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News from 2008 / 2007 / 2006 / 2005

SANTA RUN

Thank you to everyone who took part in the 5k Santa Run, in Greenwich Park on the 6th December. It was a huge success with over 40 Santas running for Momentum and a total of 2,000 running for other charities. An incredible sight to see so many red Santa suits and all moving at such speed! We have had nothing but positive feedback from our runners about how much fun they had and we are hoping to collect over £4,000 from the event. All in all, a very fit start to the festive season!

SANTA'S GROTTO

On Saturday 12th December, Santa visited the Momentum Children’s Garden at Kingston Hospital, to meet the children, find out about their Christmas lists and to give them some special presents. Our Santa’s Grotto was designed by a very creative elf called Amanda Leggatt and these lovely photos were taken by her sister Hannah Leggatt. (Thank you also to Santa’s alter ego, Momentum Trustee, Ian Ashpitel.)

MOMENTUM CHRISTMAS CARDS

This year, Momentum invited the children of families whom we support, to enter a Christmas card competition. We asked the children to design a card and then our Patron, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, chose her six favourites. These winning designs were made into cards for Momentum to sell and the winners also received a £20 token to spend in WH Smith.

Well done to Hannah Johns, Katie Johns, Rachel Johns, Nikolai Gibbins, Daniel Zolinsky and James Dawson who were our winners this year.

Please see the order form on our Merchandising page if you would like to order some Christmas cards.

MAGICAL HALLOWE’EN FOR MOMENTUM CHILDREN

This Hallowe'en, several children who have been treated for cancer in the Paediatric department at Kingston Hospital, were treated to a special night out at Chessington World of Adventures. These children are all either progressing well with their treatment or have finished treatment, so they were definitely in a mood to celebrate with their families.

The spooky night out was organised for the children by Steve Edwards, who works for OSL, the company which organises the patient transport for Kingston hospital. He works with sick children every day and was keen to bring a bit of magic into their lives. He approached Bianca Effemey, Chair of Trustees for Momentum and asked whether some of their children would be interested in a special outing. Bianca knew that when children are at a critical stage in their treatment, these sort of outings are exactly what they have to miss. She said: "It is fantastic to see their excitement once they are feeling better and can enjoy special treats and do all the active things that children love."

Together, OSL and Momentum applied for tickets from Merlin's Magic Wand, the group which runs Chessington World of adventures. Once they had been allotted the tickets, Momentum opened an invitation to all their children and families and within 20 minutes, all the spots had been filled.

Many thanks to Merlin's Magic Wand and of course to OSL and Steve Edwards on behalf of the families who had a magical night out.

GREAT BRITISH DUCK RACE

On Sunday the 6th September 2009 the 3rd ‘Great British Duck Race’ will take place at Molesey Lock, near Hampton Court Palace.

It costs £2 to ‘adopt’ a plastic duck and the money goes to the charity nominated by the person adopting.  On the big day (when they are expecting £175,000 adopted ducks to race) the first one over the finish line will earn a further £10,000 for their nominated charity. It’s all great fun and very simple.  Just visit the website and click on the ‘Adopt Ducks’ section.  Then please nominate Momentum!

http://www.thegreatbritishduckrace.co.uk/o/momentum

SANTA VISITS MOMENTUM

On Saturday 13th December Santa came to visit Momentum in the Children's Garden at Kingston Hospital. Momentum Trustee Stephen Humphrey McDermott and designer Amanda Leggatt, spent hours building the most incredible Grotto for Santa, with the help of some wonderful volunteers.

Santa arrived on his sleigh at 3.30pm after getting stuck in some horrible traffic (which probably upset his reindeer a bit)! He then sat in his cosy Grotto for 3 hours giving out gifts to lots of the children whom Momentum have supported over the last few years, along with their siblings and friends.

Later in the afternoon everyone was entertained by carol singing from the St. Paul's Singers, a small choir of 10 and 11 years olds from the local St. Paul's Church of England Junior School. They too managed a quick visit to Santa before they left.

Our lovely Patron, Dame Jacqueline Wilson also popped by, to say hello and sign some autographs. She kindly visited some of the children who were too ill in bed in hospital to get outside to see Santa.

