WELLINGBOROUGH
ISSUE 98 15 APRIL 2016
Go Shop Local Support your local shops and businesses in Wellingborough this Spring - and GO LOCAL!
BEST FOOT FORWARD! Charities set to benefit from Waendel Weekend THOUSANDS of pounds will be raised for good causes by hundreds of walkers and swimmers who will be taking part in the Waendel Weekend for charity next month. The popular event, which attracts crowds from around the world, has a long history of fundraising and registration for the event is now open. People taking part in walks that range from 5km up to a marathondistance 42km can be sponsored for completing the course, with all money raised being donated to their favourite worthwhile cause. Events officer, Julia Wells said: “Taking part in the Waendel Walk for charity is a really easy and fun way to raise a lot of money and we’re delighted that so many people have signed up to support good causes. We would ask that anyone who is collecting for charity lets us know, so we can add them to the list on our website and give people a bit of information about the organisation. It’s always good if people contact us after the event as well to let us know how much they raised – it usually runs into thousands altogether, which is absolutely brilliant.” Some of the charities set to take part in this year’s event (Friday May 13 to Sunday 15) include The PCDH19 Alliance, fronted by Seema Adams. Seema’s daughter, threeyear-old Jessica, suffers from a rare mutation called PCDH19 where one
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gene doesn’t work and triggers a seizure. The condition affects girls in more than 99 per cent of cases, with no cure yet known. After a recent stay in hospital Jess is now back home and Seema is hoping to raise money and awareness of the rare condition by completing the 25km Waendel Walk. Seema said: “There are so many people out there who don’t know about this condition and we want to raise awareness of it. “The PCDH19 Alliance is a great charity and they’ve been a godsend throughout all of this. The walk will be a big challenge for me and we want to raise as much money as possible.” Other local charities taking part include children’s cancer charity Chelsea’s Angels – whose participants will be completing their chosen distance dressed as super heroes, and Wellingborough MIND. Waendel participants who chose to fundraise need to contact their chosen charity for sponsorship forms and then ask friends, family and colleagues to pledge money. When they’ve completed their route they’ll get a Waendel certificate and can collect the sponsorship and send it off to the charity. For more information about taking part in the Waendel Weekend for charity, call Wellingborough council on: 01933 229 777 or visit: wellingborough.gov.uk
‘Thank you for my garden’ A LOCAL playground construction firm has completed a sensory garden for a 12-year-old who, due to a serious medical condition, had been unable to get outdoors. Wollaston-based Timotay Playscapes came to the aid of young Lewis Herbert – giving him sound, light, sight, reflection, touch and smell outside his home, delighting both him and his whole family. As a three-month-old baby, Lewis had been diagnosed with West Syndrome, which later developed in to Lennox Gastaut Syndrome (LGS), an extremely rare form of epilepsy. Lewis (pictured in his new garden) requires 24-hour care by his parents Gary and Lexi and, due to his severe disabilities and restrictions on the wheelchair access in and around his Northampton home, he had been isolated to the indoors, unable to venture outside with his parents, brother and sister. Last year, family and friends began fundraising through the Tree Of Hope Children’s Charity to help create a bespoke sensory play garden and enhance his quality of life. Gary Cornhill, design director for Timotay Playscapes, said: “It is always touching to know that we have created something to make a difference and give a family a better life together.” Gary and Lexi, Lewis’ parents, told Extra Local: “Lewis is now spending quality time in his garden with the whole family, which is absolutely amazing for us all. This is some-
thing which most people take for granted, but for him to be able to access the garden means the absolute world to him and our whole family. He looks so happy, relaxed and chilled, which is so incredibly special for us to see, we look forward to spending many happy times together in our new garden. “We would like to say a huge thank you to the whole team at Timotay for all their advice and hard work throughout the project. Without their expertise and support Lewis’ dream of a wheelchair-accessible sensory garden would not have come true. We would also like to put on record how incredibly impressed we were with Timotay – excellent from start to finish.” Lewis and his family also sincerely thank all those who donated and fundraised on their behalf.
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