Sunbeams wasreminded of the power of friendship this year, when Founder and Chief Executive, Annie Mawson attended the memorial of the much loved Michael Jenkins (or Mr J as he was affectionately known by his pupils).
Mr J was Headmaster of St Anne’s school in Windermerein the 1970’s (and the early 1990’s). Annie, who was then the Head of Geography, was invited to play at the memorial service back in May, and there got talking to formerdeputy head-teacher Miss Gunning, and Michael and Vicki Robinson whose daughter attended the school.
Together, they decided it would be a wonderful way to honour Michael’s memory by supporting Sunbeams, and Mike and Vicki offered to host a charity dinner at their charming hotel – The Burn How Garden Hotel http://www.burnhow.co.uk/)
The beautiful lunch and afternoon tea was enjoyed by 40 invited guests who also listened to Annie and the team present case studies, letters of support, and the plans for the pioneering Sunbeams Music Centre, the world-class Music Therapy Centre which Sunbeams hopes to start building in their 21st Anniversary year – as a sustainable legacy for people with disabilities.
The afternoon was a wonderful way to renew long standing relationships with local supporters and make some new friends. They certainly did Sunbeams proud with the event raising an incredible £112,651 in total for the charity. Thankyou to Mike and Vicki for their wonderful, heartfelt generosity.
A sizable amount of the money raised came from The Windermere and Ambleside Lions. They have always been fantastic supporters of Sunbeams and we were honoured to have Lions Chris Amos and Peter Irvine at our lunch. What we weren’t expecting was for them to step up to present a cheque for £10,000 to Annie. This is an incredibly generous donation that makes a real difference to our funds. Thank you so much – we are so very grateful.