Despite the fact that it poured with rain all day, Christmas really seemed to have come early to Kingston Hospital and everyone had a lovely time. A big thanks to Amanda and Humphrey for all their hard work and last of all, Merry Christmas from everyone at Momentum.

MOMENTUM GALA OPERA EVENING 2008

On Sunday 9th November we held our 4th Gala Opera evening at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington.  This beautiful venue was filled with the sound of the incredible voices of top soloists Amanda Roocroft, Anne-Marie Owens, Paul Charles Clarke and David Kempster.  They were accompanied on the piano by Jeremy Silver and by a 50-strong chorus of members from the top major national opera companies.  The soloists and chorus were conducted by Stephen Harris and introduced by Rosa Mannion, who are both great friends to Momentum and have helped us stage all our opera evenings to date.

Not to be forgotten from a wonderful evening, were the Downside School Pipe Band, who entranced the audience with their bagpipes.  It's hard to describe what a wonderful sound they make; it is incredibly moving, particularly when it is preceded by a lone trumpeter playing the Last Post, on a evening which marks Remembrance Sunday.  Our thanks to the Downside School Pipe Band and to Harry Wylie-Carrick on trumpet.

The Gala Opera raised over £7,600, which will put towards Momentum's continued work with the Paediatric Department at Kingston Hospital.  We are currently in the process of putting flat screen televisions into all of the isolation rooms.

MARMALADE HELPS MOMENTUM

A group of sixth form girls from Surbiton High School, who are part of Kingston Young Enterprise, recently donated the fantastic sum of £700 to Momentum. The budding entrepreneurs, who call their group Marmalade, organised a series of disco parties for young teenagers.

Whilst it was the girls who put in the hard work, marketing, organising and running the events, they also received help and advice from volunteer advisors. One of these was Yaw Ankra-Badu from HSBC, the largest corporate supporter of Young Enterprise, with over 700 staff acting as advisors to Young Enterprise Companies. The other was Graham Walker, from Kingston Business School.

Party-goers who attended the Marmalade discos said that they were a huge success and sang the praises of the organisers. Then, when Marmalade wound up their company on 16th October, they proved that they were not only entrepreneurial, they were charitable as well. Luckily for us, they chose Momentum to donate £700 of their proceeds to.

Many thanks to the Marmalade team for their support and we wish them well in the future.

MOMENTUM'S NEW PATRON OPENS HDU UNIT AT KINGSTON HOSPITAL

On Thursday 4th September Momentum's Patron, the actor Philip Glenister, opened a new HDU unit in the Paediatric Department at Kingston Hospital. The new equipment in this unit will enable nursing staff to care for children with high dependency needs in Kingston Hospital.

The two bed High Dependency Unit incudes specialist equipment paid for by a donation to Momentum from the Taylor Family Foundation.

Phil Glenister also un-veiled a newly refurbished, 4-bed Teenagers' Bay in the Paediatric Department. The funds for this were partly raised by the Kingston Youth Council who attended the opening and were delighted with the results of all their hard work.

Both the HDU Unit and the Teenagers' Bay were designed and hand-painted with beautiful murals by artist Amanda Leggatt, who recently started working on the latest Harry Potter film! She said: "I thought the Teenagers' Bay needed to have lots of energy - so I gave it a beach studio theme with brightly coloured lockers and lots of surfing references. But the HDU Unit needs to be much more peaceful, so I kept the colours muted and calming with a polar bear theme for smaller children to look at."

Amanda managed to get surfing companies to donate colourful stickers and other companies to donate books for the Teenagers' Bay. The lockers are painted in bright colours and the whole room feels fresh and positive - hopefully it will provide a real boost to the spirits of the young patients who will be treated there.

MUSIC MAKES £1,605 FOR MOMENTUM

On Saturday 2nd August, the Half Baked Band and support played a fantastic gig at the Drayton Court Pub in West Ealing. The hugely successful evening raised a magnificent £1,605 for Momentum. Many thanks to Mark Paul for all his hard work in putting the event together.

TEDDINGTON GUIDES GET PACKING

On Saturday 5th July, the 2nd A Teddington Girl Guides had a great fundraising idea. They approached their local branch of Tesco and asked if they could come and help pack customers' shopping for a donation to Momentum.  This was arranged by Jackie Mitchell, a Mum of one of the Guides, who counted up a magnificent £535 from their efforts at the end of the day.

