Miller Homes Raises over £3,800 For Children First Derby

A team from Miller Homes East Midlands, has raised £3,806 for Children First Derby, as its nominated regional charity, by undertaking The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge. 8 members of the Miller Homes East Midlands Region walked the Yorkshire 3 Peaks for Children First Derby. The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge takes on the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough, in under 12 hours. The route is a gruelling 24 miles with a total of 5,000 feet of vertical ascent. It definitely proved challenging for the team, however they were determined to raise as much money as possible for Children First Derby and managed to raise a substantial £3,806. The funds will go towards supporting the efforts of Children First Derby, an organisation that works with vulnerable children, young people and families in the local community. On behalf of everyone at Children First Derby, we would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who took part in The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge to raise funds for our charity. Your support is very much appreciated.

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Plumbase Derby Fundraise for Children First Derby

We would like to say a HUGE Thank You to everyone at Plumbase Derby, for supporting Children First Derby through various fundraising initiatives.  

Plumbase Spares is one of the UKs leading Heating Spares merchants with a portfolio of products covering Gas, Oil, Domestic, Commercial and leisure heating spares, controls and associated products and consumables.

Plumbase’s Alferton Road Branch, Derby have chosen Children First Derby as their Charity of the Year and will have our banner displayed at their main desk. Staff at Plumbase recently raised £350 by organising a Black out game at their store. They hope to organise other fundraising activities during the year and will be hosting our Christmas Present Appeal at the store.

We are incredibly grateful to everyone at Plumbase Derby for your support and fundraising efforts, helping us to continue supporting vulnerable children, young people, and families across the County.

Thank You – your support is greatly appreciated!

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Children Enjoy Half Term Activity at Mount Cook Adventure Centre

Some of our supported children and young people enjoyed new and exhilarating activities at Mount Cook Adventure Centre during the half term holidays, as part of our Family Support and Mentoring Service’s holiday activity programme

Based near Matlock, the Centre offers unique activities which many of our children and young people were able to experience and enjoy for the very first time. The group was divided into two and took turns in undertaking the two activities on offer on the day, The Roof Top Zip Wire and Archery. Both the activities were thoroughly enjoyed by the children for different reasons! The zip wire was adrenaline filled and challenged the nerves, as they had to take off from the roof platform down to the onsite quarry at 40 mph! In Archery they were taught by highly trained instructors to shoot a modern recurve bow from up to 10 metres away, it was a fantastic opportunity for them to learn a new skill whilst developing dexterity, precision and control.

Children First Derby’s holiday activity programme is delivered by our Family Support and Mentoring Service team, who work hard to organise a series of diverse activities for our supported children to participate in during the school holidays.

These activity outings help to reduce social isolation, enabling the children to establish positive relationships with others and allowing them to participate in new, creative activities that they might otherwise be unable to experience.

We would like to say a special Thank You to our friends and supporters at Esker Ltd, who generously funded the holiday activities programme for our supported children.

We would also like to thank The Titan Children’s Trust for providing us their minibus free of charge to transport the children.  

 

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GXO Logistics Derby Donate £2,640 to support Children First Derby

We would like to say a HUGE Thank You to everyone at GXO site at West Hallam in Derby for supporting Children First Derby with an incredible donation of £2,640.

The GXO multi-user site in West Hallam is part of GXO, the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics provider. GXO is committed to providing a diverse, world-class workplace for more than 130,000 team members across more than 950 facilities totalling approximately 200 million square feet. The company partners with the world’s leading blue-chip companies to solve complex logistics challenges with technologically advanced supply chain and ecommerce solutions, at scale and with speed.

GXO West Hallam site provides fulfilment services to some of the leading global brands. West Hallam team chose Children First Derby to benefit from fundraising activities over the summer, as they were keen to support a local children’s charity. Lyn Chambers, Manager, SC Operations, International contacted us on behalf of GXO to make a donation.

We are incredibly grateful to Lyn and all the team at GXO West Hallam site for choosing Children First Derby and for the incredible donation of £2,640, helping us to continue supporting vulnerable children, young people, and families across the County.

