Michael Newbold
Michael's page
Fundraising for Dreamflight
Story
A few of you may be aware of the charity Dreamflight but for those of you who are not, here is a brief introduction. Every year Dreamflight charters a Boeing 747 and flies 192 sick and disabled children aged between 8 and 14 from all corners of the UK to Florida for a 10 day magical holiday of a lifetime, it is for many the first time they have been away from their parents. They are not alone on this trip, having a dedicated team of Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and people like myself, a non-medical volunteer.
Since 2005, whilst with 'The Group', I have been involved on the morning of the trip by providing an escort for the children, carers and crew from a hotel at Heathrow to the aircraft. It is quite amazing to see these children as they embark on not just a holiday but a journey of discovering themselves and appreciating that no matter what their ailment there are other children in a similar boat.
The Last Four years have seen me invited to go on the trip as an escort helping with the day to day requirements of two children between 6.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m. The children are split into 12 different groups, depending upon where they are from in the British Isles. The group I have been with for the past four years has been The Flintstones renamed The Marvels from Scotland, hence the T-shirt.
The total cost of the trip is over £750,000. I think I may struggle with that so have opted to try and raise £3500, the cost of taking one child to Orlando. Therefore until I have raised this sum I am having to devise ways of relieving you of some of your hard earned cash. This is taking on several guises:
· My Mum, who bakes ‘The best cakes……………………….. in the whole world’ (needs to be said with a Jeremy Clarkson accent) has been busy baking and folk at work have been dipping in to their pockets to enjoy them.
· Cooked breakfasts at work.
· I entered The Brompton World Championships on 3 October 2010 & 2011. This is a 13km race on a Brompton wearing a jacket, collar and tie around the grounds of Blenheim Palace. I managed a respectable 168th place in a time of 29mins 10 Seconds.
Please be generous in your donations. This is, I guarantee an extremely worthwhile charity and all of the money you donate is very well spent. I have been moved to do a little something and raise money to help these children a holiday from which they returned with more than just memories. Independence, confidence in themselves, having had previously unimaginable experiences that include swimming with dolphins.
BREAKING NEWS
I have just returned as an escort again on Dreamflight 2014, this was just fantastic news, again I was with the Marvels.
I have also just reached my target of £3,500 but hope that in the not too distant future it will continue to grow.
Give your money and get that Ready Brek glow as you are helping a child go on a very special holiday. Please make sure you Gift Aid your donation, this will magically transform a £10 donation to £12.50 when it arrives at Dreamflight.
Over to you.
Michael