Blog Posts - Play2Give - Thames Valley Charity of the Year 2020

Volunteers Week 2021: Celebrating our volunteer heroes

6/1/2021

Celebrating our wonderful volunteers

It's Volunteers Week 2021 and today on Day one of this week-long national celebratory campaign we want to say an enormous thank you to all our volunteers who give up their time to support Play2Give and our work in changing transforming and saving lives across Oxfordshire.

Whether it's labelling up and sorting through tombola prizes, dressing as a caped crusader armed with buckets to raise awareness and funds, support with events, helping with supermarket collections and raffles or marketing support, we are so grateful day in day out for everything they do for us!

A big thank you to everyone who has given us their time, and continue to do so, whether its aged 17 to our longest serving of 70 plus to make an enormous difference for the lives of many that our work help and support.

Below is a short video montage from over the years of many of our everyday heroes past and present in action, an enormous joy to share our wonderful volunteers with you.

Throughout this coming week and in June we will be celebrating just some of our exceptional volunteers and supporters:

Maggie Ingram

We think you are all #P2GHeroes and fantastic in every way.

2021 year off to a fantastic flying start

5/15/2021

We are delighted to announce that already this year in our fourteenth year we have raised close to £3,500 to date.

This amount is more than at this time of the year in any of the previous three years.

Once again we extend a very big thank you to everyone who has been involved so far this year in helping to raise such a wonderful amount.

Whether it's individuals taking on sponsored challenges including cycle rides, fun runs and head shaves to digging deep on our raffles to virtual fundraisers and more.

Together your continually helping us in "changing, transforming and saving lives across Oxfordshire" and beyond, helping charities including the Oxford Children's Hospital, Headway Oxfordshire, Sobell House, Be Free Young Carers and many more.

From raising funds through our events, to individuals sponsored endeavours to the value of gifts raised and distributed out, every amount and every donation makes a very real difference, and, in many ways making long lasting impacts. For example the Children's Hospital - our long-term beneficiary since we was founded in 2007 - has this year alone received over £2,030 which will help fund top of the range medical equipment, fund research, provide entertainment and colourful artwork and more, for young patients and their families.

We never fail to be amazed by how supportive, generous and warm hearted the support is from the community and business world for all that we do as a fundraising organisation.

To raise so much already and an incredible start to our fourteenth year already this year is just wonderful, and we still have many more fundraising endeavours and events ahead this year.

We were recently chosen alongside Coeliac UK as the chosen charity of the Didcot Mayor, Cllr Mocky Khan, in his term of office to raise money, support and awareness for during the next twelve months.

We think all of our loyal and wonderful supporters are all P2G Heroes.

Sobell Memory Tree Dedication

5/13/2021

Play2Give's fundraising marked on hospice's memory tree

Our donations of nearly £700 raised that we have raised so far for Sobell House in honour of our late supporter Angela Norris are now reflected with a plaque on their memory tree.

We are proud to support this amazing hospice!

Learn more about the memory tree

"Thank you" to Sobell in tribute to Angela's wonderful care

5/8/2021

Fundraising for Sobell House in memory of Angela Norris

Since late last year we have been proud to support the incredible Sobell House in our fundraising work.

The hospice, in Oxford, is one of our key charities and it is a truly special place with the most wonderful team of doctors, nurses and everyday heroes who go above and beyond to provide such exemplary compassionate care to those at the end of life with terminal illnesses.

To date we are delighted to have donated over £650!

Some of the funds raised came from two of our festive fundraisers in December - a record breaking Christmas raffle and our very first Didcot Mini Festive Market we organised with the support of Didcot Events. Other funds have come from this year's record breaking Easter raffle, virtual fundraising games and other means.

We are proud that, as part of honouring Angela's memory, we will be dedicating a gold leaf on the Memory Tree based within the Hospice. Angela received wonderful care at home from the palliative care nurses in her final three months of life. Sadly, Angela passed away six months ago and we are sure that she would be proud of all that we have given back to the hospice as a "thank you for caring for a wonderful lady" who will forever live on in the heart of our fundraising organisation. As someone who was so passionate over the past few years in her support of all of our work to help others, the Oxford Children's Hospital was particularly a cause close to her heart.

Giving back to Sobell House means so much to us as a group. Angela was the mother of both Matt and Luke who are part of our leadership team and was like a second mother to Andy, who is best friends with Luke.

