Wow what a night! Everyone looked amazing in their finery and as usual did us proud with the support. Raffles sold out, bar was pretty much sold out and buffet demolished. Casino tables were jam packed right to the end of play and the dance floor took place to the end.Thank you to everyone for their support, a rough count shows you helped raise over 4000 xxx

Right the final tally is done…£4215.83 profit from Saturday’s Casino Night!!!!!!!!!

Such an amazing amount and a fabulous night was had by all from the feedback we have had. We are speechless at the amount raised and so grateful to everyone who attended and those who donated prizes and money if they couldn’t manage

Many thanks to Elizabeth for supporting Finlay’s Fund by gaining sponsorship to complete the Great North Run.  She raised a wonderful £305 and i’m sure she had a great time doing it too!!Finlay is one lucky boy to have friends like Elizabeth complete such a grueling run on his behalf

Yet again proof that we have the best friends ever! Dave Easton prepared and painted Finlay’s new extension for the measly price of coffee, biscuits and a few pints the next time Bruce meets him in the pub!!4 days work for free, his donation to Finlay’s Fund. We are so so grateful and Finlay is Dave’s number 1 fan after he painted his room blue!!

Dave thank you xxx

Finlay’s room is just about complete and ready to use! Slings delivered for the hoists 2 weeks ago, floor went down on Friday, blinds up yesterday and bed getting reassembled on Tuesday. Lightning McQueen bedding in the machine as we speak ready for the new bed, only problem…Finlay says he’s only having one sleep over in it then he wants to go back to his old room!! Could be a sleepless few weeks until he settles in to his new surroundings.We are delighted with the completed room,it couldn’t have happened without the support of you guys, thank you.

I (Finlay’s mum) was down at an exhibition of everything disabled yesterday in Glasgow. Wow it was worth the trip!! Got so many tips, was informed about things i should have been told 5 years ago and saw some fantastic pieces of equipment that may benefit Finlay when he’s older.The biggest benefit was looking at and trying out the various beds. They all looked very clinical and hospital like which i’m sure you can understand is not what a 5 year old wants for his bedroom. After seeing how low and high all the beds went i was all set to leave when i came across the answer to all Finlay’s needs. I have found a bed that goes low enough for Finlay to sit on the edge and push himself up to standing but high enough that we won’t hurt our backs when working with him. It is child friendly so doesn’t look clinical and hospital like but not too childish that he’ll hate it when he’s a teenager – ticks every box!! So what’s the downside? Well it costs over 1500!!! Yip 1500 for a single bed but thanks to the support Finlay’s Fund has received over the last 2 years we will be able to go ahead and get him the perfect bed to complete his perfect bedroom.This is why Bruce and I are so grateful for everyone’s support, without it Finlay’s new room would look like a hospital with a second hand bed from the NHS. Words will never convey how thankful we are.Gail x

Do you shop on the internet? If yes, please register yourself with easyfundraising. It does what it says on the tin!! It is easy and it raises funds for your choosen group/charity. All you have to do is register as www.easyfundraising.org.uk You will have to pick the group/charity you wish to support – hopefully you will pick Finlay’s Fund but they have lots of local charities so take your pick. Then it’s happy shopping. The only tricky thing is remembering to go to the shop through the easy fundraising website! Every time you shop a percentage of your total cost goes to your charity. Remember – spend wisely!!

We have had trolley tokens on sale for over a year now but we have just got involved in making them into gift bags for wedding favours or gifts. We have provided two weddings with the favours using their choice of colour and message and they have been happy with the outcome.  A great way to support a charity and it’s something that most people will use – even the men!If you are interested in these please follow the link on the website.

