Oxfordshire fundraising organisation Est. September 2007 Founded by Andrew Baker MBE BCAv
​Changing, Transforming and Saving Lives across Oxfordshire | Thames Valley Charity of the Year 2020
​Patrons: Dr Winston Ellis & MP David Johnston OBE | hello@play2give.org.uk
Play2Give - Thames Valley Charity of the Year 2020
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The Play2Give Room - a single patient room for teenagers - was unveiled on Melanie's Ward in March 2017 after we raised over £40,000 in a decade so we could name the room in our honour as a lifelong tribute as a small token of appreciation by the hospital for our efforts. Thanks to everyone who helped us achieve this in almost a decade.

Oxford Children's Hospital

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Play2Give has supported the Oxford Children's Hospital (CHOX) since 2007.

The Children's Hospital has been at the forefront of our fundraising since former patient Andrew Baker founded our fundraising organisation in September 2007.

Play2Give continued Andy's fundraising efforts which he began aged 14 in 2003 whilst a student at St Birinus School in Didcot, and it was a 6 a side football tournament that resulted in Play2Give being born, and became most known for, across Oxfordshire. 

We have raised many thousands over the years from a wide range of events and fundraising activities including football tournaments to black-tie balls and family fun days through to martial arts sparathons, cakes sales, Superheroes walks, colour runs, danceathons, supermarket collections, tombolas and much more. To date we have donated around £85,000!

In tribute to our efforts over many years, we sponsored a single patient room in Play2Give's name at £40k and officially unveiled in March 2017 on the teenage ward as a small token of appreciation for our tireless efforts.


The Oxford Children's Hospital opened in January 2007 after a successful fundraising campaign which raised nearly £15 million to build the hospital. It is one of a handful of specialist, purpose-built children's hospitals in Britain. The dedicated and integrated Children's Hospital greatly enhanced Oxford University Hospital's Trust's already high standards by bringing the majority of its children's services under one roof into a specifically child-and family-friendly building. Many thousands of children - around 60,000 a year - are treated here each year, not only from Oxfordshire but the surrounding counties and, in some specialiaties such as cranio-facial, from across the country.

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Charitable funding supported the building of the bright and spacious Children's Hospital, which, thanks to the generosity of families, businesses, schools and communities, enabled facilities and cutting-edge medical equipment to be provided. Classrooms, colourful indoor and outdoor play areas sponsored by the likes of Renault F1 and Prodrive, play and counselling rooms on wards and parent beds alongside the child's beds, sitting rooms, sensory rooms and even a Hospital School are just some examples of what was funded through the wonderful support of many people, like you and us in the local community through to corporate sponsors.

Today, fundraising such as the continued support that Play2Give provide year on year, continues to fundraise to keep the hospital at the very highest standards achieved by investing in the latest medical equipment as well as further enhancing the patient and family environment and making the children and families lives just that bit more brighter and comfortable. This applies not only within the Children's Hospital but throughout the whole of Children's Services as some services, like Children's Critical Care and A&E, as well as the Horton Banbury's children's ward. 

The Oxford Children's Hospital Charity through donations such as those we raise helps fund the very latest medical equipment and upgrading of facilities, patient comforts and the little added extras for babies and toddlers through to teens for all the departments within the Oxford Children's Hospital and across Children's Services within the Oxford University Hospitals Trust.
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In the past from funds raised the fund for children have purchased items including an ultrasound scanner,state-of-the-art equipment for children's critical care, a teenage chill-out room on the oncology ward to various items for distracting children while they have blood tests or procedures, fun and engaging artwork for the outpatients department, and a pioneering video link for parents with babies in NICU, thermo-cooling mugs, we funded nearly £7k towards cutting edge bedside monitors to more. 