Thank You – your support is greatly appreciated!

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Children First Derby thank longest serving Volunteer Mentor

Children First Derby bid a fond farewell to longest serving Volunteer Mentor, Sheila Buller, who was commended for her outstanding contribution to the charity over the past six years.

Sheila started her volunteering journey with Children First Derby back in 2016. Since then, Sheila has proved to be an outstanding mentor to six of our supported young people – helping to identify their strengths and focus on the positive elements of their lives, enabling the supported mentees to gain in confidence and build self-esteem.

Sheila said:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed the six years I have been with Children First Derby and I have learnt so much from the young people I have had the privilege of supporting. I am amazed at their resilience and courage.”

Sheila is proud to have been a part of Children First Derby and extended a message to our existing volunteers, staff and trustees, saying:

“Keep up the great work you are all doing and be proud of the difference you are making to young people’s lives.”

In addition to mentoring some of our young people, Sheila has also supported several of our fundraising events over the years, proving to be an all-round fantastic addition to our volunteer team.

In 2020 the team of volunteers at Children First Derby were delighted to receive the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, in recognition of all their vital work supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged children, young people and families across Derbyshire.

Sheila was honoured to attend the small presentation ceremony held in November 2020 as a charity volunteer representative.

Pictured (l to r) Children First Derby Volunteer, Sheila Buller, H M Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Mrs Elizabeth Fothergill CBE, Children First Derby Chair, Fred Jacques, and Children First Derby Patron, Sir Stephen Moss

We invited Sheila to the Children First Derby office earlier today to thank her for all her hard work, outstanding commitment, and contribution to the charity over the years, and Mentoring Service Coordinator, Kerreene Davidson, presented Sheila with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

HUGE thanks Sheila for your amazing contribution to Children First Derby – we wish you all the best in your future endeavours.

If you would like to volunteer with Children First Derby and join our volunteer team, we’d love to hear from you. 

For more information on becoming a Volunteer Mentor, please email CFD Mentoring Service Coordinator, Kerreene Davidson – [email protected]

To find out more about joining our Family Support volunteer team, please email CFD Family Support Co-ordinator, Fiona Rogers – [email protected]

Alternatively, please ring: 01332 341516 and ask to speak to either Kerreene Davidson or Fiona Rogers.

 

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Children First Derby Celebrate Coveted Queen’s Award at Buckingham Palace

Children First Derby Fundraising Coordinator, Gina Repton, and Fundraising Volunteer, Sandra Harrison, were delighted to attend a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace, as a belated celebration of winning the Queens Award for Voluntary Service.

In November 2020, our team of volunteers at Children First Derby were honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service for the vital work they do to support the charity, dedicated to working with local vulnerable and disadvantaged children, young people, and their families.

The prestigious award, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK and described as the MBE for charities, was officially presented to a small group of Children First Derby representatives by H M Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Mrs Elizabeth Fothergill CBE, back in November 2020.

Ordinarily, two charity representatives would have been invited to Buckingham Palace shortly after the official presentation, to celebrate the honour of receiving the Queen’s Award. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions at the time, this celebratory visit was put on hold.

Chosen charity representatives Gina and Sandra were therefore delighted when they recently received an official invitation from the Lord Chamberlain, commanded by Her Majesty the Queen, inviting them to attend a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace as a belated celebration. 

Undeterred by the persistent rain, Sandra and Gina arrived at the Palace Gates looking splendid and ready to enjoy the special day, which didn’t disappoint!

Pausing to have photo taken with an exceptionally tall Guardsman, the ladies joined the 7,500 Garden Party guests, meeting people from various charities and enjoying music from two military bands which played throughout the afternoon.

They enjoyed watching the Yeoman of the Guard, wardens of the Tower of London and bodyguards of the sovereign, hold ground. Before the National Anthem was played to announce the arrival of the Members of the Royal Family.

