Get A Head Newsletter Spring 2011

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Welcome to this new look issue of the Get A-Head newsletter.

I hope that it provides a good insight to the work we do and the people who make it all possible, staff and supporters alike. Within these pages, you will read about the fundraising events that we have held this year, the fundraising events that you, our dedicated supporters, have undertaken, and the ways in which we are spending your money. It is quite a packed issue!

As I sit down to write this introduction, I find it hard to believe that I have been in place as Chairman for ten months, having taken over from John James in May. I am privileged to be able to build on his excellent work as Chairman and to take the Charity forward. The year has flown by so quickly and yet we seem to have done so much in such a short amount of time. It is without doubt that the last twelve months have been challenging times across all sectors, and disposable income is becoming more restricted. However, as a Charity we are continuing to flourish through the dedicated support of you, our readers. Without your attendance at our fundraisers, your sponsored events and kind donations, we would not be able to carry out the work we do. And for that I give you my heartfelt gratitude.

You will have noticed the change in our logo and the look of this newsletter. This

certainly is a leap forward for us and will help us to raise our profile throughout the region. After some consultation, it was discovered that our previous image did not connect with our mission in the minds of the public. By changing the way we look, we will reinforce what we are trying to do. We must thank the team at Ashine Business Solutions, who carried out this work at a vastly reduced rate.

As a result of this new look, we have also redesigned our website: I urge you all to have a look at www.getahead.org.uk to keep up to date with our latest news and events. You can now follow us on Facebook and Twitter too!

I do hope that you enjoy this issue of the newsletter, kindly sponsored by Sertec for a second consecutive year, and that it inspires you to carry on the fantastic support you have already offered Get A-Head.

A message from Tom Bromwich, Chairman

Newsletter

Trekking Ahead for Get A-Head

GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED

Newsletter sponsored by

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Going the Distance

A Different Kind of Normal

Bournville RFC on top of Scafell Pike, see page 5

for details

Spring 2011

Tom Bromwich

Get A-Head Newsletter 2011.indd 2 16/3/11 09:06:27

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Driving Ahead!Once again, the sun shone brightly on Edgbaston for the annual Charity Golf Day. 72 keen golfers arrived for a spot of lunch, followed by a full 18-hole round in the glorious grounds of Edgbaston Golf Club. There was then a lovely evening meal, with guest speaker Peter McGovern entertaining guests with tales of his days as a golfer, and a lot more besides! This wonderful event raised an amazing £5,500 for the fight against head and neck disease. Congratulations to the Coltham Developments Team, who won the overall competition.

The day would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors, Tony Ryan of MAR City Developments, and Tony Newman of TJ Golf & Leisure. Our thanks must go to Mike Hargreaves and Jenny Brown of Coltham Developments for their help and support in organising the day; Adam Grint and his staff at the Club, and all of those who attended.

Tom Bromwich Private DinnerTom held his annual dinner in aid of Get A-Head at the Real Tennis Club, Leamington on Monday 21st June 2010, where guests were treated to a luxurious meal courtesy of Take Two Cooks’ Pino and Carolihne Iacaruso. Following the meal, Lord Jones of Birmingham, one of the Charity’s dedicated Patrons, spoke to the group on topics such as his life in Westminster and his work throughout the region. This small, intimate evening raised £1,500 for Get A-Head.

Celebrity Cricket Match for GAHBack in July, we took to the grounds of the lovely Warwick School for an afternoon of lunch and cricket. At the benefit, hosted by the Lord’s Taveners, the Get A-Head XI (consisting of, amongst others, England Cricketers Tim Munton and Dominic Ostler, Rugby player Chris Pennell and A Place In The Sun’s Jonnie Irwin) challenged the likes of Chris Tarrant, Frazier Hines and Dion Dublin, all playing for the Lord’s Taverners XI. The event was very popular, and raised an impressive £3,266 for each charity. Our thanks to Neil Smith of the Lord’s Taverners for organising the day, and the staff of the Warwick School for accommodating us!

