This year marks our 55th year of supporting babies, children and young people across Sussex. Since we were established by Dr Trevor Mann in 1967, we have supported over 1m children and their families with all aspects of their care from medical equipment to toys, wellbeing projects to counselling.

But unfortunately, children and young people continue to need our support, and at the moment one area which particularly needs our attention is their mental health and wellbeing.

A recent study undertaken by the BBC showed that between April and October 2021, the number of children needing care for serious mental health issues increased by 77%. This figure may not mean much on its own, but when you realise that this equates to 5 children in a normal class of 30 being affected, it suddenly becomes a lot more worrying.

So we are funding projects in the Royal Alexandra Childrens Hospital that help paediatric services support children presenting in A&E with serious mental health problems and wellbeing projects that help children who are trying to manage long term and chronic health conditions.

For the first project of our 55th year, we want to help tackle this issue, which is where you come in!

Our ask is simple: could you pledge to do some fundraising between now and the end of June related to the number 55?