Help us support sick children with cancer and leukaemia at Bristol Children’s Hospital. Our appeal has been launched to support the creation of a new integrated Children’s Cancer Ward and we need to raise £250,000 to give patients like Nina the best care possible.

More than 5,000 children in and around the South West are diagnosed with cancer every year. Cancer Services at Bristol Children’s Hospital support children from all over Bristol, the South West and South Wales.

We need to raise £250,000 to build a conservatory playroom, a parent’s room and kitchen, and ensuite bedrooms for sick children who are receiving their treatment in isolation. Children suffering from cancer and leukaemia are often in hospital for months at a time and can be miles away from their homes, some patients coming from overseas. We want to make this difficult time as comfortable as possible by providing a playroom with a rooftop conservatory, to let the outside in.

We also know how hard it can be for their families, and we want to provide them with kitchen and rest facilities away from clinical ward areas. We also want to give privacy and dignity to sick children by creating en-suite bathrooms for rooms on the new Children’s Cancer Ward.

Your support is vital to help support children with cancer, to donate to our appeal and for more information visit our website or call us on 0800 919 649. Thank you.

We are delighted to announce that the Cots for Tots Appeal has reached its £1 million target! But this isn’t the end for the Cots for Tots!

The Cots for Tots Appeal was launched in October 2010 in partnership with Bristol Evening Post to provide a new suite of four intensive care cots to care for an additional 150 babies every year at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St Michael’s Hospital, as well as dedicated family accommodation nearby.

The Appeal has increased cot provision on the NICU from 27 to 31. The four new life-saving cots have kept babies in Bristol that would have otherwise been sent elsewhere, including the triplets and quadsborn recently at the Hospital. The Cots for Tots Appeal has also created a new family accommodation facility, so that parents of babies treated on the Unit, can stay, free of charge, close to their critically-ill or premature baby in NICU.

Cots for Tots House, a 12 bedroom building situated directly opposite the Hospital, will provide a ‘home-from-home’ environment for 200 families a year and is specially designed for the comfort of the whole family. The House is due to open to the first families in April and the Cots for Tots Appeal will continue to raise funds to ensure the House is available free of charge to NICU parents.

The £1 million Cots for Tots Appeal has captured the hearts of the whole community with tens of thousands of people from all walks of life raising funds for the Appeal. Local and regional businesses, schools, community groups, sports clubs, hospital staff and families with babies treated at NICU have come together to raise funds through a wide range of activities including a Cots for Tots skydive, abseil, sponsored runs, walks, swims and cycles, cake sales, raffles and Christmas fundraiser ‘Tinsel for Tots’.

Nicola Masters, director of the Cots for Tots Appeal, explained: “To reach the £1million target is a really spectacular achievement and we can’t thank the people of Bristol enough for their tremendous support and generosity. With the support of fundraisers locally and throughout the region, we have delivered a state-of-the-art intensive care unit which is already saving lives and a home-from-home which will keep families together.”

Dr. Pamela Cairns, Consultant Neonatologist at NICU added: “The expansion at NICU funded by the Cots for Tots Appeal has made a real difference to the Unit, ensuring we can continue to provide the very best facilities and critical care for more babies. The new family accommodation will provide a private haven for parents away from the Unit, yet is close enough for them to be at their baby’s side within minutes.”

But we can only continue to support the life-saving work of the NICU and provide free family accommodation with the ongoing support of the public.

Get involved or make a donation today and help make a difference to the lives of sick and premature babies from all over the South West of England and South Wales

New-born brothers Reuben, Zachary, Joshua and Samuel Robbins are naturally-conceived quads, which is a one-in-750,000 occurrence, and they were born on February 29, a date that only occurs once every four years, in a leap year. This means that they have been born at odds of 3.5 million to one!

The four boys arrived safe and well by Caesarian section at 29 weeks and are currently being cared for at the Special Care Baby Unit at St Michael’s Hospital, Bristol, which is currently benefiting from our £1 million Cots for Tots Appeal!

In January 2012, thanks to your incredible support of the appeal, the brand new intensive care suite opened at NICU, increasing the cot capacity on the Unit and enabling the Robbins family quads to stay together and all be cared for on the Unit, following their birth on 29th February 2012.

Nicola Masters, director at the Appeal said: “The safe arrival of the four baby brothers is a huge thrill and sums up everything that the Cots for Tots Appeal is about. The four new cots provided by the fundraising effort has meant more space on the Unit. This has allowed the whole family to be kept together at such a critical time, ensuring their best possible care.”

The Cots for Tots Appeal’s fundraising drive continues, with new family accommodation nearby the Hospital due to open next month for parents of babies being treated at the Unit.

