Demelza

Climbing Kilimanjaro for Demelza

November 4, 2022By

Axis’ Walter Shave recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro raising a fantastic £2,500 for Demelza Children’s Hospice and First Halesworth Scout Group.

The two-week expedition, which was completely self-funded by the team, took just over two weeks to complete and created memories to last a lifetime.

Located in Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro is the African continent’s highest peak at 5895m (19,340ft) and is the highest free-standing mountain above sea level worldwide.

The team started off by climbing up two smaller peaks nearby to acclimatise to the altitudes. And then it was time for the main event! The climb up Mt Kilimanjaro started after additional training in the rainforest.  Every day Wally and his team climbed a total of 1000m which is the equivalent of Mount Snowdon!

On the summit day, they woke up at 1am to reach the top just in time for sunrise. Wally reports: “We noticed that we were struggling a lot to physically move due to the lack of oxygen at that altitude, our average speed was 1.2km per hour! It was hard to believe that our oxygen levels went down to an astonishing 70%. When you are at sea level, if your oxygen levels go down to 92% you need to be rushed to A&E! The last 250m we walked through glaciers to reach the summit which were incredible: planes were flying below us! Once we reached the summit it was a feeling of such achievement and joy surrounded by amazing views and a beautiful sunrise, we will cherish that moment for our lifetime!”

For his scout group, First Halesworth Scout Group, the money raised will help fund an annual scout trip to Scotland or Switzerland for less fortunate members. For Demelza, the money will help to ensure every child and young person who has a serious or terminal condition receives the care and attention they need to live the most fulfilling life they can.

“Young people are our future! If I can make a small but meaningful contribution to both these fantastic organisations by giving up some of my time and sweat, then it’s a win win all round.”

Read more about our precious partnership with Demelza here.

And there’s more about how we helped First Halesworth Scouts here

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Demelza

Axis team raises £10,600 for Demelza

October 20, 2022By

Our Axis team raised £10,600 for our charity partner Demelza Hospice Care for Children on a sponsored cycle ride.

Axis’ Lee Covington, Lee Pearce, Leslie Crabbe, Jake Thomas, and Elliot Pillin cycled from London to Paris in 24 hours to raise funds for our charity partner.

The Axis team, who work in the Projects Division, cycled a total of 180 miles, starting at Trafalgar Square in London, then heading for Newhaven and over to Dieppe, and finishing at the Eiffel Tower.

They smashed their target of £10,000, raising £10,600 all of which will be donated to our charity partner, Demelza via the Axis Foundation.

Our generous subcontractors sponsored the ride and their logos were proudly emblazoned on our cyclists specially-commissioned kit. With special thanks to…

  • Adeva Home Improvements Ltd
  • A-Z Stone Repairs Ltd
  • Britelite Windows Limited
  • E&C Construction Ltd
  • Exterior Plas Ltd
  • Genesis Incorporated Ltd
  • Granville Noise Insulators Limited
  • Heron Joinery
  • Masons Scaffolding
  • Rich Demolition Limited
  • Russell Trew
  • Symphony Windows
  • Ultimate Access Solutions LTD
  • VH Electrical (UK) Ltd

… and a big thank you to everyone else who supported our team and helped Demelza too.

You can still support them here 

Here’s what the team had to say:

“Since having my young son Ellis, it has made it more apparent what a great job Demelza do… this bike ride was a good way to raise money to help support the charity in the fantastic work they carry out”-  Lee Covington

“The ride was full of emotions what kept me going was Axis team and the help we were giving to Demelza” – Leslie Crabbe

“It was an experience that I will never forget, although it was hard it was worthwhile for the money that was raised to support the Axis Foundation and the fantastic causes” – Lee Pearce

“It was the best and hardest experience of my life so far; it was only possible with the great team of people around me at Axis!” – Jake Thomas

“Our joint effort raised a substantial amount of money, which will hopefully go a long way to help those less fortunate” – Elliott Pillin

There’s more about our precious partnership with Demelza here

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two young people reading togetherDonations

Friends of West Wimbledon Trust

July 26, 2022By

Friends of West Wimbledon Trust (FOWW) want to create a new, inclusive, child-friendly library space that will inspire a love of reading and storytelling.

Diverse users of West Wimbledon Primary School’s (WWPS) library space include children with autism.

When the Friends applied to the Axis Foundation for help, we were delighted to donate £1,000 to the project.

We can’t thank the Axis Foundation enough for donating £1000 towards our library project. The transformation of the previously outdated space into an inviting, resource-based library for children to read, research and socialise, will be hugely appreciated by the children and staff. Thanks to the Axis Foundation, generous supporters within our school community and running various events, we are thrilled to announce that we have raised enough for the project to go ahead this summer! We can’t wait to share pictures once the new library is finished in September – Susan Edwards, fundraiser, FOWW

Our grant

The Axis Foundation’s grant will support the re-design of the library space as well as purchase flexi-bookcases, a picturebook unit, hideyhole seat, picturebook tunnel, reading den and tent as well as comfortable seating and storage areas.

