Extraordinary School Fundraising Efforts | Autumn Term

Raising money for charity can be far more exciting than the odd cake sale or non-uniform day. Try swimming from Dover to France, or producing and launching your own song into the charts…

Trinity School Swim The Channel

A group of students from Trinity School, Croydon successfully completed a massive 21-mile relay swim of the English Channel.

Raising money for Crisis and Scleroderma & Raynaud’s UK (SRUK), the team swam for 14 hours and 8 minutes from Dover to France last week.

Niamh Singleton, Funmi Morgan, Will Perry, Tate Nicol, Sarah Rogers and Adam Eastlake trained in cold water, including lakes and open air pools, in preparation to tackle one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

The group have been sea training since May, using every weekend in July and August to prepare themselves for the challenge.  Recently the team trained at night to get used to the inevitability that the majority of the attempt may be in the dark. Their swim started at 10.30pm and continued until 1pm the following day.

Speaking about the group’s challenge, Tim Strange, Trinity’s Head of Art and Challenge Leader, said: “Our swimmers demonstrated exceptional focus and dedication. Swimming the English Channel is such a mammoth swim and is known across the world as one of the hardest open water swims. Our swimmers prepared themselves well for the challenge and we are all incredibly proud.”

The team have a target of £5,000 and have raised over £3,300 so far. They are still collecting donations in support of both charities and their daring fundraiser.

Tormead School Launch A New Song

Last Friday (14th September 2018), Tormead School launched a new song, Dare to Dream, into the music charts, which is currently hovering at around 100 in the iTunes Music Charts.

Composed by Director of Music Anthony Merryweather, the Dare to Dream song was performed live, at a glittering event featuring the best of all Tormead offers. Guests were delighted by all the performances, which included the school’s Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Band, Schola Cantorum, Senior Vocal Group, soloists, poetry readings, drama performances, and special guests – the Boxgrove Primary School choir.

A buzzing excitement grew, leading to a final countdown by Headmistress Christina Foord, to launch the Dare to Dream song into the music charts. Amidst balloons and glitter, the audience downloaded the song: all proceeds go to Music in Hospitals & Care, a charity which brings live music to people in care settings across the UK.

‘Last night’s Dare to Dream celebration was a memorable one for Tormead as we enjoyed all that is special at the school: academic excellence, extra-curricular opportunities, staff and pupil collaboration, supporting others, sharing in the community and fun. A huge thank you to everyone who was involved and supported the event.’

Their heart-warming music video is now available to watch, and the song itself can be downloaded from Spotify, iTunes Store, Amazon Music and YouTube.

Brambletye Raise Phenomenal Amount For Children’s Hospice

Head girl, Lexie, presented a cheque for £54, 485.26 to Demelza Hospice Care for Children at Brambletye School‘s assembly last week. This astonishing tally, raised by the Brambletye community over the last year, made the record books on two accounts. Not only is it the most money that the school has ever raised for charity, it is also the largest amount raised by any school for Demelza.

Mr Brooks, headmaster at Brambletye, said that that he hopes children leave the school with a desire to identify good causes and an energy to fundraise for charity which will continue throughout their lives.

‘The children have been really taken by the Demelza cause and have come up with all sorts of initiatives to do their bit for the school charity,’ said Mr Brooks. Money-raising events included sponsored walks and bike rides, charity concerts, a Burns night supper, cake sales, entrepreneurship day, the 4×4 challenge and the annual art auction of scholars’, past pupils’ and staff work which raised a mind-boggling £8,000.

Children choose a charity to support each year following a presentation by staff members. Mr Walker pitched for Demelza when he saw the amazing work they were doing with his great friends who had a very poorly son in one of their hospices. This year the children have chosen to support Rwanda Aid. Fundraising began last Saturday with the Barking Mad Dog Show!

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