Gina and Sandra were overjoyed to be asked to join an official line up so they could greet the Royals in person, where they were thrilled to exchange pleasantries with Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Anne, Princess Royal, and the Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

The ladies also enjoyed a fabulous afternoon tea spent with Algerian Defence Attaché, Lt Colonel Khaled Reghioua, and his wife Sabrina Reghioua, in the Diplomatic Tea tent.

Sandra said:

“As a fundraising volunteer, helping to organise the charity’s events is very much a team effort – working with the Fundraising Volunteers alongside members of the charity.

I was delighted and very proud to be asked to attend the Royal Garden Party on behalf of all the charity’s volunteers to celebrate Children First Derby winning the Queen’s Award.

We’ve had a wonderful day from start to finish and I was over the moon to meet with Members of the Royal Family. Thank you to everyone at Children First Derby for a fantastic opportunity.”

In 2020, Children First Derby was one of only 230 charities, social enterprises, and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. The number of nominations remains high year on year, showing that the voluntary sector is thriving and full of innovative ideas to make life better for those around them.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by volunteer groups to benefit their local communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Recipients are announced each year on 2nd June, the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation.

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Wayne Rooney Donates Signed Football Boots to support Children First Derby

We enjoyed a FANTASTIC visit to Derby County Football Club’s training ground earlier today, to collect some signed Derby County merchandise to use as auction prizes for our upcoming Charity Spring Ball – where we were met with a couple of unexpected surprises!

Derby County Football Club Chief Stadium Engineer, Martin Smith, got in touch with us recently after hearing about our upcoming Charity Ball. Keen to support, he offered to organise for the DCFC team to sign some fantastic club merchandise, which he then kindly donated for the charity to use as prizes.

Martin went on to secure three signed football shirts, two signed footballs, two complimentary sets of match tickets, and Goalkeeper, Ryan Alsop’s, signed goalkeeping gloves.

Children First Derby PR and Marketing Coordinator, Kerrie Oxford, Fundraising Coordinator, Gina Repton, and Fundraising Officer, Louise Webb were thrilled to be invited to collect the items at Derby County’s training ground.

The team were greeted by DCFC Player Logistics Manager, Adam Storer, who arranged for Derby Right-Back, Festy Ebosele, and Midfielder, Jason Knight, to hand over the items to our team.

Upon hearing more about the charity and the work we do to support local vulnerable children, young people, and families – Festy and Jason both generously decided to sign and donate their football boots to add to the charity auction prizes.

In an unexpected surprise, DCFC Manager, Wayne Rooney, came out to greet our team to find out more about the work we are doing. Keen to help further support the charity, Wayne also decided to sign and donate his football boots to be used as an auction prize; where we were intrigued to learn that the Nike boots are specially made for Wayne in Italy, complete with a special interior lining.

We were absolutely blown away by the kindness and generosity of everyone at the training ground today and we would like to thank everyone involved for their incredible support and for making the team feel so welcome. We would also like to say a special thank you to Martin Smith for his incredible efforts to support our charity – it is greatly appreciated.

Our Fundraising team have been working hard to secure a wealth of fantastic auction prizes for our upcoming Charity Spring Ball 2022, which is being proudly sponsored by Smith Partnership.

The Charity Spring Ball is being held at the prestigious Morley Hayes, on Saturday 26th March 2022, from 6.45pm and we’re delighted to report that tickets have now sold out.

However – in light of the fact that we have three completely fantastic and bespoke auction prizes, we have decided to open up the signed football boots to outside bidders, alongside those who will be attending the Spring Ball.

In addition to Rooney’s signed football boots we are also auctioning the following fabulous signed items from DCFC: Festy Ebosele’s signed blue Puma football boots, Jason Knight’s signed purple Adidas football boots, Goalkeeper, Ryan Alsop’s signed Goalkeeping gloves, two DCFC signed football shirts and a signed DCFC football.

If you would like to place a bid on Wayne Rooney’s custom made, signed white Nike boots, and to bid for any of the other signed DCFC items please click on the link below:

DCFC SIGNED MERCHANDISE – CHILDREN FIRST DERBY AUCTION

 

All the money made from these items will go directly to help us support local vulnerable children, young people and families.

