Hello again and sorry it’s been so long! We’ve had a pretty busy couple of months and so we haven’t been looking after our lovely little blog as much as we should have. There have been quite a few changes since we last wrote so we’ll just give you a bit of a charity update.

First of all, I’ve become a permanent member of the Barnsley Hospital Charity team and am now replacing Janice as Fundraising Assistant. It’s been fantastic so far, a lot to get my head around, but I’m loving my new permanent role and am so grateful that I haven’t had to go through the usual graduate job searching stress!

We’ve also moved offices and are now located underneath the outpatients reception in the hospital, in one of the old shops. That does mean that we’re located right next to the café and very near to the shop so we’ve quite literally got food on the brain.

Our new office is much bigger, and is open to the public, which means we get some lovely visitors stopping by for a chat and even get some donations from the generous people of Barnsley! If you do end up passing by, do come in and say hello, we’ve even got a comfy sofa now!

Finally, we’ve started our very own new tradition in the form of Teacake Friday. This very special event takes place every Friday when we decide to treat ourselves to the infamous volunteer café currant teacakes for breakfast (you really should try one).

There’s a lot to plan and manage at the moment, including Zombie Run 2014, the Tiny Hearts Appeal and the Great Barnsley Bake Off, all which are happening this year. This does also mean that there’s a lot for you to get involved with and we’ve made sure that all our fundraising initiatives are as fun as possible for you!

If you are interested in getting involved with our fundraising, please do contact us and we’ll be able to tell you all you need to know.

By Tanya Oates

The Rainbow Run, which took place on Sunday at Locke Park, was a huge success, with around 600 people (and animals) young and old taking part.

The day for us started at 9:00am with lots of work to be done. Boxes and paint to carry, rainbow stations to set up, volunteers to organise, the list goes on. We were all ready for some early morning event prep!

At 11am registration opened and people started to flock into the park. We had several local artists performing on stage, craft and gift stalls for the people to wander round, refreshments and, most importantly, some gorgeous sunny weather!

Our Rainbow Warriors were given their brief and were all set to cause some colourful havoc! Colour stations were set up across the park in red, yellow, blue, green and purple so the runners really were all the colours of the rainbow once they’d finished the race.

Everyone received a Rainbow Run medal and most importantly a cleaning up sheet! People didn’t need to be encouraged to stay for the artists on stage as the weather stayed hot until the end of the day, so most were relaxing in the sun.

After a well-deserved ice cream we packed up the equipment and set off home with the park a colourful reminder of a successful day.

By Ryan Gains

It’s been a while since we last posted a blog so I thought I would restart it and reflect on my time here and what I have learnt so far.

Having not had much previous written experience, I initially felt that this would be a set-back for me in this type of environment and thought that it would put me at a disadvantage.

Working at Barnsley Hospital Charity has so far been both fun and rewarding, from helping out with the Zombie Run, writing press releases, making phone calls and coming up with creative ideas to for campaigns to raise funds for a good cause.

Over the last 6 months my writing skills have improved and I’ve learnt how to write in different styles, so that can only be a good thing! Creativity is a big part in this fundraising role and coming from a creative background I think I am well suited.

The charity has taken me under its wing and helped me gain experience in something that I otherwise may not have had. It’s put me in good stead for my working life and made me realise that I would enjoy working in a marketing or fundraising role.

Over the next few months we have some exciting projects coming up. The first being the rainbow run on 18th May where you can run 5k or 1K whilst getting covered in powder paint! The day will also consist of live bands and entertainment for all the family – so get signing up!

The Zombie Run is also due this year on 18th October. You will have to run 5k, avoiding the bloodthirsty hordes of zombies and conquering new and exiting obstacles, so be prepared to be scared and muddy!

We have lots of other Projects we are working on so keep your eyes pealed and watch this space!