Several of the Girls Guides and helpers on the day had been very dear friends of 10 year old Kiera Brown, who very sadly passed away last summer. It is wonderful tribute to her that her friends are so keen to help Momentum raise funds in her memory.

Our special thanks to Jackie Jeffries of Tesco for organising the bag packing at the store, and a big thanks to all the Guides and their friends who took part on the day. Most of all, thanks to Jackie Mitchell for pulling it all together.

Momentum Children chosen by Dreamflight

Earlier this year Jan Moor, one of Momentum's Trustees, nominated some Momentum children for a 'Dreamflight'. Dreamflight is a registered UK charity whose purpose is to send seriously ill and disabled children on their 'Holiday of a Lifetime' to the theme parks in central Florida, USA.

To our delight, two of the Momentum children were chosen, Kieran Flynn and Holly Loveless (pictured). They are over the moon and will be taking their Dreamflight in October for a a holiday of 10 days. For further information visit the website www.dreamflight.org

Momentum’s Technical Team

Here are Momentum’s fantastic technical team.  From left to right: Rob Raskovsky, Neil Foster, Jenny Rowley, Humph McDermott, Garry Joans and Matthew Effemey.

Art Auction raises £2,500 for Momentum

On Friday 6th June, two local Kingston schools, St. Paul’s Church of England Junior School and Alexandra Infant School, held an art competition and auction to raise funds for Momentum. The auction included original contributions from famous illustrators, Ian Beck, Quentin Blake and Nick Sharratt.

The art auction had the broad theme ‘I Can’ and invited entries from current and former pupils from both schools, as well as their friends and families. Prize-winners were then chosen from each year group and then further artworks were chosen to auction in aid of Momentum.

Organiser Sharon Mehta, who has a son at St. Paul’s said: “I wanted to hold an art extravaganza which everyone could join in and be creative together. There was a wonderful atmosphere at the auction and at the same time we raised over £2,500 for Momentum”.

Sharon not only framed all the paintings to be exhibited, she also managed to persuade Christies’ auctioneer Anna Evans to conduct the auction. Then prizes were presented by Guests of honour, Chloe Parsons, a former pupil at St. Paul’s and Holly Loveless, a current pupil, who have both undergone treatment for cancer and have been helped by Momentum.

Many thanks to Sharon Mehta and to all the wonderful artists whose work was auctioned on our behalf.

New Patron for Momentum

We are delighted to announce that the actor Phil Glenister has become a new Patron for Momentum. Phil, who starred recently on television in 'Life on Mars', 'Ashes to Ashes' and 'Cranford', has two young daughters of his own and will be helping us to raise the profile of Momentum, by attending our fundraising events and generally 'spreading the word' about the work we do.

Here's Phil with some of our lovely 'Momentum children', pictured at Richmond Golf Club on the recent Celebrity Golf Day. The children, from left to right, are Holly Loveless, Nikolai Gibbins and Rose Kelly.

Running is Fun for Momentum

Over 50 people ran 5 kilometres to raise money for Momentum in the 'Run for Fun' in Regent's Park on Sunday 11th May. Many thanks to Rachel Bell for organising this on our behalf and thanks to everyone who ran and everyone who came along to shout encouragement and join in the fun. (We'll let you know the amount raised as soon as all the sponsorship is collected.)

In Memory of Melanie

In April, Momentum arranged for the Kogelbauer family to plant a special tree in the Isabella Plantation of Richmond Park. This was in memory of their beautiful daughter Melanie, who died last summer. The Kogelbauers chose a strawberry tree because of their ‘strawberry memories’. Meltem Kogelbauer said: “I ate strawberries and strawberry jam every day when I was pregnant with Melanie and she loved to pick wild strawberries. It will be wonderful to see the tree growing year by year, but on the other hand, it will also remind me that Melanie did not get a chance to grow.”

Momentum and the Kogelbauer family would like to thank Sharon Mehta for helping to organise the memorial tree.

Here is a picture of Melanie’s younger sister Jasmine who helped to plant the special tree.

Wonderful Waitrose!

On Wednesday 16th January, Branch Managers and 50 staff from 19 branches of Waitrose, gathered in Kingston Hospital's Paediatric Department to make a cheque presentation to Momentum.

