King's Quartet supports Tonia's Journey on 5th August in Malvern

If you love music, and you can get to Malvern's Priory Park, you could do worse than join the fabulous King's String Quartet for the afternoon.

Not only that, but you can decide what they play on the day! Pledge at least £10 to Tonia's Journey over on Justgiving and you can choose which of their repertoire they play on the day. Check out the repertoire on their website here

Find out more about the event over on Facebook. The King's Quartet are playing between 1.30 and 2.45pm. There are lots of other lovely activities going on in the park all afternoon as well. Hope to see you there!

How does Tonia's Mum, Victoria, celebrate her birthday...?

By setting up a raffle of donated artwork, of course, to go towards the funds for her daughter's return to the UK! The raffle started a couple of days ago on Victoria's birthday on the 17th of July and will run for 10 days and will be drawn on 27th July 2018 using a random number generator.

The raffle is running using a small lotteries licence purchased specifically for Tonia's Journey fundraising and is valid in the UK only. We've successfully used this method before.

Here's the link to the raffle page over at Justgiving. All monies will go direct to Just4Children on behalf of Tonia's Journey.

What are the six prizes?

The first item is by the wonderful British artist Hayley Reynolds and is part of her popular inspired Confetti Fields collection.

Confetti Fields, Hayley Reynolds

Next up are four gorgeous photographs of delightful scenes, all framed and mounted. I'm afraid our little internet snapshots don't really do them justice!

Photo of the sky is 'Crisp Spring day on the Moors above Settle, North Yorkshire' (photographer: Geoff Turner).

Crisp Spring Day on the Moors above Settle, North Yorkshire. Geoff Turner.

The water is 'River Greta below Latrigg, Cumbria' (photographer: Irene Beston).

River Greta below Latrigg, Cumbria. Irene Beston.

The trees and hill are 'Autumnal View across to Roseberry Topping, Cleveland' (photographer: Joe Cornish).

Autumnul View Across to Roseberry Topping, Cleveland. Joe Cornish.

The road through the trees is Bridge of Balgie, Glenlyon (photographer: Jason O'Flynn)

Bridge of Balgie, Glenlyon. Jason O'Flynn.

 The final piece of art is called "Traveller’s Joy" and is a beautiful oil painting of a Clematis (common name Traveller’s Joy). This has been donated by artist Victoria Edwards of Fugly Manor Art and is hand signed. It is mounted in a contemporary black frame.

Traveller's Joy. Victoria Edwards.

How do I buy a ticket?

This bit is straightforward. Each ticket is £2. Simply make a donation on this page. When you make your donation, please make sure you include your name and contact details and which picture/s you'd like your tickets against. Winners will be contacted and also announced via Twitter and Facebook.

Why is Victoria doing this?

Victoria's daughter, Tonia, has completed her first tranche of surgery in Barcelona and has started her rehabilitation. She now needs to get home to Eckington. Tim, the volunteer paramedic and Sandra, a volunteer nurse are flying out this week to Barcelona to prepare the ambulance for the road journey. The team will then drive back to Eckington. This raffle is to fund the costs of this leg of Tonia's Journey.

Please do buy a ticket. We still have a long way to go to cover Tonia's medical costs.

Many thanks and good luck!

The Grand Draw - Raffle Prizes Needed Urgently!

As you're probably aware, we still have some way to go with our fundraising efforts for Tonia. That means, we're setting up a new raffle: 'The Grand Draw', to help us reach our goal.

What is it?

The Grand Draw is an offline raffle where we'll be selling tickets in the Three Counties Area.

What are the prizes?

That's down to you! We're actively seeking a few STAR prizes from local businesses who would like to support us in our fundraising efforts. All businesses who donate prizes will benefit from substantial online promotion via social media, namely Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, from our #TeamTonia social media army. You'll also be included on the printed tickets and will get some love and attention on our blog.

What kind of things are we after?

That's really up to you. We're open to ideas. The prizes need to be suitable for a general consumer audience. Food or beauty hampers always go down well. Vouchers for well known stores are ever popular. Entertainment experiences are great, as are meals out in local restaurants, weekends away in a lovely B&B or hotel or even a family holiday. Mobile handsets, computers, tablets, TVs and other gadgets are also a big hit for raffles.

When will the raffle start?

We want to go to print with our tickets as soon as possible and we can do that as soon as we have secured a few more prizes.

When will the raffle end?

The raffle is currently timed to end at the end of August, however this may change depending on how long it takes us to secure the prizes.

If you have something suitable for us, or you'd like to discuss options, please contact Sarah from #TeamTonia by email in the first instance.

Tonia is homeward bound very soon, but...

Today it is Tonia's Mum's Birthday and #TeamTonia are sending love and best wishes to her. However, the celebrations, if they are to happen at all, will have to wait. You see, later this week Tonia will be returning from Barcelona, driven in the ambulance that got her there, under the careful stewardship of three guardian angels: namely her mum Victoria and two volunteer paramedics, Tim and Sandra (pictured here with Tonia).

The journey out to Barcelona on the May Bank Holiday took a gruelling 34 hours. The paramedics, Tim and Sandra, flew back home whilst Tonia received her treatment from Dr Gilete and his team. Now they fly out again on the 18th and 19th in preparation for the return journey.

These good people use their skills and professions and service to benefit others. Yet, despite appeals to the airlines for free or discounted flights for our guardian angels, no airline has been forthcoming and so flights have had to be purchased. Additionally, for the journey - train fares, Channel Tunnel, toll fees and the cost of fuel needs to be met.

For this element alone £1,600 needs to be found. This adds to our outstanding fundraising bill of at least another £57,000 for further surgery, medication and rehabilitation costs not funded by the NHS. 

Where does this money come from? It comes from a combination of live events, raffles and online donations from kind donors like you.

Can you help us? Every single £1 counts.

TEXT giving is a great and easy route to supporting Tonia if you are in the UK: TEXT EHLE82£1 or EHLE82£5 or EHLE82£10 to 70070

Or you can donate online here via the Just4Children campaign on JustGiving.

Suffice to say, the urgent pressure on fundraising is immense. Thank you to everyone for your continued support, whether through contributions in cash, kind or through sharing or lobbying. Keep up the good work!

Eckstock was a big hit! Thank you to everyone who supported us there.

Sarah, Henri and Graeme from #TeamTonia had a fab day at Eckstock last weekend. They were blessed with glorious sunshine, a great view of the stage and a wonderful tombola and lucky dip.
They raised just shy of £400 on the day which is a great boost to our fundraising efforts. Well done!



 And whether you were there or not, this official video is rather lovely and captures the spirit brilliantly. Music by Hollow Coves.
 

Feeling generous? Then please donate here. We still have a long way to go to support Tonia on her journey. And see you at Eckstock next year. With a bit of luck and a lot of rehabiliation, we're hopeful that Tonia will be able to join us in 2019.