The Get A-Head Ball 2010

Polo in the ParkFollowing the kind offer of Mr Dallas Burston to hold an event in the grounds of his Polo Club in the Warwickshire village of Southam, the Charity hosted its first-ever Polo In The Park event. Held on Sunday 19th September, we were joined by over 130 people who enjoyed the ongoing polo match throughout the afternoon, as well as a three course lunch provided by Aubrey Allen and riotous entertainment by comedian Mike Osman. This lovely afternoon raised a wonderful £8,800 for the Charity.

This year’s Ball took place on a cold Saturday night in November, once again hosted at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole. Over 500 people joined us for a fantastic evening of good food, comedy and music. Our hosts for the evening, Bobby Davro and Dr Hilary Jones, kept the audience entertained between courses with their unlikely, but hugely successful, double act. Lord Archer very kindly acted as auctioneer once again, proving that he is master of the charity gavel by helping us raise £50,000 in the auction. Music was provided by Katrina Leskanovich, formerly of Katrina and the Waves, and the Mark Butcher Band, who had the crowd dancing until 2am!

The Charity is indebted to its sponsors for this year’s Ball, The Monistise Group and Adrian Fawcett of BMI Hospitals, whose support was invaluable. We are also extremely grateful to all of the companies and individuals who donated prizes for the auctions. This fabulous evening raised a grand total of £72,000!

Evenings such as these do not plan themselves and so thanks must go to our marvellous Ball Chairman, Robert Spittle, who ably guided the committee, to ensure that the event went without fault.

Next year’s Ball is Saturday 12th November at the Metropole. Mark the date in your calendars, as it will be one to remember!

Over 500 people joined us for a fantastic evening of good food, comedy and music.

The winning team from Coltham Developments


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Putting your money into practice: researching Medullary Thyroid Cancer

Mr Joel Smith, Specialist Registrar in ENT surgery, explains the work he and his colleague Dr Emma Woodward of Birmingham Women’s Hospital, will be doing into the genetics of MTC with a grant given by the Charity:

MTC is a rare type of thyroid cancer that can run in families and it accounts for 10% of thyroid cancer in the UK. The outlook for people with MTC is not as good as those with other types of thyroid cancer, partly due to the way it responds to the current treatments we have. The earlier MTC can be identified, the better the outcome for the individual. The project’s aim is to improve diagnosis and management in MTC by better understanding the way in which the cancer develops.

Each of us is born with thousands of genes which are passed to us from our parents. Our genes are unique to us and tell our bodies how to grow, develop and repair themselves. In some families a gene, or group of genes, does not work properly. This can lead to certain cancers developing, such as MTC, and in many cases we do not know which genes are abnormal. The family we are studying in this project contains several people with MTC, which suggests a genetic link. No gene has been identified so far. By investigating this family we aim to identify new genes that cause cancer. This may benefit all people with MTC. We hope this will lead to improvements in diagnosis and earlier treatments. In the future, these genes may also become the targets for new types of treatments.

As a rare cancer, MTC often does not attract the same kind of attention and funding into research as other forms of cancer. Research into these types of cancer is very important and not just for the people with the disease as breakthroughs in one type of cancer can lead to advances in others. The success of our project is totally reliant on the funds allocated from Get A-Head and University Hospital Birmingham Charities and we are very grateful for their generous donations.

On the 29th September 2010, 33 ladies from all over the country gathered together at Gatwick Airport to embark on a gruelling adventure in order to raise money for Get A-Head.