The 19 Waitrose branches (known as Group D) have been fundraising over the last year and this is the first time that a group of Waitrose stores have worked together in such a way to support a local charity. Peter White, Manager of Waitrose New Malden said: "The staff were encouraged to come up with their own fundraising ideas which included sponsored walks, cake sales, a teddy bear raffle and then finally a Christmas bucket collection, during which many staff wore fancy dress such as bright green wigs!"

Momentum were surprised and delighted to discover that the Waitrose stores had raised a stunning £39,000. Bianca Effemey, our chair of Trustees said: "We are completely shocked and for once I am speechless! This amazing amount of money will make such a difference to children being treated for cancer and other serious illnesses." Maggie Clancy, Head of Paediatric Nursing at Kingston Hospital added, "The improvements which Momentum have made to the facilities at Kingston Hospital are wonderful for all the patients we treat here, but they also make it a nicer place to work for all the nursing staff."

Bianca Effemey added: "Waitrose staff have specifically asked for their money to go towards our new Teenager's Room, but this substantial donation will also be an enormous boost towards our target for the Momentum holiday home. We really can't thank Waitrose enough for their tremendous efforts on our behalf."

Daily Mail Charity Christmas Giveaway

Many thanks to those of you who voted for Momentum in the Daily Mail’s Charity Christmas Giveaway.  This was aimed at supporting children’s charities nationwide and was in conjunction with the Royal Bank of Scotland.  We were delighted to discover that Momentum were chosen to receive a cheque for £10,000.  Here is Pete McCarthy who presented the cheque to Nicky Mapp, with her daughter Alexandra, a patient at Kingston Hospital and Bianca Effemey, Chair of Trustees for Momentum.

Momentum Mosaics Unveiled At Kingston Hospital

On Saturday 1st December, we were extremely proud to unveil two beautiful new mosaic murals, at the entrance to the Paediatric Department of Kingston Hospital. The ribbon was cut by our Patron, Jacaueline Wilson, who declared that the mosaics were "absolutely stunning".

The murals were created by the award winning, Kingston based, 'Save the World Club' and were designed with help from children at two local schools, Kingston Grammar and St. Paul's C. of E. Junior School. The theme for the murals was "Dolphin" and "Sunshine" after the two Paediatric wards at Kingston Hospital. The mosaics were then constructed over several months by a team of 'Save the World Club' staff and volunteers.

The mosaics were commissioned by Momentum and paid for with fundraising from several of our supporters, including The Bentall Centre, The Accenture Foundation, the Emma and Lucy Memorial Fund and St. Paul's C. of E. Junior School.

Bianca Effemey, Chair of Trustees for Momentum, said: "Parents of children with cancer have told us that when they bring their children into hospital for treatment, coming into the entrance is often the hardest part. We thought that by brightening up the entrance to the Paediatric Department with these beautiful mosaics, it would make a good beginning to their hospital visits!"

Momentum were delighted that the Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Shiraz Mirza, was also able to join us for the mosaics unveiling. Momentum is one of the Mayor's special charities for his year in office and he was keen to be shown round the Paediatric Department, to visit some of the children and to see the results of Momentum's other fundraising activities.

Outside, in the Momentum Children's Garden, Santa Claus arrived for the afternoon. His elves had a created a special "Santa's Grotto" in the oncology area of the garden and all the children who had come along on the day were treated to an early Christmas present. Not only that, but anyone who was feeling a bit 'peckish' was given a delicious Krispy Kreme doughnut, kindly donated by their Kingston store, for the occasion.

Finally, to really get us in the festive mood, a lovely choir of Year 6 children from St. Paul's C. of E. Junior School came along to sing some carols. Everyone agreed that Christmas had come early to Kingston Hospital this year.

'Two By Two'

This beautiful quilt on a Noah's Ark theme, was made over a period of 9 months, by Vicky Munday from North London.  She is a student of the 'Foundation Piecing Course' at 'Creative Quilting' in East Molesey. The beautiful quilt measures approximately 4 feet by 6 feet and will be auctioned in 2008 in aid of Momentum. Many thanks to Vicky for all her hard work.

RBK Staff Raise Money By Answering Questions!

