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.

The Wizzy Bug is here and we have had a a week of practising and getting used to the controls.  We have had a few crashes but thankfully the Wizzy Bug is a sturdy piece so  no damage apart from a few scrapes! This equipment has given us all a complete lease of life.  Finlay is able to move independently for the first time in 4 and half years and  I am able to sit back and just watch – that sounds lazy but he has relied on an adult to take him from A to B so this is a real achievement for us as a family.  Looking forward to some nice weather so we can get to the local park and run riot with a football.Have a look at his press release and the pictures in the gallery.

Hi folks, it has been a while since our last blog!  Things have been rather hectic in the family home this year.  We have just had another visit to Craighalbert and we are pleased to say that this session for far better than our last visit.  Finlay worked very hard.It is a year since we started up the fund and we have had a very successful year.  We hope that we will continue to be successful over the next few years too but we need your help.Would you like to be part of the Finlay’s Fund committee – we need volunteers to help organise events We also need ideas for future fundraising events.

Please contact us through the website or phone Gail on 07810264814

Thanks

Happy New Year and hope it’s a good one!

We have had the most surreal 8 months, if you’ve been keeping up to date with the Fund i’m sure you’ll be aware of the happenings.  We have had a very successful year with Fit for Finlay, the Ceilidh and all the extras that friends have taken part in.  All in all we have rasied a massive £14,000 since April – thank you to everyone who has supported us.

For those of you who don’t know, when i packed in the teaching i got myself a wee job in one of the local hotels, The Belvedere.

This year the owners (my boss) Jackie and Andy Giles held a party on the 2nd of January for their friends, family and staff.  They set up the evening with food, music and a free bar but suggested that in return for their kindness people donate to Finlay’s Fund.This was such a kind gesture and Bruce and I are so grateful to Jackie and Andy for considering Finlay’s Fund as the deserving charity.  We all had a fantastic evening (some stayed into the next morning!!!) and managed to raise £496.10 during the party and i believe we had some online donations straight into the bank account so I will update once a statement comes in.

This is a great amount.

Thanks to the Jackie and Andy and everyone who contributed  x