 

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BBC East Midlands Today Film Children First Derby Drama Group

It was great to welcome the BBC East Midlands Today team into the Children First Derby offices recently, who came to find out more about the Children First Derby Drama Group -filming footage of some of our supported young people and speaking to our Mentoring Services Co-ordinator, Kerreene Davidson.

Established four years ago, the Children First Derby Drama group is funded by BBC Children In Need and forms an active part of our Mentoring Service, providing support to children and young people aged between 10 – 18 years.

Our Mentoring Service encourages the children and young people involved to participate in new and creative activities that they would otherwise be unable to experience. And the Drama Group has become hugely popular among our mentees, helping them to express themselves whilst also enabling them to make new friendships and find a sense of belonging.

Running over a 20 week block, repeated twice a year, the Drama Group meet up for a couple of hours each week – starting with teambuilding games and ice breakers before working hard to tailor a script, written by Children First Derby Staff, and then going on to rehearse and perform their play to an audience.

 And this year, thanks to a successful collaboration with QUAD Derby, our Drama Group went on to film their latest screenplay ‘Behind The Mask,’ depicting the effects Covid-19 has had on young people and their families.

Once completed, the QUAD then went on to host a special screening of Behind The Mask, for the Drama Group to watch with their friends and families, which was a huge success and enjoyed greatly by all.

We are very grateful to the invaluable funding we receive from BBC Children In Need that allows us to run our Drama Group and enabled our recent collaborations with QUAD Derby.

We are also thankful to the BBC East Midlands Today team who captured some fantastic footage of our Drama Group – highlighting the valuable work we are doing and the difference it is making to our supported young people.

To watch the recent BBC East Midlands Today Footage, please click on the link below.

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Children First Derby Dazzling Fashion Show Raises over £4,000

Local charity Children First Derby celebrated the hugely successful return of its popular Annual Fashion Show Event, sponsored by Pentagon Motor Group, held on 12th November 2021 at the Derby Conference Centre, which raised over £4,000 to help support local vulnerable children, young people, and families.

The fun-filled, packed event was hosted by BBC Radio Derby Presenter’s Andy Twigge, (Twiggy) and Dave Fletcher, who kept the audience entertained throughout with their witty commentary. With guests of honour including Children First Derby Patron, renowned Actress and BAFTA nominee, Gwen Taylor, and the Mayor of Derby, Councillor Robin Wood.

Children First Derby Chair, Fred Jacques, said:

“It’s fantastic to have our events up and running again and to welcome the return of our popular Fashion Show. Our fundraising capacity was greatly reduced due to the effects of the pandemic, which proved to be a very challenging time. We’re therefore delighted to announce that this year’s Fashion Show has raised over £4,000 for Children First Derby – helping us to support local vulnerable children, young people and families. And we would like to thank everyone here for your incredible support, which is as always very much appreciated.”

The Fashion Show models comprised of a string of prominent local business leaders who made their debut on the catwalk to help raise funds and awareness for the charity, alongside a host of the charity’s longstanding volunteers, trustees, members of the fundraising team, and Children First Derby friends and supporters.

The dazzling models entered the spirit of the evening, as they strutted and danced their way down the catwalk, much to everyone’s delight. They showcased a range of day wear, stunning bridal wear and beautiful evening wear featuring the latest lines of clothing available from several high street stores, who kindly supported the event.

As part of the event, various fundraising activities took place throughout the evening, which included a raffle and selling Christmas cards designed by local children for the charity as part of a recent Children First Derby fundraising initiative.

And in a concerted effort to generate more money for the charity, Andy Twigge and Dave Fletcher started an informal auction for one of the packs of Christmas cards, which saw local businessman and continued supporter of the charity, Karim Merchant, Director of Merchant’s Jewellers, place the highest, winning bid of £50. Karim then asked the BBC Radio presenters to sign the cards, before kindly donating them back to the charity asking that the signed cards be sent out to some of Children First Derby’s supported families.