Staff at the Royal Borough of Kingston (RBK) are asked every year to complete a staff survey, as a means of getting feedback about working conditions. For every response, 50p is donated to charity and this year Momentum were the lucky recipients, because we are one of the Mayor of Kingston's chosen charities. What's more, a record 66% of staff completed the survey! On 31st October, Bruce McDonald, Chief Executive of the Royal Borough of Kingston, presented a cheaque for £695 to Ian and Jan Moor, on behalf of Momentum.

Wolters Klower Support Momentum

Staff at Wolters Klower in Kingston upon Thames recently held a staff raffle in aid of Momentum. Here are some of their charity committee presenting a cheque for £548.32 to Natalie Harvey, Momentum's PR Manager. Wolters Kluwer staff have chosen to continuing to support us into 2008, so many thanks to them.

Momentum AGM

If you would like to read Momentum’s Final Accounts and Annual report for the year ending April 2007, please download here.

Funky Fun At The Hospital

On Thursday 11th October, Momentum were proud to announce the official opening of the new room for teenagers in the Paediatric Department at Kingston Hospital. The ribbon was cut and the room declared open, by Lady Sarah McCorqodale, sister of the late Princess Diana.

Bianca Effemey, our Chair of Trustees said: "Teenagers suffering from cancer are treated in the Paediatric Department alongside much younger children. They often have many empty hours to fill and wanted their own room, with their own, more grown-up things to play with.

We talked at length to a group of teenagers who were undergoing treatment and asked them for a wish list of things they would like to have, in a room dedicated just to them. As you can imagine, a flat screen tv, home cinema system, games consoles, laptop computers, a pool table and funky furniture were all on their list.

Through the generous donations and fundraising work that companies and individuals have done on behalf of Momentum, we were able to fulfil all the teenagers' wishes and the new room is an Aladdin's Cave of hi-tech furniture and gadgets."

The Teenagers' Room was designed by Kingston based Soulfood Studios and local builders O'Neills were brought on board to do the re-fit. One of the biggest benefactors to this specific project has been 19 branches of Waitrose, all within a radius of a few miles from Kingston hospital, who are continuing to raise funds for us until Christmas. Students from Kingston Grammar School raised £1,300 and chose specifically to pay for the flat screen tv and home cinema system. Chartridge Developments, based in Beaconsfield, kindly paid to finance installation and subscription to Broadband internet access.

Bizzy Watson, age 11 and best friend of Kiera Brown, a former patient who sadly passed away in the summer, was at the opening of the Teenagers' Room.

She said: "It's such a shame Kiera is not here to see the room. It's everything we wanted it to be from when we started to put our ideas together. It's so much lighter and with the crazy chairs, the cool flat screen, the laptops with webcams, it's just great."

Everyone at Momentum hopes that teenagers being treated at Kingston Hospital in the future will get hours of enjoyment from their new room.

Momentum Receives Extra

When the Tesco Extra store on Barnes Wallace Drive in Weybridge launched its new first floor to shoppers on Monday 15th October, it also took the opportunity to give something extra to charity.

Bianca Effemey, our Chair of Trustees, was on hand to cut the ribbon to declare the store's new first floor officially open, before accepting a cheque from store manager Laurence Morley for £1,000. The charity was nominated to receive the donation by Jan Moor, in recognition of the vital help and support we provide young children and families in Surrey.

Special Memories

Recently, 3 children who were very special to Momentum very sadly passed away.  Our memories of Melanie Kogelbauer, Kiera Brown and Laura Batic will never fade; we will treasure these forever.
- Bianca Effemey

Mini Masked Ball

On Friday 20th July, Momentum held a 'Mini Masked Ball' for all the children connected with our charity.  As we are one of the chosen charities of the Mayor of Kingston, Shiraz Mirza, we were allowed to hold the Ball in one of the Council Chambers at Kingston's Guildhall.

The Mayor himself even came along to join in the fun!  Local magician Richard Special entertained the children with some truly incredible tricks and also modelled lots of balloon 'swords' for a bit of a mock battle!  After a delicious buffet, the children then enjoyed some old-fashioned waltzing.  It was a really fun evening.

New Mayor of Kingston Upon Thames supports Momentum

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Momentum have been chosen by Shiraz Mirza, the new Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, as one of his chosen charities to support during his year in office.

We look forward to participating in many fundraising events together and wish the new Mayor a successful year in office.