Sunday 8th May

Well choosing a date for the Stoney Stroll was easy – let’s go for May, the weather should be better by then…how wrong we were!!It hasn’t rained for nearly a month but today is rained and rained and rained, well until 2pm when the walk was over!!  The rain didn’t dampen the spirits of those who braved the elements and showed up on the day.  With nearly 50 people and 9 dogs taking part in the walk we were delighted under the circumstances.Splash Cafe owner, Debbie, very kindly allowed the committee to set up camp in the cafe so everyone had a dry place to get organised before the set off.  Once pictures had been taken (thank you Penny) we were set off with the sound of an air horn borrowed from Stonehaven Golf Course.  Brollies at the ready everyone headed along the beach before settling into their own pace and completing the route.The age range for the walk was 18 months to over 60 so well done to all of those who took part – especially the kids who walked the full 5 miles!  The soaking was all worthwhile with £710 being collected on the day.Thank you to everyone who supported us and took part in the walk the torrential rain.  Fingers crossed we pick a better day next time.

Well after nearly 2 years of battling with the council we finally have an agreement on the proposed extension!!!  You have no idea how this decision has changed our lives.  For those who don’t know the story…We have a four bedroom house but unfortunately all the bedrooms are upstairs and the design of the house doesn’t allow for a bedroom and bathroom to be designed in the existing downstairs living space thus we had to come up with a plan.  Initial meetings with the council suggested putting in a lift to allow Finlay access to the upstairs rooms and bathroom but i’m sure, like me, you are wondering how this fits in a family home!  It doesn’t!!  Well it would if we had allowed the council the go ahead but the whole of the upstairs would have been truned on its head and we would have gone from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom house due to the adaptations – not what we want for our family home so we continued to put the point across that a ground floor purpose built extension with bedroom and wetroom for Finlay was the most sensible option.  Now for those who have not had to fight the system…the council/government state that they help with house adaptation for disabled people so we thought great (hard finding $40,000 on one wage) but little did we know that because the extension was an external adaptation (outside the exsiting property) it was not eligible for financial support.  Now had we gone with the lift idea the coucil would have been liable for the majority of the costs as the work would be internal but it would cost more than the extension and would not be a long term solution to Finlay’s developing needs.  Anyway, to cut a long story short, after many meetings and many emails/letters we have finally had an agreement from the council that they will provide us with a quarter of the costs of the extension!!!!!!!!!!  This was an amazing boost to us as a family but it took far too long.  The stress and pressure we have been under to try and provide an accessible family home for Finlay and us has been huge.  i hope the council learn from this experience and don’t put other families through the same stree.

Sorry it’s taken a couple of weeks to get this on here – life is just too hectic at times!!

Finlay’s Fund Ceilidh 2010 kicked off with the most amazing support from Stonehaven Pipe Band.  They came along and played a few tunes to get the party started – Finlay was in his element!!  He has now started asking for bagpipes for his birthday rather than a Buzz Lightyear!!Once the pipeband had played their hearts out and Finlay had run over a few toes in his Wizzybug the Broad Bay Ceilidh Band got the evening started with some well known dances.  After a few drinks had been had they introduced some new dances which were a real challenge for some of us novices!The raffle went down well, we are always amazed at the interest this draws.  Thank you to all who bought tickets – we hope you were lucky.  The evening was tied up with a nice long Strip the Willow…we’re sure a few of us had the bruises to prove it went on for a while!Thank you to everyone who supported us by  attending the event, even though it wasn’t as busy as last year we still managed to raise an amazing $2300!!!!!!!!!  Not bad for a night out.A few mentions for the local businesses who supported us:Jackie & Andy from the Belvedere Hotel for the stoviesMolly Gunnings for selling ticketsSKB Marine for sponsoring the bar staffAll the Finlay’s Fund committee for all their hard work Trouper’s bar, Queen’s Hotel, Royal Hotel, Station Hotel, Castleton Farm Shop, Carron Restaurant, McHardy’s Butcher, Zara’s, Flowers by Lesley,  Auntie Betty’s, Cullinaire, Maggie May’s, Boathouse, Chocolate Monkeys, Global Energy, Mapleleaf Subsea, Sharper Imaging, Gino’s, Kirkton Garden Centre and Les Black Photographer.We were incredibly lucky to have support from the all companies above but most of all we are grateful to all of you who attended the event on the night.