5 News visited our Jo Jingles group in Radlett to film ‘jingler’ Cosima Wiltshire taking part with her friends in her weekly Jo Jingles music & movement session. The reason for their interest is that Cosima didn’t start out life as the confident little girl that she is today. She was born with five haemangioma birth marks on her cheek and started treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital at the tender age of 5 weeks old. As she was on such strong steroid treatment for the first 20 months of her life, she wasn’t allowed to mix with other children at all, due to the associated risk of infection and illness.

At the end of last year, Cosima was given the all clear to start mixing with other children and Jo Jingles was the activity chosen by her mother Lindsay. Lindsay was looking for a structured activity that would gently introduce Cosima to music and movement and interaction with other children. Cosima now looks forward to attending Jo Jingles every week and talks about it constantly! As Lindsay explained:

“Coming to Jo Jingles has been a major change to Cosima’s life, allowing her to interact with other children and boosting her confidence beyond all recognition. It also provides a fun activity for us to share together and is a really special part of our week”.

Lindsay is currently fund-raising for the birth mark unit at Great Ormond Street hospital to buy a laser machine, to support her campaign please visit www.cosimafundraising.com