Misfits plus Mike Conquer 3-Peaks to Raise over £2400

Six plucky ladies hatched a plan to raise as much money as possible for charity whilst challenging themselves to the limit taking on the three highest peaks in the UK in just 24 hours.

Following six months of planning and training, one of the team had to retire due to injury and last minute replacement, Mike Glen, stepped up to the plate. The team climbed Ben Nevis (1344m), Scafell Pike (978m) and Snowdon (1085m) just in the nick of time with a yet to be verified 23 hours and 59 minutes!

Well done and huge thanks to all the team: Hayley Richardson, Mandy Grinyer, Kerry Hyde, Tracy Griffiths, Donna Wainwright, Mike Glen and support driver Marie Pennington. Thanks also go to Southampton Airport for sponsoring the transport.

Sophie's Appeal 10th Anniversary Ball raises over £10,000 to help sick children

Sophie's Appeal supporters have raised in excess of £10,000 at the charity's 10th Anniversary Masquerade Ball. The major fundraising event was held at the Concorde Club in Eastleigh and welcomed around 250 guests including charity patrons Sarah & James Beattie.

The fun packed evening included Caricaturist David Hensley, Magician Wayne 'The Wierd', bellydancing by Rebekah and Hipnotise and a special surprise performance by Britain's Got Talent's "Popping Ron" (pictured)

Lin Barringer, Sophie's mum and charity co-founder, commented,

"2013 marks 10 years since Sophie was diagnosed with Wilm's Disease, and was when Mike and I originally decided to set up the charity to help others. In the last decade the charity has raised well over £320,000 which has gone on to help literally thousands of sick children and their families. The 10th Anniversary Ball has been a huge success and we'd like to thank everyone for their committed support yet again. The £10,000 raised is enough to fund 40 families for respite care in the New Forest, or 4 dream family holidays for terminally ill children"

Co-Operative Support

Sophie's Appeal recently benefited from a grant from the Southern Co-Operative Community Fund.

The grant has been used to replace an ageing printer and to purchase publishing software to enable us to bring much of our printing requirements in house, driving down administration costs.

The cost savings mean that even more of your donations go to directly support the sick children we set out to help.

Holiday Inn Eastleigh raises £800.00 at May Fete

Staff at the Holiday Inn organised a Spring Fete to raise funds for both Sophie's Appeal and Shelter in a Storm. The monies raised were divided between the two charities.

Families enjoyed the afternoon whilst listening to the wonderful sounds of Crestwood Steel Band. The younger visitors enjoyed traditional games - hook a duck, tin can alley, lucky dips to name but a few while the adults tried their luck at the Wine Bottle Game, Tombola and raffle. Stalls included homemade cakes, preserves and pickles, plants and books. Visits to the Fire Engine and Ambulance proved extremely popular.

Sophie's Appeal would like to extend their gratitude for the continued support from the management and staff at the Holiday Inn Eastleigh.

Buckets of Cash at Asda, Chandlers Ford

Over £350 was raised from Bucket Shaking in Asda, Chandlers Ford!A   huge thank you to the generous shoppers Sunday 3rd March, who have helped us to raise over £350 by giving their change to Sophie's Appeal.

The fundraising committee were at the local Asda Hypermarket between 10am and 4pm to shake their buckets on what would have been Sophie's 15th birthday!

£5000 Holiday Donation

Thanks to the generous support of the local businesses, the community and all those who support Sophie's Appeal we have recently donated £5000 to Beyond the Moon.

Beyond the Moon organise carefree holidays for children with life threatening illnesses. They sent Sophie to Disneyland, Paris and the memories and carefree times it gave us will last us a lifetime. That is why Sophie's Appeal are proud to support this organisation.

Pascale Somers, co-founder of Beyond the Moon said "On behalf of Beyond the Moon, I sincerely would like to thank you for the generous donation that we received. It will enable us to offer more British families with a sick child a carefree and memorable Beyond the Moon vacation. We look forward to sending you feedback and to informing you about the families that you will make happy in 2013."

The money that you raise and we donate is used to send local children on a holiday of a lifetime.

New Tesco Express Supports Sophie's Appeal

Sophie's Appeal Founder, Lin Barringer and veteran Saints footballer Francis Benali were the guests of honour when the new Tesco Express store on Bishopstoke Road recently opened and were invited to cut a ribbon and declare the new store officially open.

As part of the opening celebrations, store manager, Darren Wheeler and his team presented Sophie's Appeal with a cheque for £500.

Darren said: "We are delighted to be able to support Sophie's Appeal, as it does such fantastic work for those living in the Eastleigh community. We are so pleased that Lin and Francis came to open the new store and join in the celebrations with us."

The store chose to donate to Sophie's Appeal as part of its commitment to supporting the local community.