Cabaret Evening

Momentum's Cabaret event 'Lights, Camera' Cabaret!' was a spectacular success on the evening of Sunday 23rd September.  200 guests arrived at Clarendon Hall, York House, in Twickenham, in black tie and evening dress.

After their welcome glass of champagne, they were ushered into the Hall where tables had been laid with a themed centrepiece, consisting of film cannisters, strips of film and boxes of popcorn to set the mood.

After the first two courses of dinner, during which guests were entertained by magician Richard Special www.tricku.com, the Cabaret began.  Momentum's Patron Kim Ismay was joined by fellow performers Amy Hill, Kieran Jay, David Erik and Kelly Rainford.  They sang their hearts out to the inexhaustible accompaniment of Alastair Gavin on the piano.  The theme was Music from the Movies and they covered films over the whole history of filmmaking.

During the interval we showed the DVD about Momentum which was made earlier this year for us by the Media Trust (you can watch it on our video page).

Then Jeff Brown, the father of Kiera who very sadly passed away recently, gave an incredibly moving speech about his daughter and his family's connections with Momentum.  Many, many thanks to Jeff for the kind words he said about the charity and for the very touching words he had to say about his beautiful daughter.

The evening then progressed with a fundraising auction compered superbly by Simon Osborne.  Lots for auction included a meal for 10 cooked in your home, by Paul Brown, Head Chef at London's famous Le Caprice restaurant.

After the auction the Cabaret continued with our five wonderful performers bringing us up to contemporary times, with songs from the Bond movies, Moulin Rouge, Dirty Dancing, Footloose and Flashdance, to name but a few.

At Momentum we are constantly overwhelmed by the generosity of all the people involved in staging an event like this.  Everything was masterminded by Steven Humphrey McDermott, one of our Trustees, and he and all the performers and the technicians gave their time and considerable energies, absolutely free of charge.  Thank you so much, to all of them, from everyone connected to Momentum.

The Cabaret evening raised approximately £13,500 which will go towards our next project -to provide a holiday respite home for sick children and their families.

Momentum Gala Opera Evening

We were very proud to hold our third Gala Opera Evening at the Landmark Arts Centre in Teddington on Sunday 11th November. An audience of about 300 people soaked up the wonderful atmosphere in the beautiful old church and enjoyed some wonderful singing.

Stephen Harris, the Musical Director for the evening, had put together a programme of classical and contemporary pieces which were beautifully interpreted by Caroline Jaya-Ratnam on the piano. The three soloists, Doreen Curran (Mezzo Soprano), Ashley Holland (Baritone) and Nicky Spence (Tenor) were all in fine voice and when joined by the English National Opera chorus, it really sent a tingle down your spine.

The last song before the interval was Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck and some of the Momentum children handed out glow sticks (courtesy of GLOBAL MARKETING GROUP) which meant that the darkened auditorium was lit solely by tiny points of light in the audience. It was all very magical and gave everyone time to think about the children and families whom Momentum support.

After the interval, the sound of bagpipes filled the church and the audience were treated to a medley from the Downside School Pipe Band. Once again, this haunting music was beautifully suited to our surroundings.

Momentum would like to thank everyone involved in staging the Gala Opera Evening. As with our previous events, all the performers and technical people gave their services and time, completely free of charge. This generosity is much appreciated by everyone involved with the charity.

Final figures have not yet been counted, but with a generous £10,000 contribution from our current sponsors, Waitrose, the evening raised well over £20,000. This will go towards our latest fundraising project, to provide a holiday home for sick children and their families.

Momentum Magic Day

On Saturday 2nd February Momentum joined forces with the incredible magician, Richard Leigh of False Impressions to celebrate the National Day of Magic.

On our behalf, Richard got together a group of his talented colleagues to stage four fundraising shows at the Arthur Cotterell Theatre in Kingston College, Kingston upon Thames.  The shows included MR TIZ GOES TO THE CIRCUS for tiny tots, featuring Mr Tiz, Richard Leigh and Corinne-Elise. Then there were two performances of THE MAGIC CAVERN aimed to entertain all the family and presented again by Richard Leigh with David Major.

In the evening the main attraction was the MOMENTUM MAGIC GALA SHOW.  This was a true 'Spectacular' featuring Richard's incredible Houdini Substitution Trunk Illusion, followed by URBAN MYTH, an amazing Illusion Act.  Then came Extreme Juggler PHIL BLACKMORE who caused a stir by juggling chainsaws, spears, and jelly babies!