By Ryan Gains

It’s around five months since we started our work experience here at Barnsley Hospital Charity and in that time we’ve taken part in a wide range of experience for a variety of different tasks. We may have got through a decent amount of the office’s tea and coffee in that time too but I think that’s beside the point.

Today I thought it was time to reminisce and reflect on my experience here as part of a charity team. As a PR and marketing student, it was vital for me to get experience outside of my degree in a range of different communications roles and, throughout my three years at uni, I’ve done just that. I have to say that working here at the charity has been by far my favourite experience.

The great thing about working at Barnsley Hospital Charity is that I’ve been given much more responsibility to work on different projects and the opportunity to contribute my own ideas. We’ve even been working on a campaign that I thought of over the Christmas period which we’re hoping to launch over the next couple of months.

As a bit of a hint I’ll tell you this; the campaign involves a lot of baking! Over the last few weeks I’ve been developing a design brief, putting together supporters’ packs and discussing the in-depth aspects of the campaign. It’s all very exciting and a little bit scary, especially since I know it’s my first proper campaign!

University has taught me all about the skills needed for the PR and marketing industry and I’ve really enjoyed putting these skills into practise. I definitely feel like I’m getting ready for the ‘real world’ of work now, even if it will be sad when we eventually leave the charity!

Barnsley Hospital Charity has some really exciting campaigns for you to get involved with this year and we hope you’ll take part, have fun and raise some vital funds for your local hospital.

 By Tanya Oates 

We hope you’ve all had a brilliant Christmas and New Year and are now in a post-Christmas, slightly chubbier state. Today we’re back in the office for the first time in 2014, it’s been a long Christmas break, but we’re happy to be back with the charity team and can’t wait to tell you about 2014’s exciting new prospects! 

As you probably already know, the second zombie apocalypse will be back in October and Zombie Run 2 aims to be bigger and better than before, with more obstacles and scarier zombies! For all those involved in last year’s event, we’ll be getting in touch with you soon to find out what you loved about the event and what you would change. Your opinion is very important to us!

We have the Rainbow Run coming up in May, where all the family can get involved for some colourful and messy fun! We need people to sign up as ‘rainbow warriors’ – an exciting role which allows you to freely throw paint all over our participants – so if anybody is interested, please get in touch!

As well as these two fantastic events, we’ve got a few other ideas in the pipeline which we think you’ll all love and we hope to be able to announce these over the next couple of months.

The New Year has brought with it many opportunities to use our imaginations and come up with new, innovative campaigns and event ideas and it’s great to be involved in the creation and production of these prospects.

For now though, we hope that you have a lovely weekend and aren’t suffering from too many January blues. If you are, not to worry, it’s nearly over!

By Tanya Oates

With Christmas fast approaching it’s easy to get caught up in decorating your house to the high standards of Santa’s grotto, the hectic Christmas shopping routines and catching the odd relaxing hour in front of the TV with a glass of mulled wine. I’m feeling festive just writing about it!

But it’s important to think about the people who may not be having a very fun Christmas this year. There are many children and babies who will unfortunately be spending the Christmas period in hospital and for them and their families, this can be very hard.

Every year Barnsley Hospital Charity provides all the children visiting the hospital or staying in the hospital over Christmas with a present. Even the newborn babies receive a present which is so important for the families whose babies are spending their first Christmas at hospital. We want to provide each and every child with a home-from-home atmosphere and make them feel as happy and comfortable as possible over the festive period.

You can help us to fill the air Christmas spirit and give the hospital a magical atmosphere for the children and their families by donating this year. Any amount of money you can give is so valuable and will help to put a smile on a child’s face this Christmas!

You can donate either online by following a link at the top of this blog, post it to the charity address or alternatively take it into the hospital cashiers yourself.

Everybody deserves to have a special Christmas so let’s forget about the mince pies for a short moment to think about how we can make it a happy, fun-filled day for others this year, it’s sure to fill you with festive cheer too!

By Tanya Oates