So many of our causes we support mean something personally to Andy whether it's from the Oxford Children's Hospital to Headway Oxfordshire to Be Free Young Carers to Footsteps Foundation, SSNAP (Support for the Sick Newborn and their Parents), Ronald McDonald House Oxford and Style Acre and many more, the list is extensive. We are dedicated to helping as many as we can with a particular focus on children, health and disability causes.

We hope to increase our funds for Sobell to over £1,000 by next year to continue honouring the memory of Angela.

Whether it's helping to provide £100 funding four hours of care from a specialist palliative care nurse to £20 funding an art or music therapy session, the funds you have helped us raise are hugely invaluable to carry on the hospice's truly life affirming work.

We thank everyone who continues to support, donate to and fundraise for our fundraising organisation so that we can continue to "change transform and save lives" across Oxfordshire. Together every day every week all year round your helping us help countless number of individuals and supporting such wonderful healthcare institutions as Sobell House and the amazing hospice heroes in the NHS.

Donate to support our fundraising organisation to help us keep on doing our great work

Play2Give Founder in contention for an Oxfordshire health and care honour

5/7/2021

Last week we was delighted to learn that our Founder and Head Andy Baker is a finalist in this year's Oxford Mail Oxfordshire Health and Care Awards.

Andy is in contention for the "Volunteer of the Year" Award and was nominated by Matthew Norris.

Read all about the 36 finalists

In his nomination, Matt wrote: "Andy, as the head of Play2Give, has been a tireless fundraiser for a range of medical organisations over the years, including Oxford Children's Hospital, Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, Headway Oxfordshire, and many more. The fundraising that he has done has funded many important projects, such as hospital rooms, and made a real positive difference to people's lives. He's run countless events, including: charity balls, town fayres, stalls at a Christmas fair, cake sales, gift collections for the children's hospital, corporate sponsorships and much more. According to the P2G website, he's raised nearly £300,000 in cash and gifts."

The Oxfordshire Health and Care Awards takes place as a virtual awards ceremony livestreamed on the Oxford Mail's Facebook page from 7pm on May 21st when the winners across 12 categories, including Volunteer of the Year, will be announced.

As well as being the Founder and CEO of Play2Give Andy has been a Volunteer at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for seven years, and continues to do so: firstly in ultrasound radiology at the JR, Robin's Ward in the Children's Hospital and more recently as a Covid champion volunteer in the West Wing. Andy has been a tireless fundraiser for the Oxford Children's Hospital and other healthcare related causes at the John Radcliffe since 2003 after beginning his fundraising crusade aged 14, 19 years ago, to say "thank you" back to the medical teams throughout treated and cared for him throughout his childhood after being born with a brain injury, and brain surgery aged 12 was the inspiration behind his fundraising crusade.

He has attended the Headway activity and rehabilitation centre in Kennington twice weekly since 2012 as part of his recovery and rehabilitation, as a service user. He started out as a marketing and events volunteer aged 23 for the specialist brain injury charity.

Since 2019 Andy is a proud Ambassador for the British Citizen Awards after being honoured as a BCAv Medallist in July 2017. He has also recently become an Ambassador for Includability and continues to be a positive role model advocating for many good causes locally.

Despite living with his brain injury by day including chronic fatigue, Andy never stops giving back in spades to the causes that mean so much to him, and tirelessly works hard all year round with our dedicated team of volunteers to support the local community.

Thank you to Matt for nominating Andy and our good luck to all the healthcare heroes nominated for May 21st.

Didcot Mayor's Charity

5/5/2021

Mayor of Didcot's Charity 2021-22

We are absoutely thrilled and pleased beyond words to announce that the new Didcot Mayor elected last night, councillor Mocky Khan, has chosen us as his local Mayoral charity of the year.

Mocky will be supporting and fundraising for us, and increasing our awareness and profile, throughout the next year, getting involved and one of his which we are particularly excited about will be his Mayoral Ball next February. He will also be supporting Coeliac UK in his term of office.

As the first Asian Mayor for the town, Mocky says: "I am so proud and honoured to be Mayor of Didcot. When it came to choosing my charities for the year, the local one had to be Play2Give. I admire the great work that Play2Give have done over the years. Andy and his team are are visible, help and support the community and raise much needed funds for those in need. I am looking forward to working with the Play2Give team, having fun, and raising as much money as we can so Play2Give can continue with their great work."

We are very grateful for Mocky's support in this way and we look forward to working with him over the coming year, and we cannot wait for the year ahead and what the plans have in store.

We are extremely honoured and excited in equal measure as we have never been a Mayoral charity before in our 14-year history and our full congratulations to Mocky.