Their mission was to climb Mount Toubkal, which at 13,671ft is North Africa’s highest peak. Their goal was to raise £40,000 towards the costs of a PhD study to research the genetics of Medullary Thyroid Cancer (MTC), a very rare form of cancer. One of the trekkers, Sam Bromwich, knows all too well the devastation that this type of cancer can cause. She and husband Tom have been affected by this condition in a very real way: Tom and his twin brother Edward have both had their thyroids removed, after Edward developed MTC in his twenties and Tom presented a very high risk of developing the same thing. But it didn’t stop there: “Our three children and Edward’s two have all had to undergo major preventative surgery and dozens of very unpleasant, invasive tests throughout their lives,” Sam explains. “By raising money for the PhD study, we hope to prevent this from affecting other families in the way it has ours. The thought that it might stop future generations of Bromwiches from going through this is an added bonus”

With the target in mind, Sam decided to organise a Trek to Morocco’s Atlas Mountains and invited as many ladies as she could to join her: “I was amazed and incredibly excited to get 32 women, all mums themselves, to join me!” Following months of training, the ladies headed off to undertake their challenge. Five days of intensive trekking in 40 degree heat, with no shade or shelter, was a test of sheer endurance. “Many of the girls suffered from heat exhaustion, altitude sickness and extreme blisters,” Sam explains.

“The conditions were very dry and rocky, and the day would start at 6am so we could avoid walking in the midday heat. Sleeping and relaxing was difficult as sometimes we would be ten in a room, so each day became harder than the last”.

The last day, in which they headed for the summit, was probably the lowest moment of the whole trip. Already exhausted, the ladies had to sleep in the ‘Toubkal Refuge’ at the foot of the summit, soon renamed Colditz by the group. Because they were at such a high altitude, the temperature dropped sharply and the wind was ferocious. The tired and nervous ladies had to start their ascent at 3.45am, trekking through the wind in the pitch black up very steep scree, holding on for dear life: “The girls were jamming poles into the rocks in order to stay upright” remembers Sam. “It was freezing cold and the wind was battering us.” Eventually the altitude sickness, injured knees and vertigo had set in, meaning that only twenty-eight ladies made it to the summit. Seventeen hours later, they all returned to camp, tired but victorious. They had achieved what they set out to do.

Every penny raised by the thirty-three fearless trekkers, as well as some by connected parties at home, is going towards the cost of the PhD study. Everybody on the Trek paid the full cost of the trip themselves, and then aimed to raise £1,500. Amazingly, the current total stands at just short of £70,000. A massive well done to all the ladies involved.

Trekking Ahead for Get A-Head…

It was freezing cold and the wind was battering us


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When Charlie Jaggard met his wife Melanie in 2008, she was in remission from Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (ACC), having had a lump the size of a tennis ball removed from her head followed by a course of radiotherapy. She was recovering well but a few months before their wedding in 2010, Mel was told that it had returned and metastasised to her lungs.

“ACC is a slow growing and relentless disease,” Charlie says. “Despite the fact that she has few outward symptoms, my darling wife is very ill. Surgery and radiotherapy won’t work as they would destroy too much of the healthy lung in the process of removal, and chemo might slow the tumours’ growth, but it won’t get rid of them”.

Having approached Get A-Head about the research going on in the UK, Charlie decided to set up a fund. “ACC is so rare that the only real research we could find was taking place in the USA. By raising as much money as we can, we are hoping to fund research in this country. We know that there are people out there suffering from this disease who deserve some hope and a possible cure.”

To boost funds, Charlie set out to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats with a trusty team of family and friends cycling individual legs with him, and his darling Mel driving the support vehicle. Setting themselves a

Spotlight on Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma

Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma (or ACC, as it is commonly referred to) is a very rare and, at present, incurable cancer. It is usually found in the salivary glands of the head and neck, but can also appear in other secreting glands throughout the body, such as the trachea, breast or skin. The tumours tend to grow quite slowly, but are quite aggressive within their locality. The problem with ACC is that it appears to not respond well to traditional cancer treatments, such as chemo and radiotherapy, meaning that aggressive surgery is normally the best way to remove the malignancy. However, this does not rid the body of the cells, it merely slows its progress.

ACC does not discriminate in its attack. Although it presents most often in those aged between 40 and 70 years of age, it can affect people in any age group, including young children and otherwise healthy adults. It tends to be slightly more prevalent in women than it is in men, with a ratio of 3:2. Unfortunately, it seems to return to areas unrelated to the original tumour, with the lungs and the liver being the most common sites of metastasis (recurrence). It is very slow growing, with the survival rate being an impressive 85% after five years but only 40% at fifteen years. Sufferers are able to control their symptoms through alternative therapies, as well as good diet and exercise, but at the moment there is no cure.

