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Mayor of Dacorum chooses Pepper as her charity for 2005/06

+ + STOP PRESS + + Quick! Get tickets for the Mayor's Christmas Apeal Concert - next Saturday 3rd December

Penguin flapping about Mayor's Christmas Appeal Concert

2005 Summer of Rock Show was a fantastic success

Eastwoods Golf Day

Chipperfield Dancers bring Christmas Joy

John O’Groats to Lands End cycle ride for Pepper

Three Valleys Water support Pepper

Chiltern Fundraisers Ladies Lunch

The Domino Effect!

Tough Guys sweep Mayor off her feet

George and Dragon Northchurch raises more funds

Mayor's wine tasting evening

Sabatini School supports Pepper Nurses

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The new Mayor of Dacorum, Councillor Jane Hogg, has chosen to support The Pepper Foundation during her year in office.

Jane's reasoning stems from the fact that as a member of the medical profession herself, she knows Pepper can help strengthen and support families where their need is greatest. Having a child with a life-limiting condition places unimaginable stresses and strains on a family. 'Pepper can help change that' she announced recently during her investiture.

'I have seen at first hand the huge difference Pepper makes as I have a personal friend with a child who is being cared for by the Pepper nurses. The family really values the support and respite Pepper provides, so I know the service really does work '.

Jane went on to say, 'Funds donated to Pepper help to finance the nursing service and enable them to care more for families in this area. Pepper raises funds through various activities and events, but is particularly well known for the annual, hugely popular, Pepper summer rock concert in Berkhamsted which makes money through music, another passion of mine'.

The new mayor is hoping to raise in excess of £26,000 during her term in office which will fully fund one of the Pepper nurses for a year.

Jane took part in a recent sponsored parachute jump as you will see below and plans to host several other fundraising activities throughout her term of office.

If you would like to donate funds to any of the Mayor's charity events, please send a cheque payable to 'The Pepper Foundation' to The Mayor's Parlour, Civic Centre, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 1HH. Make your gift more valuable by downloading a Gift Aid Declaration.

Chairman of the Pepper Foundation, David Soulsby, said 'We feel privileged to have been chosen by Jane as her charity during her year as Mayor. We know that she will be an excellent ambassador for us and look forward to working with her throughout her term of office'.

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Eastwoods Golf Day

Joe Collier, Pepper Patron and fundraiser extraordinaire, together with his colleagues John Lamb and Janet Edwards, have done it again by raising over £8000.00 net for Pepper as a result of their annual golf day held this year at the Ashridge Golf Club in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.

The picturesque 6580-yard, par 72 course, attracted the maximum number of entrants possible, based on 24 teams of four players per team. The Ashridge course is considered to be encouraging to the average golfer whilst thought provoking to the above average player, which is probably one of the reasons why it attracted so many entrants. Needless to say there is always a waiting list.

The evening Gala Dinner was equally successful attracting 110 people including celebrities such as footballers Nigel Winterburn, ex Arsenal and Luther Blisset, ex Watford and England who took part in the highly successful auction.

If you would like to enter next year’s event, email Janet Edwards at janetintouch@tiscali.co.uk, but hurry as places are taken up very quickly.

Pictured; Front row – Joe Collier and Liz Clarke (Pepper Fundraising), Back row (left to right) – Dennis Fairey (Pepper Trustee), Nigel Winterburn, John Lamb and Janet Edwards.

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Christmas gifts from Chipperfield School of Dance

Chipperfield School of Dance recently put on two performances of The Nutcracker Suite at the Boxmoor Playhouse. Some 70 dancers took part aged from 3 to 30 years. Each participant kindly donated a beautifully wrapped Christmas gift with the request that the gift found its way to a child less fortunate than themselves.

The nursing teams at Pepper and Iain Rennie Hospice at Home are now sorting the gifts and matching each to a deserving recipient of the appropriate age. Closer to Christmas, the gifts will be delivered to families currently being supported by the IRHH or Pepper teams.

On behalf of the recipients, we would like to thank everyone at the Chipperfield School of Dance for their generosity – we hope Santa is kind to them too!

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John O’Groats to Lands End cycle ride for Pepper

Richard Brash, a Berkhamsted resident, recently completed an unsupported 1000-mile cycle ride from John O’Groats (the furthest northerly point of mainland Britain) to Lands End (the furthest south-westerly point of mainland Britain) to raise funds for Pepper and the Stroke Association.

Following his epic journey, Richard managed to raise over £1500 for Pepper. Fantastic!

Both Richard and his wife Jenny, who accompanied him for some of the time, were rightly applauded at the recent Pepper volunteer meeting held at Bourne End. When asked about how he coped with such a grueling schedule, he said the challenge was a very tough one, made especially so by the strong headwind for 8 out of 9 days, but he was very pleased to have completed it and felt very lucky to have had the opportunity to do so. Should anyone feel inspired then let him know as he doesn't know if it is the last Bonkers Challenge!

If you would like to read about his day to day experiences during the trip, log onto his just giving webpage .http://www.justgiving.com/bonkersbrash2

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Three Valleys Water support Pepper

Three Valleys Water, recently presented a cheque for £350 made out to The Pepper Foundation to Councillor Jane Hogg, Mayor of Dacorum, as a generous donation to her Charity of the year.

Phil Adams of Three Valleys Water is pictured presenting a cheque to the Mayor and Sonya O’Leary on behalf of his Company’s ongoing commitment to support local charities, during a presentation ceremony attended by members of the Pepper Foundation and the Pepper Nursing Team.

