On Thursday 15 June we held our annual Summer Party at Coram’s Fields, London and what an amazing day it was!
We were delighted to welcome over 400 of the children and young people we support including their families and also some of our colleagues from our NHS hospital partners. It was a fun day packed full of so much laughter and joy.
“The boys today had a such a fabulous time and enjoyed themselves very much. Our younger son said to his Mum whilst waiting in one the queues, “Look Mum, they are spreading smiles on everyone’s faces – everyone is happy!” Parent
Our teams of volunteers were on hand, running different stalls for our guests to enjoy and there really was something for everyone, from arts and crafts, face painting, nail art, glitter tattoos, slime making, friendship bracelet making, biscuit decorating, teddy bear t-shirt and tote bag decorating and water bottle personalisation.
We were joined by Wild Science who brought along some gorgeous animals to hold and learn more about, including guinea pigs, rabbits and snakes. Our friends from the LEGO Group were on hand with trays full of LEGO® for everyone to get creative building and playing games and sets the children could take home afterwards, plus Hasbro manned their own Hasbro Nerf Blast and creation station! Guests also enjoyed the Gaming Party Bus – a state of the art mobile video game wagon, plus a truly slimy slime making experience with Slime Planet.
Our brilliant team of Spread a Smile entertainers joined us to fill the day with music, singing, dancing, bubbles, magic, poetry and much more. We were also treated to a very special interactive performance from Embracing Arts, who put on a fantastic interactive theatre show.
There were food and treats galore including ice cream rolls from our partners Pan’n’Ice using a very special Spread a Smile ice cream flavour and delicious wood fired pizzas from the Wandering Pizza Company.
We are extremely proud to be able to deliver days such as this for the families we support. The sun shone and it was a wonderful opportunity for our guests to put aside their illnesses and worries for an afternoon and enjoy being together.
We can’t thank our wonderful volunteers enough for giving up their time to make the day possible, plus all of our generous corporate supporters who donated supplies, food and drink. Thank you to our friends from BlackRock, Hasbro, Convex Insurance, Corinthia London, Derwent, Downing LLP, Enra Specialist Finance, Hain Celestial UK, Hartleys, ICAP, the LEGO Group, McVities, OpticoreIT, Pan’n’Ice, Spring Finance Limited and Uncommon and to the Children’s Welfare and Research Foundation for their generous support of this event.
Thank you to all of our friends, families and colleagues for joining us and making our Summer Party 2023 one to remember. We’re looking forward to next year already. Watch this space for details of our Winter Party.
“All I can say is… what a day! I left with a full heart and huge admiration for you and the team and volunteers. It was incredible and thank you so much for inviting us.” Guest
To help ensure we can continue to spread smiles to seriously ill children and young people, please donate here. Thank you.