Due to the rarity of ACC, little is known about it and how to tackle it. There is some research going on into it at the moment, but nothing on the scale of the more common cancers. Get A-Head is currently working with the Jaggard family to facilitate a fund that is dedicated to funding research into this disease. If you would like to contribute to the ACC research fund, please specify on any donation.

We’ve all heard the expression “to the ends of the earth”, but Mark Delstanche took the concept one step further by going to the top of the world for his friend, Melanie Jaggard. An intrepid adventurer, Mark was embarking on a mission to conquer the world’s highest peak, when he heard of the fundraising efforts to research ACC and decided that he would collect sponsorship for the cause. His two-month long trip saw him raise nearly £4,000 for the fight against this incredibly rare cancer . If only we all had friends like that!

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

His two-month long trip saw him raise nearly £4,000 for the fight against this incredibly rare cancer

Going the Distance

target of £10,000, ‘Team Mel’ soon started approaching individuals and companies for sponsorship. The response was so overwhelming that twice Charlie had to alter his target: first to £20,000 and then to £30,000. By the time he had completed the punishing 1,000 mile journey, the team had amassed a staggering £48,000 (including Gift Aid)! “Unbelievable!” Charlie says. “We have had such wonderful support from everybody. This has exceeded our wildest estimations. It was worth every moment of the pain and every bead of sweat.”

The campaign doesn’t stop here though; Team Mel continue to fundraise in order to find a cure. Charlie has already gone a thousand miles for his wife; he will readily go thousands more.

Breaking News: See website for details of Charlie’s 2nd bike ride for ACC

It was worth every moment of the pain


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Hadrian’s Wall Path WalkRichard Jordan undertook the 84-mile walk along the remains of Hadrian’s Wall, which stretches from Cumbria to Tyneside, in aid of the Charity. By doing this, he raised an impressive £350, which his generous employers at Wesleyan Assurance Ltd doubled! Our thanks to Richard for his dedication and Wesleyan for their generosity.

Climbing Great HeightsThe National Three Peaks Challenge consists of climbing the three highest peaks in the UK – Ben Nevis in Scotland, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdonia in Wales. Not too hard, you say? The challenge is that all three peaks have to be scaled within 24 hours, which means climbing a massive 3,407 metres (or 11,177 ft for our imperial readers) throughout the day and into the night. Several brave souls from Bournville RFC decided to take up the challenge and, by completing it in time, raised over £3,700!

Another of the official Three Peaks Challenges takes place in Yorkshire and consists of scaling Pen-y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, which have a combined ascent of 2,142 metres (7,027ft) in less than 12 hours. A dedicated team of eight walkers, headed by Kit Howe, took on the challenge and raised a wonderful £2,342!

A huge thank you to both teams who, between them, climbed the equivalent of Mount K2 - twice over!

Keep On Running…

Every year, scores of marathons,

half marathons and fun runs

take place across the country.

This year, many quick-footed

individuals took to the roads of

Britain in order to raise money for

‘Get A-Head’:

Great Midlands Fun Run – June 2010

Jack Malin, a fifteen year old schoolboy from Sutton Coldfield, participated in the Fun Run with his mum Sue after finding out about Get A-Head on the internet. He raised a fantastic £50.

Great North Run - Jul 2010

Get A-Head stalwart Helen Guest ran the famous 13.1 mile route for the Charity, raising £150 towards the already impressive total she has notched up for Get A-Head

Bristol Half Marathon – Sept 2010

A team of Get A-Head fundraisers recently completed the Bristol half marathon. Mark Hobbs, Sam Bromwich, Iain Critchlow, Adrian Bloor, Graeme Payne, Laura Taylor, Marcus Bromwich and Imogen Yeoman between them raised nearly £6,000. A truly stunning amount!