The presenters also interviewed supporter of the charity and one of the Fashion Show’s models, Victoria Spencer-Kibble, founder of Vask Therapy, who dyed her hair a vibrant pink for the occasion as a way of raising additional funds, so far raising almost £200 for the charity.

The event concluded with an unforgettable finale featuring David Birrell and Derby Diva, Queenie, who glamorously took to the catwalk in a fabulous ensemble of outfits, followed by a superb live performance from X Factor Finalist, soul singer and song writer Errol Cole.

A special thank you bouquet of flowers was presented to the charity’s patron, Gwen Taylor, thanking her for her continued support of the charity. And a special thanks was given to Fundraising Volunteers, Sandra Harrison and Jenny Bird, who worked tirelessly, alongside our Children First Derby Fundraising staff and volunteers, to help organise the successful event.

A heartfelt thank you was given to the sponsors of the Fashion Show, Pentagon Motor Group for their generous and continued support. And the Roebuck at Draycott in the Clay was also thanked as they held a special raffle for the Fashion Show, raising an incredible £500.

We would like to say a HUGE Thank You to our fantastic models who worked hard to support the event and were absolutely superb: Friends of Children First Derby – Clarissa, Sophie, Aoife, Kiwi, Emily and Dom (Bride and Groom) and Kath. Supporters of Children First Derby – Tanita, proprietor of Merchant’s Jewellers and Melissa from Inchcape Toyota Derby. Long standing Children First Derby Volunteer – Wendy. Children First Derby Trustee – Rachel. Supporters of Children First Derby and members of Derby’s Finest – Claire Twells, Partner at Smith partnership, Victoria and Louise. Children First Derby Fundraising Coordinator – Gina. And former Mayoress of Derby, Juliette.

We would also like to say a special Thank You to the following high street stores who helped to support the charity’s fashion event: New Look, Primark, Whistles, Marks and Spencer, Dalrymples, Hobbs London, All Saints, Jillian Hart, Phase Eight, Tiffany Jordan, Quiz, Izzy, and Bedazzled.

 

 

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Experienced CEO to Lead Children First Derby

We’re delighted to welcome Irshad Baqui to the Children First Derby team.

An experienced CEO, Irshad, has been appointed as the new Chief Executive at Children First Derby, to support the charity’s drive to strengthen and further develop its support for vulnerable children, young people, and families.

With over 15 years of successful charity management experience, Irshad’s most recent role was Chief Executive of the Muath Trust – one of the largest community based third sector organisations in the UK, offering quality education, training, and essential services to meet the needs of different sections of the community.

Irshad said:

I am delighted to join Children First Derby and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with the charity so far.

The charity has attained some incredible achievements and was recently honoured with the coveted Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. With my previous experience in charity management and growth, I’m looking forward to building on the established success of Children First Derby and developing the charity further.

Established in 1974, Children First Derby provides three bespoke services; a Family Support Service, a Mentoring Service to support children and young people aged between 10 to 18 years, and a Supervised Contact Service for Looked After Children in Derby.

Operating from its premises in Leopold Street, Derby, the charity is run by a small, dedicated team of staff and over 60 family support, mentoring and fundraising volunteers, providing much-needed support to around 400 vulnerable children, young people, and families every year both in the Derby area and beyond.

Children First Derby Chair, Fred Jaques said:

We’re delighted to welcome Irshad to the team. With his extensive experience in charity management and expertise in business development success, we are confident that Irshad will continue to develop the success of Children First Derby, which will be vital for taking the charity to the next level.

Irshad, an Engineering graduate with a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), has worked in senior management positions in the charity sector for over 15 years.

His industry experience includes a number of senior business development roles in the financial services, before becoming Executive Director of a leading research and education charity based in Leicestershire. Irshad spent over eight years in his most recent position, as Chief Executive of the Muath Trust, developing and growing the Trust through strategic partnerships with key stakeholders and specialist institutions.

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