The new library space

The newly designed space will feature cosy areas for quiet reading, a variety of soft seating and Me-To-You display boards for book recommendations. The furniture will create defined fiction, non-fiction, and picture book areas. The shelving and the furniture ensure books face out to encourage children to choose books independently and so broaden their reading choices.

Diverse users of West Wimbledon Primary School’s (WWPS) library space include children with autism. Within the Autism Base at the school, the pupils all have specific needs: the new contemplative and calm environment will specifically help them to engage with their reading.

More about FOWW

FOWW is a charity run by the parents and supported by the teachers, staff and governors of West Wimbledon Primary School in the London Borough of Merton.  More here

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Little girl and sister lying on rug togetherDisability

New Garden for Little Isabella

July 26, 2022By

Little Isabella was diagnosed with a severe brain malformation when she was just three months old.

Axis Resident Liaison Manager Cathy Weedon, who asked the Foundation for help told us:

“Isabella loves to feel the wind blowing, it’s one of the things that makes her smile the biggest. For her to simply enjoy the sunshine in a lovely finished garden would be a miracle.”

And we were delighted to support Cathy’s application to remodel the family garden so that Isabella can enjoy her outside space. The Axis Foundation and supply chain partner City Plumbing Community Fund donated £6,550 to remodel Isabella’s family garden. Axis people in our Sittingbourne office will use their volunteering days to do the work.

Isabella’s story

Isabella was born in November 2013. Her family noticed soon after that she never cried or expressed emotions. They were deeply concerned despite being reassured by doctors that she was just a ‘good baby’. After suffering seizures, and in obvious pain, Isabella went to  Evelina Children’s Hospital for tests and urgent medical care.

Here she was diagnosed with a severe brain malformation called ‘subcortical band heteretopia’ which meant that she would not progress beyond her baby years. Her physical disabilities would be life-altering.

The family moved to a new home to accommodate caring for Isabella. They proceeded to make adaptations including levelling downstairs floors and the garden, adding a small extension and making all the rooms wheelchair accessible. And as Isabella grew and became heavier. they moved to a bungalow. But Isabella needed hoists, an adapted bath and bed, wider doorways and a ramp up to the front door to list just a few adaptations.

Local authority grants would not cover the entire costs and shortage of labour and COVID-19 meant severe delays and rises in costs. Isabella’s Nanna even sold her own home to fund the work.

Their main wish was that Isabella would be able to enjoy the garden  But the garden space and driveway were tiered and unsuitable for manoeuvring Isabella’s wheelchair. We are especially delighted that our donation will help Isabella enjoy her outside space which our volunteers will create.

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Sea Change little children playing on check rugCare

Sea Change Trust

July 8, 2022By

The Sea Change Trust offers psychological support to infants, children, young people and their parents and carers, regardless of financial means, background or status.

The Axis Foundation has donated £3,000 towards the cost of purchasing items for their Early Years’ Project.

Our donation will go towards the purchase of: an additional bell tent and porch, a heater, camping chairs, arts and crafts materials, toys and sensory equipment, a ball pit, windbreakers, blankets, cushions and beanbags, banners, and a tablet to record feedback

‘We’d like to thank the Axis foundation for their kind donation to our Early Years Project for equipment and very importantly, a new Bell Tent! At a time when services for young families are diminishing and cuts in public transport make accessing support more and more difficult in our rural county, we are delighted that this will help us take our drop-in sessions to more communities. Numbers at the drop-ins are growing and being able to buy a bigger tent will help us all be well ventilated and covid-safe while spending time together. Many, many thanks from all our therapists, parents, and babies’ –  Tess Bailey-Sayer, CEO, The Sea Change Trust.

More About Sea Change Trust

Based in Shropshire, The Sea Change Trust comprises a team of child specialists, experienced in the NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services across the West Midlands and in other settings. They particularly want to address and redress the absence of specialist services in rural areas. The charity offers group and one to one support addressing loneliness and bereavement, anxiety and emotional and mental ill-health. Their careful referral process works in partnership with other charities and service providers. They work with young refugees and asylum seekers, with new parents and those with young children and with schools and other partner organisations, to support children, young people, parents, and teachers.

The Early Years Project provides safe and non-judgmental drop-in sessions run by qualified therapists, where pre-school children, parents and carers can share their experiences. The Sea Change Trust intends to deliver more sessions and support more families, particularly focusing on areas of social deprivation and rural isolation.

More about their work here 

 

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Demelza

Precious Partnership with Demelza

July 8, 2022By

The Axis Foundation is proud of our precious partnership with Demelza Hospice for Sick Children. In our 13-year history, the Foundation has donated £707,000 to Demelza.