The whole show was compered by Zac Bauman, whose wonderful singing kept the audience entertained throughout.  After the interval during which the audience were held in thrall by close-up magicians, the next act was Benson and his hilarious comedy bell ringing routine and last but not least, crazy comedy magic act Soft Cabaret. It was an absolutely jam-packed show, worthy of any West End theatre.

As it was the National Day of Magic, all these incredible acts performed completely free of charge to support Momentum and raised £4,800 in the process. Our thanks to them for providing a truly memorable day and most particularly to Richard Leigh and Humphrey McDermott for putting the whole event together.

How To Spend The Holidays

During their recent summer holiday, Emily and Phoebe Bunje from Norbiton in Surrey, got together all their old toys and bits and bobs and held a sale nearly every day outside their house, in aid of Momentum.  They raised £200, which we will be putting towards the holiday home for sick children and their families.  Many thanks to them for using their own holiday in such a generous way.

Charity Day In Ember Farm Way

On Sunday 2nd September, residents of Ember Farm Way in East Molesey, held a Garage sale in aid of Momentum.  They raised the spectacular sum of £3,362.75 and were delighted that the Mayor of Elmbridge to visit the sale.

Travelling in style

On Monday 4th June several of our Momentum teenagers had one of their wishes granted when they took a trip to look around the BBC Television Studios in White City. 

There were 18 in all on the trip and everybody somehow managed to squeeze into a stretch limo.  This is definitely how the other half live!

Well Done Olly!

Congratulations to Oliver Spratt who ran the London Marathon on the 22nd April in aid of Momentum. His fundraising target was £3,000 which he has exceeded, despite the difficult conditions on the day, raising the magnificent total to date of £3,529.10.

Well done Olly and a huge thanks from us all at Momentum.

London to Paris cycle ride

On 13th June Karin Bosoni and Victoria Hodgson will be taking part in the London to Paris Cycle ride on behalf of MOMENTUM. If you would like to sponsor her, please do so through the Just Giving website.

There are many people fundraising on behalf of Momentum including Oliver Spratt who is running the London Marathon and Mike Hamblin who is running the Asics Breakfast Run.

Please check the Just Giving website if you would like to support them on our behalf.

www.justgiving.com

Ian Moor accepts cheque for Momentum from the Catenians Association of Esher

Last month, Ian Moor, one of our Committee members, accepted a cheque on behalf of MOMENTUM from the Catenians Association of Esher. The cheque was the result of a month of fundraising and was for the magnificent sum of £1,000.

Momentum Children helping each other

On a recent weekend, Melanie Kogelbauer enjoyed a fun day out at Thorpe Park with her French exchange student and her friend Jasmine. They had a brilliant day and it was all thanks to Kiera Brown, who had very kindly given them the tickets. It's always lovely to hear about MOMENTUM children helping each other.

Here's a picture of them having fun on the carousel. Looks like it was a bit chilly!

Waitrose Surbiton present us with a fundraising cheque

In February, all John Lewis and Waitrose branches had a week of fundraising for local children's charities and the Surbiton branch chose MOMENTUM. On Wednesday 28th March, two staff members from Waitrose, Surbiton, presented a cheque for £940 to MOMENTUM, in the MOMENTUM Children's Garden at Kingston
hospital.

During their week of fundraising, Waitrose staff held a cake sale and had an auction night where Partners auctioned off unwanted gifts. They also had a nail-biting game based on 'Deal or No Deal', playing for packets of Quavers!

The cheque for £940 was presented by Julia Maguire and Theresa Noakes, who work for Waitrose in Surbiton. The cheque was accepted on behalf of MOMENTUM by 10 year old Kiera Brown from Teddington. She was joined by her Mum, Ann Brown and by our Chair of Trustees, Bianca Effemey.

The money will be put towards MOMENTUM'S latest fundraising project, which is to re-design and refurbish the Playroom and the Teenager's Room in the Paediatric Department at Kingston Hospital.

On receiving the cheque, Kiera said: "It would be lovely to put the money towards some computer equipment, maybe a laptop, for teenagers to use when they are in hospital for a long time."

Many thanks from MOMENTUM to the staff members at Waitrose, Surbiton.