Birmingham Half Marathon – Oct 2010

A team from Allied Irish Bank, a major supporter of the Charity, ran the half marathon, raising a staggering £1830 between them. Thank you!

Dave Cottam and his two daughters, Emma & Katy from Harborne ran together, raising an impressive £485.00. Thank you!

Heidi Hendon, a partner at Harvey Ingram LLP, raised a wonderful £605. Thank you, Heidi!

Reuben Buttery ran the course in a breathtaking 1 hour and 32 minutes, smashing his personal best by nearly 15 minutes and placing in the top 500, raising £160 for Get A-Head along the way. Well done, Reuben!

Counting Get A-Head as Charity of the YearCK Chartered Accountants, based in Dudley, decided to adopt Get A-Head as their Charity of the Year for the 2010/11 year. So far, they have organised a staff Golf Day at Halesowen Golf Club, as well as giving a gift to the Charity in lieu of sending Christmas Cards, raising a wonderful £3,530 for the fight against head and neck disease in the process. Our most sincere thanks go to Iain Johnstone and all of the staff at CK for their support.

If you would be interested in adopting us as your Charity of the Year, please call Jenna on 0121 697 8371 to discuss how we could work together.

Remembering Dennis Price1932 – 2010 Chances are if you have attended a Get A-Head function over the last fifteen years, you’ll have encountered our volunteer extraordinaire, Dennis Price. Not only did he happily give his time to the Charity’s various events, but he was also Chairman of the Patients’ Support Group. A patient of the ENT department himself, he sadly passed away in May 2010. His dedication to the charity and his easy-going nature made him a joy to work alongside, and he is deeply, deeply missed by the staff, volunteers and patients alike.

You can now TEXT your donation to Get A-Head! Simply text the word ‘ahead’ to 70303 to donate £3.(Standard network charges apply. Please seek Bill Payer’s permission before texting. The Get A-Head Charitable Trust will receive a minimum of £2.67 from each text.)


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Christmas Party 2011

Date Friday 2nd December 2011

Time 7.30pm – 11pm

Location Nautical Club, Bishopsgate Street, Birmingham

This event if free to our supporters. Please do let us know if you would like to attend by telephoning the office. This will help us organise catering.

The Warwick School PartnershipWarwick School, under the guidance of Headmaster Mr Halse, have been kind enough to support Get A-Head as their chosen Charity for this academic year. Since September, the pupils of the school have been undertaking a host of fundraising activities, including the annual ‘Big Breakfast’ and the Swimathon, in which pupils each swam 200 lengths – something that takes an Olympic-standard swimmer over an hour, and so was a huge achievement for the children of the school!

The Charity’s side of the partnership has seen the Chairman, Tom Bromwich, and Professor Watkinson give an assembly on the Charity to the whole school, and one of the fellows funded by Get A-Head, Neil Sharma, delivered biology seminars to the boys of the Sixth Form.

Our huge thanks go to Mr Halse and his wife Jean, all of the teaching staff, pupils and parents of Warwick School for their support of the work that Get A-Head does. This partnership has so far seen an amazing £4,623 raised – and still going strong!

Taking the plunge…On 5th December 2010, the energetic pupils of Warwick School took up the challenge of individually swimming the ‘Ironman’ distance of 200 lengths (an extraordinary 5 kilometres) in aid of Get A-head. 62 children took part, with 25 managing to complete the entire distance in one. As a result of their efforts, the swimmers raised an incredible £2,500 for the Charity! A big thank you must go to all the children and the organisers who co-ordinated such a fantastic event.

Events Calendar 2011Wednesday 13th April Big Pub Quiz, The Cadbury Club, Bournville

Wednesday 1st June Tom Bromwich Private Dinner, Real Tennis Club, Leamington Spa with guest speaker Trevor Francis

Tuesday 28th June Golf Day, Edgbaston Golf Club

Sunday 10th July Cricket Day, Warwick School

Saturday 12th November Gala Ball, Birmingham Metropole

The Charity was recently approached by Mr Shahz Ahmed, a consultant ENT surgeon who specialises in skull base operations, to part fund a Storz Surgical Cockpit Navigation Suite. The system allows surgeons to use CT and MRI scans of the brain taken before an operation in order to create a virtual model that can then be consulted as a ‘map’ when a probe is inserted through the nasal passage to find the tumour. Traditionally, a patient’s skull would have to be opened in order to remove any malignancies but with this state-of-the-art piece of equipment, invasive procedures can become a thing of the past. Get A-Head was happy to contribute £18,870 towards the cost of this amazing piece of equipment.