​In 2021 we donated over £3,180 including...
  • £104.83 raised from our very first Superheroes Colour Fun Run held in August in partnership with the Style Acre charity at Boundary Park in Didcot.
  • £155.00 raised from our third Danceathon held with the Angels Performing Arts in September. 
  • £125.00 was raised for Kamran's Ward by Luke Norris from his sponsored head shave and over £100.00 from his two-month beard growth later in the year.
  • Matthew Norris raised £402.50 from a hair dye and head shave.
  • £600.00 from supporter Lee Crook's one in a million walk. 
  • £130.00 was raised by Driving Miss Daisy Didcot directors Zororo and Terence Mubaya by the two-day South Coast Challenge.
  • And more!
​In 2020 we donated over £4,545 including...
  • £300 raised in the memory of a long-term supporter, Angela Norris, from Didcot who sadly passed away in November 2020 after a brave battle with stage 4 terminal cancer. The money was raised in a collection for Play2Give at her funeral. We are the family's chosen charity. Both her two youngest sons, Luke and Matthew, are part of our executive team. 
  • Andy Cox from Headington, and an Oxford City FC youth football manager, has supported us since our third football tournament in 2009 and on his birthday, which fell on VE Day on May 8th, Andy undertook a sponsored head shave. In going bald, he raised an amazing £1,131.25 for three local charities - £377.09 of this went into the Children's Hospital charity, Headway Oxfordshire and the new 62-bedroom Ronald McDonald House on the JR site. 
  • Managing Director of Elite Youth Sports Ltd, Gareth Tucker from Abingdon, completed a 1000km Run throughout October and raised an amazing £1,260 - the money was split between the children's hospital and towards the new Ronald McDonald House, the "home away from home" accommodation for families whilst their sick child is being treated on the wards. By 2020 P2G had helped fund 400 nights of accommodation to a family, and sponsored a family room at over £5,000. 
  • The very first Didcot Mini Festive Market we organised and held in the town on 6th December, with the support of Didcot Events, was a success, and all organised socially-distanced and Covid-19 safe. The event raised £1,414.61 for 8 local charities - £238.80 for the hospital.
  • ​In December we record-breaking Christmas Raffle raised an incredible £845 supporting four local charities - the hospital received £211.25.
  • We donated £535 towards the virtual Christmas present appeal to ensure no young patient went without a toy on Christmas Day. Due to Coronavirus annual toy drops like ours was unable to go ahead, so instead the Oxford Hospitals Charity launched their own - and from funds we raised as part of our sixth "Sleigh2Give" campaign we helped to fund lego sets, festive teddy bears and arts and crafts for young patients spending their Christmas in hospital. £35 was raised through a "Superheroes Bootcamp" held by Abingdon-based PT Sam Brookes, at the end of September, with Jennie from the Angels Performing Arts, which launched our "Sleigh2Give 6" appeal in spectacular style. 
  • March, before the lockdown, we held our second joint Danceathon with our friends at the Angels Performing Arts Didcot. A Sunday of non-stop dancing by Angels young students saw close to £1,500 raised - and over £344 went to support young patients in the hospital. 
  • Other funds came from £30 raised by our volunteer Leanne Coates and her Sober October fundraising, football card sweepstakes, lucky numbers, virtual online quizzes during Lockdown 1, a cakes sale at Didcot Parkway and from a donation received by Hatchette Bookpoint on Milton Park.
​2019 we raised over £4,530 through...
  • December: Christmas Party and donations at Elite Youth Sport's Christmas Eve kids camp contributed £263.70 whilst our biggest ever fifth 'Sleigh2Give' Christmas appeal saw the most amount of presents for young patients donated by supporters given out on the wards
  • November: A day of board and tabletop gaming fun at the second Gweeplefest in Harwell raised £955.90, whilst a further £175 came through the tombola at Didcot Christmas Street Fair
  • September: The 'P2G Superheroes' embarking on a 12-hour walk from Didcot to the hospital, raising £580
  • August: Two Didcot NCS groups chose P2G as their 'Summer social action' charity, helping raise £754 purchasing 150 therm-cooling mugs, whilst £111.10 was raised through our stall at the Didcot Summer Fayre
  • June: Tombola at the 'Bands on the Boundary' event in Didcot saw over £245 raised in just a few hours for charities including CHOX
  • May: A tombola and the Superheroes getting soaked in the stocks at Harwell Fete saw over £103 donated
  • March: Andy assembled a team of Superheroes to take on the OX5RUN at Blenheim Palace. A team of 12 raised over £1.5k between them
  • January: Andy's £100k Party, which celebrated Andy's milestone £100,000 reached in 2018, saw £47.25 come through proceeds​.
​Funds raised in 2019 helped towards funding...
  • 150 thermo-cooling mugs for parents to stay with hot drinks on the wards 
  • state-of-the-art equipment for children's critical care
  • fun and engaging artwork for children's outpatients department
  • created a pioneering video link for parents with babies in newborn intensive care.
​In 2016, we contributed £4,792 towards:

  • A Brain 'Sat Nav' for use in children's neurosurgery to improve the accuracy and reduce the risk of life-long damage
  • A Gastroenterology Clinical Nurse Specialist
  • Breast pumps for Newborn Intensive Care
  • Chair beds for the Horton Hospital in Banbury so parents can stay alongside their children
  • Toys & Games for the Trauma Outpatients Department
  • Pillows and duvets for parents' accommodation in the Children's Hospital, operated by Ronald McDonald House​
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​2018 we raised over £7,414 through...
  • entering a team into the OX5RUN, a martial arts sparathon, through to cakes sales, tombolas, raffles, quiz nights, toy appeals and more.
​In 2017, we raised a record £12,000 funding the following;

