How Money Is Raised
Harris’s walk
Harris’s Aunty Lily and a group of her High School friends felt that they wanted to do something whilst Harris was being treated at Sick Kids so they did a sponsored walk on Christmas Eve 2009 walking 14 miles along the Caledonian Canal. It was -7 °C on the day! They raised £3500 for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation.
The photo shows the cheque being presented to Harris, his oncology consultant, Dr Mark Brougham and Nurse Sarah.
Harris’s Piggy Bank
Any money given to Harris for his birth, Christening, Christmas, in kindness when he was being treated in Edinburgh etc. has since gone towards supporting childhood cancer in some way. This was the start of ‘STAR for Harris’ and from there, we set it up as an official charity, wanting to make a difference to those being treated for childhood cancer right now, to promote early diagnosis and to continue to build on our inspirational, beautiful son’s legacy.
500 Mile Challenge
In October 2011 and September 2012, over 25 of Harris’s friends walked a combined total of 500 miles. Each person was sponsored with both walks raising over £5000 each! The walk starts at Linlithgow and we walked back to Edinburgh Quay . We chose this finish for our sponsored walk as our darlin’ Harris spent most of his short but inspirational life in Edinburgh and we used to take him to Zizzi’s at Edinburgh Quay as it served Garlic and Rosemary dough sticks which was one of the few things Harris would eat when enduring chemotherapy. The walk was special to us as it let us get back to a city close to our hearts and full of memories. Amongst our friends taking part, there was a mixture of our closest friends from Fort William and also some of our incredible friends that we had met whilst at Sick Kids. One of the teenagers, Gina from the ward who Harris absolutely adored joined us and a number of mums of children from the ward walked with us too which was incredibly touching. Harris’s little friend Victoria who was treated at the same time as Harris met us at the end and in 2011, she walked the last mile. Harris used to love being pushed up and down the ward on his trike whilst Victoria pushed her pram! Harris would have loved the day and he was the one important person missing but our precious son was, as always, completely consuming our thoughts. Everyone did really well!
Big Band Concert
On Wednesday 23 February the Lochaber High School big band held a joint concert with St Augustine‘s Big Band from Blackburn, Lancashire. They chose to donate all of the £550 raised to ‘STAR for Harris’. The Lochaber High students chose our charity themselves. Thank you!
Halloween Party
Harris’s aunty Lily and her high school friends organised a Halloween Party held on 28th October 2011 for over 16s. Everyone dressed up and had a brilliant night. The bands all played for free and most of the bouncers didn’t take a fee meaning that £2111 was raised for ‘STAR for Harris’. Childhood cancer information was also shared at this event. Thanks for your continued support, girls and also to the bands and bouncers!
Harris Ross Texas Scramble
The third annual Harris Ross Texas Scramble took place on 29th April this year at Fort William Golf Club. The golf competition first started whilst Harris was being treated in Edinburgh and each year, they are such a huge success that extra time slots have to be allocated. Childhood cancer information was also shared at this event. Thank you to everyone that helped organise this event and to all the companies that sponsored it!
Loch Ness Marathon & Wee Nessie Run
Olly Stephen recently ran the Loch Ness Marathon for ‘STAR for Harris’ raising well over £1000 for us. Olly finished the marathon in just over 4 hours and did us proud. He also came up with an innovative way of raising the charity’s profile by shaving his hair into the ‘STAR for Harris’ logo!
His lovely children, Lucy and Jack also showed their support for ‘STAR for Harris’ as they ran the Wee Nessie run and raised over £300! Well done to all the Stephen family!
Fort Knox
Brian Jamieson organised the Fort Knox music festival held on 15th July 2011 with many incredibly talented bands donating their time to perform for free. The festival was a massive success and it raised over £2500! Childhood cancer information was also shared at this event. Thanks to Brian and all the bands involved!
Ben Nevis Sponsored Walk
Hayley Duncan and Rhianydd Strang walked to the summit of Ben Nevis on 24th April 2012 raising a total of £596 for ‘STAR for Harris’. Well done, girls!
Axa Muskateers Fort to Fort Bike Ride
On 1st September, Philip Burns, Stewart Gray and Joseph Magee, all from Axa Insurance, cycled 50km from Fort Augustus to Fort William raising £837 for ‘STAR for Harris’. Well done!
Car Boot Sale
Liz Macmillan ran two car boot sales in May and July this year in Fort William raising over £400 for ‘STAR for Harris’. Childhood cancer awareness cards were also distributed at this event. Thanks, Liz!
Wedding Donation
Congratulations to Luke and Hazel Williams who married in Inverness on 1st September 2012. They asked guests to give donations to ‘STAR for Harris’ instead of giving gifts. So kind xxx
Mainly Music
Tiree’s Mainly Music Group donated £106 towards ‘STAR for Harris’. How special to have children from a music club donating money towards a music initiative for such sick children. Thank you to Ishbel Campbell and to everyone involved!
Printsmith
We are fortunate to have the continued support of Printsmith who provide all our printing for free. They save us so much in costs and they always give us such great quality printing. Thanks, Printsmith!