State-of-the-Art Equipment for Queen Elizabeth Operating Theatre

Those readers who attended the Get A-Head Ball last year will have heard of ‘Harmonic Scalpels’ before. These revolutionary pieces of equipment use ultrasonic vibrations in order to cut through vessels and tissue to an ultra-precise standard, cauterising as they go, meaning that the average length of a thyroidectomy can be reduced by a very impressive thirty minutes. These scalpels are also proven to reduce scarring, which is a huge factor in the recovery of a patient. The Charity provided £10,500 towards the purchase of the generator and thirty-six scalpels.

With this state-of-the-art piece of equipment, invasive procedures can become a thing of the past


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And so began the difficult process of dealing with cancer. There were numerous trips to the hospital, the plethora of scans and tests, the radiotherapy, the chemotherapy, the operations. And the endless waiting and hoping. “We became experts in a subject that we really didn’t want to know about” says Claire. “I don’t want to dwell on the bad too much. We had good days too, and it’s much more important to focus on those”.

When dealing with a child with cancer, it is important to stay positive and to look to the future, however hard that might be. Claire and Gary decided that they would give Sammie a holiday to Florida to look forward to once her treatment was out of the way. Gary created a collage of all the things that they would do whilst there, replacing the faces of those in the pictures with ones of the family. Across the top it read ‘I am better now’ and took centre stage in Sammie’s room. It was something for the whole family to look forward to.

The Fletchers spent a great deal of time in hospital while Sammie was undergoing treatment, but resolved not to spend a minute more than was necessary. Sammie was seen as a ‘day care’ case, and she would go home at night. There was always the risk of infection looming, but Gary and Claire wanted Sammie to have positive experiences and a sense of normality. And it worked: “During the last six months of treatment, we had no periods of hospitalisation due to infection or high temperature. I am led to believe that this is quite rare” says Claire.

One thing that Gary and Claire were adamant about was maintaining a sense of normality. On the days that she was able, Sammie went to school – maintaining a very impressive attendance of 70% over the school year. The normality was an anchor for the whole family. “Sammie didn’t get special treatment. Some days I would have to drag her into school, even if it meant coming home and crying over how mean I felt. She never once asked to come home once she was there.” recalls Claire. “She was treated in the same way as her sisters, and would be reprimanded if she was naughty. We had to carry on as normal.”

Sammie was invited to sleepovers, continued going to her performing arts club and having parties, just like any girl of her age. Towards the end of her treatment, she auditioned for the part of a witch in ‘Merlin and the Winter King’ – and beat 300 auditionees. The family had to chuckle when the director asked if she would mind wearing a wig for the role!

2003 is a year that Gary and Claire Fletcher will never forget. It was the year their then nine year old daughter, Sammie, was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare tumour in her salivary gland, after they spotted a small lump just under her jaw line.

“Shock and devastation are too weak to describe how we felt on hearing the news,” says Claire. “We never, ever thought it would be cancer”

A Different Kind of Normal

Sammie and her family got their trip to Florida in October 2004, staying at the Give Kids the World village in Orlando. A resort dedicated to children with serious illnesses and their families, they had the holiday of a lifetime with the added assurance that there were fully trained medical staff on hand should they be needed. Full, and free, access was given to Orlando’s famous theme parks, and there were lots of activities on site too. “The girls were in heaven. It was an unbelievable experience, and my husband and I came away with the idea that we could do something like this in the UK – a reprieve or a reward for those who have been to hell and back and just need a break. There is definitely a need for it. Watch this space!”