Sonya O’Leary, Pepper Nursing Team leader and David Soulsby, Chairman of the Pepper Foundation, provided information to Phil Adams concerning the history, aims and objectives of Pepper as part of its remit and commitment to children with life-limiting illnesses within the local community.

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Chiltern Fundraisers Ladies Lunch

Back in the Summer, over 100 ladies enjoyed a wonderful buffet lunch in a marquee at the home of David & Vicky King, who kindly nominated Pepper as the charity to benefit from the occasion.

Liz Clarke, Pepper Fundraising Co-ordinator, and Sonya O'Leary, head of the Pepper nursing team, were invited as guests of Chiltern Fundraisers on a perfect sunny day in late June.

Sonya made a moving speech about the work of the Pepper nurses, described by guests as “from the heart”. The lunch raised £3,070 and, including proceeds from the merchandise stall, the total raised was over £3,100 – a record result for the Chiltern Fundraisers group to whom Pepper and IRHH are very grateful.

The photo shows Pat Lea, Tony Lea, Liz Clarke (Pepper Fundraiser), Doreen Cannon and Sonya O’Leary (Pepper Nursing team leader). Pat, Tony & Doreen are from Chiltern Fundraisers.

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The Domino Effect!

Domino’s Pizza made a significant contribution to the Mayor’s Charity of the Year Campaign recently, by presenting the Charity with a cheque for £581

The Manager of the Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted branches of Domino’s kindly chose Pepper as the beneficiary for contribution on all pizza orders over a period in June/July 2005. There was obviously a lot of pizza consumed in this period as the promotion, which featured the Pepper logo on all flyers, generated such a spectacular amount.

The Pepper team would like to thank Muj Yasin and Umer Hussain for selecting Pepper as Domino’s local charity of choice.

The cheque was presented to Fundraising Coordinator, Liz Clarke (centre) by Domino’s team members Ella (right) and Mark (left).

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Tough Guys

The Mayor of Dacorum was literally swept off her feet recently by three handsome ‘Tough Guys’, Nick White, Lee Morris and Mark Morris, who are competing in the “Tough Guy” challenge in January 2006. Nick, Lee and Mark are seeking sponsorship to raise funds for the The Pepper Foundation, the Mayor’s Charity of the year.

The trio will be competing over a 10 mile assault course designed to test both physical and mental endurance on torture rack obstacles, some of which include:-

• The Tiger – two massive A frames to clamber up and run down. Electric fences add additional hazards.
  
• Colditz – a series of 3 progressively higher walls
  
• The Underwater Tunnel – a crawl through a lengthy underwater chamber
  
• Walking the Plank – across and then in to the icy lake
  
• Stalag escape – a belly crawl under a tangled web of barbed wire

To sponsor Nick, Lee and Mark, please call Lee on 07725 815720 or visit www.justgiving.com/peppertoughguytrio .

Lee would be pleased to hear from any company who would like sponsor them and will gladly sport company logos on the team clothing.

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George and Dragon raise more funds

Carol Dyer, landlady of the George and Dragon in Northchurch , Berkhamsted, is no stranger to raising money for Pepper as was demonstrated yet again on the last night of the Summer Show this year.

Seen proudly presenting a cheque to David Soulsby, Chairman of the Pepper Foundation, Carol and her customers at the pub, who, through a series of fundraising activities, raised a staggering £2242

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Mayor's wine tasting

As part of the mayor’s fundrasing events for Pepper as her chosen charity of the year, Councillor Jane Hogg hosted a Wine Tasting evening on Friday 7 October, in the Gade & Bulbourne room at the Hemel Hempstead Civic Centre. Over 100 people attended the evening sampling a selection of Wine and Champagne, selected for the BP Beaujolais Champagne Challenge, which could be ordered for delivery prior to Christmas.

The picture shows John Pierre Merle and family with Chevaliers Chris McHenry and Mac Challis in the Gade & Bulbourne room. Early indications show that the charity stand to receive £550 out of ticket and wine sales, but that could be increased once the wines are brought into the country.

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Sabatini School supports Pepper Nurses

The Sabatini School of Dance and Performance, recently presented the Pepper nursing team with a cheque for £2000. Their variety show in May, entitled "Oh no, it's the Sabatini Dancers, get me out of here" was performed three times over two days at the Elgiva in Chesham. The show featured dancers from 2 years of age upwards.

Principal, Anne-Marie Sabatini who was supported in the organising the show by her sister Theresa Cox and Bank Nurse, Lorraine Bayford, presented their cheque to the Pepper nursing team.

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P-p-p-pick up a (Penguin) Ticket

“Desperate times require desperate measures” – so says Cllr Derek Townsend who donned a penguin suit in Hemel Hempstead town centre recently to ‘flap’ up some sales for the Mayor of Dacorum’s Christmas Concert in aid of Pepper.

Cllr Townsend is Front of House Manager for the concert on 3rd December, which features performances by the Hemel Hempstead Theatre Company Singers and the Hemel Hempstead Band. “Last year everyone said how fantastic the show was – it was like the Proms” said Derek.

This year, ticket sales got off to a slow start. Seats are still available for the event which is at the Boxmoor Playhouse in St Johns Road, Boxmoor – to ensure you can share this super evening please call Liz Clarke on 0845 675 5566 to book your place. Only £8 per ticket!

Cllr Derek Townsend is pictured with Karen Buchanan – Pepper Administrator on his left, flanked either side by eager Pepper volunteers.

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