To make a donation or find out more about the Cots for Tots Appeal visit www.cotsfortots.org.uk, email info@cotsfortots.org.uk or call freephone 0800 919 649.

Mum, Emma and Dad, Martin have written this wonderful blog about their experiences - well worth a read!

At The Grand Appeal we are very fortunate to have incredibly generous and inspirational supporters. From fundraising events, skydives and runs to gifts as a thank you and tributes to loved ones lost, each and every one has an amazingly positive impact on the lives of the over 100,000 sick children who use Bristol Children’s Hospital and Special Care Baby Unit. We can never say thank you enough for their incredible support.

Today, we’re encouraging you to have a look through the on-line fundraising pages of our supporters and support them with a couple of pounds towards their targets. It’s a wonderful way to support the cause and, of course, support a supporter!

Browse through Grand Appeal pages and Cots for Tots pages

It’s very important to us here at The Grand Appeal to show you, our lovely supporters, how you have helped have an incredibly positive impact on the lives of over 100,000 patients who are treated at Bristol Children’s Hospital. So this year we have put together an Impact Report which details how The Grand Appeal has supported the hospital from providing specialist medical equipment to funding the hospital’s arts programme.

It’s the Olympic year! What better time to embark on an athletic challenge to support your Children’s Hospital? 

Whether you’re an aspiring Mo Farah or a complete novice we will support you all the way to the finish line and will send you a special race pack with everything you need to fundraise and once of our smashing Wallace & Gromit running vests! We have special charity places available for this year’s Bristol 10k and Bristol Half Marathon and there are races of a variety of distances ranging from 5km to over 200km! 

So if you would like to get fit, raise funds and join the merry team of runners for Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal please get in touch! Call Leo at the Grand Appeal office on 0117 927 3888 or email leo@grandappeal.org.uk for more information

The Aardman team with their amazing Tinsel creations ready for Friday!

Get your skates on for the Cots for Tots Appeal!

On the 9^th December The Mall at Cribbs Causeway is holding two ice-skating sessions in aid of our Cots for Tots Appeal. Skate on the largest outdoor Ice Rink in the South West with over a thousand square meters of real ice and raise funds for the Cots for Tots Appeal.

Instead of buying tickets to ice skate normally, you simply donate £5 at the Winter Wonderland Ticket Office and all the proceeds will go directly to the Cots for Tots Appeal.

Best of all, the 9^th is also Tinsel for Tots day and so we are encouraging everyone to wear their tinsel with pride on the ice!

Our skating sessions are taking place on 9^th December, at 6.30 – 7.30pm and 7.45 – 8.45pm and tickets are first come first serve so please arrive early to ensure your place on the ice.

For more information get in touch with Lauren, Fundraising Manager at lauren@grandappeal.org.uk  

The first ever Tinsel for Tots fundraising dress up day took place on Friday 10th December 2010 and raised a fantastic £20,000! This year it’s back and it’s bigger than ever!

We are encouraging everyone in Bristol and the South West to take part in 2011 on Friday 9th December to raise even more for Bristol Children’s Hospital and the Special Care Baby Unit at St Michael’s Hospital. All you need to do is wear Tinsel to work or school or wherever you go on the day and pay just £1 to the Appeal to raise funds to help save the lives of sick and premature babies throughout Bristol and the South West.

It really couldn’t be simpler! All you need to do is wear tinsel to school, or to the office, or even around the house on Friday 9th December and donate £1 to the Cots for Tots Appeal. Tinsel for Tots is the perfect way to get festive and fundraise. To receive your Tinsel for Tots Fundraising pack which includes everything you need to take part including a ‘how to guide’ stickers and posters to promote your Tinsel for Tots day, Click the here to register!

Have a look at some of our fantastic fundraisers from last years event for some cracking ideas for how you can get Tinselled up this Christmas!

Would you like to see Arthur Christmas in all its 3D glory for just £6 before anyone else in Bristol?

The film, the first made by Aardman in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, is directed by Aardman’s Sarah Smith and has a stellar cast including James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy and Hugh Laurie.

Set on Christmas night, the story of Arthur Christmas tackles the question of how Santa (voiced by Jim Broadbent) delivers all his presents in one night and revolves around Santa’s ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. However, when a single present for one little girl is missed, Santa’s hapless son Arthur (voiced by James McAvoy) embarks on an urgent mission with Grandsanta and Bryony the elf in an old sled to deliver the present before the Christmas morning.

The film starts at 7pm, Thursday 10^th  November at Cinema de Lux, Cabot Circus, Bristol. A fantastic festive film for children and adults alike (PG) and the dress code is casual.

To book your tickets now call the hotline on 0117927 3888 or pop into our office at 24 Upper Maudlin Street, Bristol