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."

Louise Alfred, a Paediatric Nurse at Kingston Hospital, is currently planning to undertake an amazing trek to raise funds for Momentum.  In March, Anna will be walking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, which is a 203km trek around the Annapurna Himalyan mountain range. This will include crossing the Thorung pass at 5416m.

If you would like to sponsor Louise on her incredible journey, please visit her web page at www.justgiving.com/louise-trek

Staff at Close Premium Finance www.closepf.com of Tolworth in Surrey, have chosen to support Momentum for the whole of 2008. They are planning monthly charity initiatives, such as Wear your Jeans to Work Day', for which each participating staff member has to pay £2!

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

On the weekend of June 13th 2007, Karen Busoni and her good friend Victoria Hodgson completed the London to Paris Bike Ride.  Here they are toasting their success under the Eiffel Tower.  Their sponsorship money is still rolling in on the Just Giving website.  Momentum will be putting Karen and Victoria's hard earned sponsorship money towards our latest project, which is to raise money for a respite holiday home for sick children and their families

Congratulations to Jim Dixon who mustered the courage in early August to take part in a tandem skydive.  As you can se from his expression he really enjoyed it.  He hopes to have raised over £1,000 for Momentum, so keep sending in your donations over the Just Giving website.

If you'd like to sponsor him please visit his fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/jimdixon1

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