  • Cutting-edge bedside monitors at £6,974 
  • ​Improving and upgrading Play areas
  • Research equipment including diagnostic scanners to diagnose meninigitis a lot faster
  • 2015: £9,439.75 - including our annual kids football tournament, a charity evening and a years worth of support from Sainsbury's in Didcot all helped contribute.
  • 2014: £8,590.29
  • 2013; £4,812.40
  • 2012: £5,273.65 - raised through our fourth but very first kids based football tournament and a charity night held at Abingdon Football Club.
  • 2010: £160 - a charity night at the Bowyer Arms in Radley.
  • 2009: £5,154.52 - our third football tournament contested by 29 teams and a fundraising evening which celebrated Andy's achievement of raising £20,000 for the hospital since 2003
  • 2008: £1,700 - our second six-a-side football tournament, held for the first time at Oxford City Football Club, saw 23 teams - many from local businesses - take place in the July, and helped contribute to the final pounds for the funding of the hospital building.
  • 2007: £900 - our very first football toruanement held in the November which launched Play2Give, saw 19 teams take part - including a team from the Oxford Mail, Heart FM and ITV Meridian.
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Andy and two of our Superheroes Andy (also known as Robin) and Chloe hands over a grand £3,531 raised through fundraising endeavours in 2019 including £580 from the Superheroes 12-hour Didcot to JR Walk in aid of the Children's Hospital
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December 2017 saw the Mayor of Didcot along with Oxford Harlequins give a helping hand to give out thousands of presents raised as part of our third Christmas 'Sleigh2Give' campaign to the children's hospital
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Across nine years from 2007 we raised over £40,000 which funded a single patient room in our name on the teenage ward. We showcased the grand total raised for the room with representatives from two of our key sponsors over many years.
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We raised £8,590 throughout 2014 for the hospital and was delighted to hand over a large cheque to Penny from the charity. £7,209 came from the kids football tournament and also pictured are sponsor representatives from Breckon & Breckon and Newbury Building Society.
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We raised £4,812.40 in 2013 mainly from our second kids football tournament and we presented the proceeds to the hospital charity, with Keith Stacey, back left, sponsor - Breckon & Breckon, and celebrated with Oxford City Nomads team, who raised the most money of any boys team.
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Our second football tournament contested by 23 teams in July 2008 raised £1,700 towards the hospital. Andrew and Maxine presented Penny, left, from the charity with a grand cheque for the proceeds.
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In 2019 our fifth 'Sleigh2Give' campaign raised around £70k estimated in value for Christmas presents for children in the hospital and others less fortunate in our biggest and record breaking festive drive ever
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A 4-hour martial Arts Sparathon in June 2018 organised by Andy with Taekwondo master Carl Davis, also a former Chox patient, raised a fantastic £5,557
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Our second 'Sleigh2Give' Christmas toy appeal for the Oxford Children's Hospital was the biggest with around £18,000 worth of presents given out to the children's hospital
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December 2015 saw 3 sacksful of presents collected as part of our first and what would become our annual 'Sleigh2Give' Christmas toy drive for the children's hospital. Andy (Elf) along with Santa Lee Crook (Sainsbury's Didcot) are pictured with the haul and Erica Watson, senior play specialist at the hospital
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We contributed over £5,150 to the hospital from our fundraising efforts in 2009, which included our most successful football tournament of 29 teams that took part as well as proceeds from a fundraising evening. It also saw Andrew top his £20,000 goal since he set out fundraising in 2003.
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Andy presenting senior play specialist Erica Watson with a grand cheque in March 2019 for the total raised across two years, 2017 and 2018. We raised £12k in our tenth year and over £7,410 in 2018.
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We raised and delivered our biggest haul of presents to the Children's wards in December 2018 as part of our fourth 'Sleigh2Give' Christmas campaign with an estimated £30k in presents
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In late 2016 we were honoured to have been nominated by the Oxford Hospitals Charity in the OUH NHS Trust Staff Recognition Awards. We won the 'Bronze Supporter of the Year' Award in recognition of all our many years of fundraising for the Children's Hospital and the Paediatric Eye Fund.
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In 2015 we raised £9,439 in total for the hospital, and we was delighted to hand over a large cheque for the total to charity representatives with sponsors Breckon & Breckon and Newbury Building Society, and GFA Enfield FC, and Barry Bear.
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We raised £5,273 in 2012 with our very first children's football tournament and a fundraising party. Andy and Dale, right, presents Penny from the hospital charity with our cheque for 2012's total.
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A fundraising evening at the Bowyer Arms in Radley in October 2010 raised £160
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We raised £900 for the hospital with our very first football tournament in November 2007. We handed over the cheque at the Hospital in April 2008
A huge thank you to everyone who have and continue to support our fundraising for this very special children's hospital, and to everyone who has generously donated in money, their time or efforts towards our amazing achievements to date for the Oxford Children's Hospital.  It is all very much appreciated.
​Oxfordshire fundraising organisation Established 2007 - Changing transforming and saving lives across Oxfordshire
Patrons: Dr Winston Ellis and David Johnston OBE MP

Head Office: 3 King Walk, Didcot, Oxon OX11 7PE
Email: hello@play2give.org.uk | Telephone: 07939064308
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