Sammie is now a happy and healthy 16 year old, and has just left school – something that Claire admits she wasn’t sure she would witness. “I look at her and feel so blessed that we have her.” she says. Things are back to normal.

We became experts in a subject that we really didn’t want to know about

I look at her and feel so blessed that we have her.


Money MattersSome of the things that your generous donations have helped to fund over the past year…

£72,500 – Grant for the three year continuation of the popular and innovative Complementary Therapy programme.

£18,870 – Towards the cost of a Surgical Navigation Unit for use in skullbase surgery.

£10,500 – Purchase of harmonic scalpels for use in ENT operations.

£5,000 – Grant towards research into the ‘Genetic Analysis of Paraganglioma Tissue’.

£2,000 – Purchase of suction units and nebulisers to allow terminally ill patients to spend their last days in the comfort and familiarity of their own homes.

£750 – Study grant made to an undergraduate to undertake a ten week work experience programme in a Clinical Laboratory.

£300 – Grant towards costs of sending a head and neck counsellor to a three-day Quality of Life Conference in Liverpool.

Roll of honour…Thank you to the following people for their kind donations:

Lucy McGuire, aged seven, sold books and toys at her birthday party to raise money for Get A-head and raised £11.

Kay-Lou Wilson asked for donations to the Charity in lieu of gifts at her 40th birthday, raising an incredible £765.

Richard Underwood placed the charity’s collection tins on the bar at his birthday get-together and raised a fantastic £190.

The staff at Anchorfast Ltd raised £176.

Aston Manor Breweries gave £500 in lieu of sending Christmas cards.

The Maud Elkington Charitable Trust recently gifted the Charity £1,000 towards its charitable aims!

The Rotary Club of Edgbaston donated £500.

ORS UK hosted a Sporting Lunch and raised a wonderful £1,110.

Pinsent Masons LLP in Birmingham had a Jeans Day and raised £132.

The Company and Fellowship of Cappers and Feltmakers kindly gave £500.

The Charles Hayward Foundation gifted £1,000.

Barclaycard UK gave £750 through its match funding scheme following an approach from employee Jessica Henshall.

Money for nothing…Did you know that the Government supplements your donations by a massive 25%? If you are a UK Taxpayer and sign a current Gift Aid form, the Charity can essentially get extra money from the taxman. So, if you are considering making a donation or undertaking a sponsored event, please call Anne-Marie on 0121 697 8371 to get a Gift Aid Form and discuss whether you are eligible.

Head & Neck Office Ward East 5, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TH

www.getahead.org.uk Tel: 0121 697 8371

Registered Charity number 1118326

Fundraising CommitteeRobert SpittlePaul HalesGraham MosedaleMark EsomMatthew GuestJohn WatkinsonTom Bromwich

TrusteesTom Bromwich (Chairman)Rachel BarronPaul MourtonJohn Watkinson

PatronsDigby Lord Jones of Birmingham KBEDr Hilary JonesPeter Scudamore MBENigel WrayCherTrevor FrancisHoss Mehjoo

It’s a hello from Anne-Marie…My name is Anne-Marie Patrick and I live in Birmingham with my husband Martin and son Joshua. I joined the team as the new Charity Administrator in January this year. Having previously worked for a large Retail Bank for 25 years (don’t blame me for the crisis!!!) I was in the unfortunate position of being made redundant late last year. I decided to have a total change of career and, having been involved in Scouting for 20 years, decided if was the perfect opportunity to combine the skills I learned with the Bank together with my (limited) knowledge of the Charity sector. And so my time at Get A-Head begins, I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at our various events over the coming year.

…and a goodbye from MarilynAfter two years with the charity, Marilyn Ward decided a new direction was in order and decided to step down in order to focus on other things. We are incredibly grateful to Marilyn for all she has done for Get A-head during her time here: she will be missed, by staff and supporters alike.

Follow us at @Get_AHead_Trust

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Get A Head Newsletter Spring 2011

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Transcript of Get A Head Newsletter Spring 2011