Kiera Brown sees hit musical Mamma Mia!

On Monday 5th March, Momentum Trustee Bianca Effemey, arranged for Kiera Brown and some of her best friends, to have
a special outing to London's West End in a stretch limousine to
see the hit musical Mamma Mia!

Read more in Kiera Brown’s blog.

16th February 2007 - Venetian Masked Ball

The Momentum Venetian Masked Ball and Dinner, on Friday 16th February, was our most ambitious fundraising event to date and was a huge success. Read more.

Valentine's Special

On the weekend of 10th and 11th February, we were able to make many Valentine's wishes come true when our wonderful volunteers inflated and handed out 7,000 heart-shaped balloons at the
Bentall Centre in Kingston. Living statues in the form of Cupid
were on hand for photo opportunities with romantic shoppers!

Many thanks to the Bentall Centre for arranging this event for Momentum. We raised £3,863.62. Fantastic!

Momentum Teddies

Why don't you treat someone you love to a Momentum Teddy Bear? They are approximately 24 cm tall and each has his/her own Momentum sweatshirt or hoody. They cost £10 each plus p&p. Please contact Momentum on 020 8255 0945.

Momentum Children's Garden

The Momentum Children's Garden at Kingston Hospital was opened on Saturday 7th October by HRH Princess Alexandra.

We are thrilled with the end result of this project which will give all children who are admitted to the hospital a beautiful outside area in which to play.

Oncology children are not able to socialise with other children and spend nearly all their time in isolation. This new garden will enable them to have time outside to play in a bright and fun environment when it is closed to others.

Click here for picture gallery.


On Sunday 8th October our new Patron, Jacqueline Wilson, hosted a children's tea party in the new garden which was attended by many of the children who have been treated at Kingston hospital.

She read extracts from her latest Tracy Beaker book 'Candyfloss'.

Click here for picture gallery.

Great North Run

Well done to Rob Pearce from Kingston who entered the Great North Run on behalf of Momentum on 1st October.

Along with 50,000 other runners, Rob completed the run in a 'comfortable' 2 hours and 9 minutes!

He raised £250 for Momentum and our picture shows Rob on South Shields beach with his medal.

Momentum Christmas Cards

We now have Christmas cards for sale, all designed by children who are affected by cancer.

Garden

Work is currently underway to build a sensory garden within the paediatric department at Kingston Hospital. This will give all children that are admitted or visit the hospital an outside area in which to play. Oncology children are not able to socialise with other children and spend nearly all their time in isolation.  This new garden will enable them to have time outside to play in a bright and fun environment when it is closed to others.

The Overall cost of the project is £45,000.

Our garden will be officially opened on Saturday 7th October by HRH Princess Alexandra.

Mosaic

For those children who visit the paediatric department in Kingston Hospital regularly, walking through the doors can be a very upsetting time. We want to turn the entrance into a magical area that will be more inviting.

Working with award winning charity Save the World Club, we are about to embark on an exciting project to fund a mosaic mural that will cover the entire entrance area. One side will depict a Sun theme for Sunshine Ward and the opposite side a Sea theme for Dolphin Ward.

Save the World Club has worked on many mosaic projects in and around Kingston, which have transformed areas that were once deprived or graffiti covered into fantastic pieces of art. Visit www.savetheworldclub.org for details of recent projects.

Two local schools, St. Paul's Church of England Junior School and Kingston Grammar School have helped to design the murals.

You can help with the construction of the murals on 23rd and 24th October at the Bentall Centre, Kingston.

New kitchen

We have installed a new kitchen for the use of the children's families.

Main achievements

Since the charity was formed last year, we have raised funds for air conditioning to be installed in three of the isolation wards, and decorated and fitted the rooms to create a more pleasant environment during long and difficult hospital stays.

We have also installed a computer with Broadband access, fitted fridges, installed televisions and bought many games for the children to enjoy.

Thanks to our sponsors

John Lewis in Kingston has chosen Momentum as their sponsored charity for 18 months. They arranged a sponsored pub crawl and raised £1000.

Body Concepts is committed to helping charities and donated a week's income to Momentum during September 2005.

Thanks to our donors

On Saturday 16 October, 50 bikers descended on Kingston Hospital with cheques and games to the value of almost £1,000 for Momentum.

For more details see our Past Events page.