It is a well deserved role and we know Mocky will be amazing in his term throughout the next twelve months, as we know from working closely with him on organising the annual Didcot Summer Fayre, which, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, was last held in August 2019.

Read more about Mocky's appointment as Mayor

Spreading the love to the families supported by SSNAP

4/29/2021

SSNAP's Kerry receives a grand cheque for funds raised in 2020 from Founder Andy and right, community officer Matt

Today we visited SSNAP (Support for the Sick Newborn and their Parents) at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford to present a cheque for funds we raised from two festive Play2Give fundraisers in December.

We also visited to donate two sacks full of goods worth around £200 plus for their babies in the neonatal care unit and their families (30 baby grows, some cozy blankets, lots of toys/activities, colouring items, and some books).

SSNAP are really amazing. They "champion the right of all sick and premature babies treated in Oxford to receive the best care". Learn more about SSNAP

Caz and Kerry of the Family Care Team were really lovely hosts, even gifting Andy and Matt with some SSNAP badges and some delicious treats. They really put the 'Care' into 'Care Team'.

We have supported SSNAP for many years. It is a charity with personal special meaning to our Founder Andrew. Andy is a former SCBU baby after spending the first few days fighting for life in the neonatal care unit after a brain injury sustained during birth. In total we have raised nearly £1,250 in funds alone so far for this incredible local charity, in thanks to the incredible support and care Andy and his mum received over 32 years ago.

Sobell House gets a sweet delight

4/17/2021

Founder and CEO Andy Baker with Community Officer Matthew Norris outside Sobell House which we are fundraising for in the memory of Angela Norris, who was cared for by the palliative care nurses at home in her final few weeks of life.

Pictured above is our founder Andrew Baker MBE BCAv and our Community Officer, Matthew, outside Sobell House last month. We delivered a hamper of sweet treats there and some Easter eggs for the staff.

Sobell is a truly amazing place. It provides care and compassion to people at their most vulnerable. We applaud all the life-changing work they do!

Play2Give fundraising and supporting Sobell House Hospice in memory of Angela Norris

Play2Give and Founder shortlisted in four prestigious business awards

4/16/2021

Play2Give shortlisted in four categories in the Thames Valley Business and Community Awards!

A celebration of the region's inspirational individuals, charities and businesses, the annual ceremony recognises the best achievements from across the Thames Valley and this year sees the awards run for a fourth consecutive year. We are in delighted to be in contention.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sadly this year's ceremony will be held virtually on the evening of Thursday April 29th.

We are delighted honoured and humbled to announce that as a fundraising organisation, Play2Give along with our Founder Andrew Baker MBE BCAv, have been shortlisted in total for four awards for successes in fundraising and outstanding charitable work.

Last year we was honoured and surprised to win the "Charity of the Year" gong which was announced at a glitzy awards dinner and evening at the Hilton Hotel in Reading in January 2020.

Thirteen awards will be handed out during the event which is expected to attract over 600 people from the business community. Guests will be sent a celebration box with drinks and treats, and some surprises, galore to enjoy at home while taking part in the virtual event.

We are shortlisted for Charity of the Year and in the Covid Community Champion categories. Our founder Andy has been shortlisted in Male Entrepreneur of the Year and in the Outstanding Contribution to the Community categories.

Over 1,000 nominations was received by the awards this year so to make it into the finals across four categories is a wonderful achievement in itself.

Other awards include Business of the Year, Female and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, New Start Up, Employer of the Year, Apprentice of the Year, Lifetime of Achievement and Leisure and Tourism Award.

A week of triple on the air radio publicity

4/3/2021

It was a great bumper week of coverage for us on BBC Radio Oxford this past week, for which we are very thankful.

On Sunday afternoon, Al Ryan caught up with Andy to hear all about our fundraising plans so far, with many events in line this year (fingers crossed).

Andy's chat can be heard at 2hour 13 minutes in. Click here

Then on Tuesday afternoon, Adam Ball spoke with our youngest volunteer, Chloe Boyne, about her virtual OX5RUN on Sunday, representing P2G along the way. Her total raised so far stands at over £240!
Hear Chloe at 15 minutes into the show. Click here

And then on Wednesday morning it was our Community Officer's turn. Matt gave a very moving interview with Kat Orman, discussing fundraising particularly his "hair dye and shave" in memory of Angela Norris.
Matt's chat can be heard at 1 hour 15 minutes in. Click here

What a wonderful triple boost of awareness and highlighting our good work.
We continue to be grateful to our friends at BBC Radio Oxford for their support and their publicity to help our fundraising organisation.