Our donation of £6,000 to Demelza Children’s Hospice was one of our Foundation’s very first donations. And when our Foundation’s donations reached an impressive total of £2m (July 2022) we were delighted to present Demelza with a cheque for £89,000 which marked our £2m Moment.

Like all good friends… we share some history

Our friendship with Demelza goes back nearly 20 years – all the way to 2004. We had formed a charity partnership even before the Foundation was born.

  • Our parent company Axis supported Demelza’s Bricks and Water appeal creating a Hydrotherapy Centre and two new bedrooms for teenage patients meanwhile refurbishing two existing bedrooms at their Sittingbourne hospice, Kent
  • Axis also contributed to building a new hospice in Eltham in south east London. Olympic champions and Demelza vice presidents Jayne Torvill and Robin Cousins opened the new premises in 2009. Celebrating the first anniversary of the Eltham hospice in 2010, our people joined Demelza supporters, nurses, children and their families at the ‘polka dot tea party’.

Like all good friends, we share some major triumphs

And yes, like all good friends we share great sadness too

When Liam and Amy Hayes’ son Benjamin Jeffrey John Hayes was born in 2019 and suffered brain damage during birth, the family took Benjamin to Demelza where, as Liam says:“They helped us make happy memories, even at the toughest time our family has ever been through.” You can read Benjamin’s story here.

We Axis people love Demelza

Axis people are in their element – snow, ice, water, air, mud – when we are fundraising for our charity partner Demelza. Tough Mudder challenges, cycling to Paris, swimming, boxing, flying, running, climbing in the Arctic, walking hundreds of miles, dancing, baking, eating (even not eating) – there’s no stopping us when it comes to raising funds for Demelza and the Axis Foundation. There’s more about our challenges here

Our clients, suppliers and subcontractors too have generously given at our golf days and charity ball to support both charities.The Axis Foundation’s Winter Appeal 2021 raised £75,000 for Demelza thanks to Axis people, our suppliers and subcontractors. And our 2021 Charity Ball raised a whopping £340,000 for the Axis Foundation’s small, local and impactful charities – including Demelza.

Map Matching

Foundation Funding Focus is mainly on the areas where our parent company Axis Europe works to make social housing properties safe and comfortable for residents: in London and the South East and Essex. Demelza offers hospice care in Kent and South East London, as well as helping families across the South East.

Money donated

All the money we raise goes into Demelza’s Adopt a Nurse programme, which brings a nurse full-time for one year. As well as visiting the children at the Hospice, the nurses also see their families at home to help with medication and physiotherapy as well as aid the parents in their time of need.

£100 buys nine hours of nursing care for a child with a life-limiting illness at Demelza.

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two adults and child in school Save Kids TeethDonations

Dental Wellness Trust

July 7, 2022By

Our donation helps Save Kids Teeth

The Axis Foundation has donated £8,000 to Dental Wellness Trust (DWT) to support their free LiveSmart tooth brushing and education programmes teaching children good oral health.

“We are most grateful for the support of Axis for our LiveSmart toothbrushing programmes delivered to 20,000 children in England. With this grant we are able to reach more children to help Save Kids Teeth” – Linda Greenwall, Founder

DWT delivers the LiveSmart programme mainly in schools in areas of higher social deprivation in London. Our grant will enable them to reach more schools and include the refugee community too.

The lasting impact of DWT’s Live Smart programme will be reduced gum disease and fewer hospital admissions for young people as well as a generation of children who understand the importance of healthy gums. Educating today’s children about the benefit of good oral hygiene will benefit the children of tomorrow.

Facts and figures

Tooth decay is the most common childhood infectious disease in the UK today. Annually, some 48,000 children, are admitted to hospital in the UK for teeth extraction under general anaesthetic. 60,000 school days are lost each year through tooth decay; some 1m parents have never taken their children to the dentist.

More about Dental Wellness Trust

DWT’s mission is to improve the general health and wellbeing of young children– especially those most in need – through dental wellness. They believe good oral health is a basic human right. DWT was founded by Dr Linda Greenwall who was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) in recognition of her services to the dental profession. Dr Greenall volunteers her time to DWT, is a practising Dentist and lectures and writes extensively on the topic .

More about their work here

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Disability

Disabled Sailors Association (DSA)

June 13, 2022By

The Axis Foundation’s £10,000 helps Disabled Sailors Association (DSA) purchase anew state-of-the-art dinghy so that more disabled people can enjoy sailing.

We will be christening our specially-designed dinghy when she is built and ready to launch!

“We are very grateful to the Axis Foundation for their very generous grant, enabling us to build another innovative dinghy to replace and increase our fleet. Thanks to the generosity of charitable foundations like the Axis Foundation we have now funded seventeen new dinghies that cannot capsize or sink, due to their unique foam-filled hulls” – Mike Wood MBE, Chairman and Founder

Mike continues: “Some will be sailed on the Solent by disabled people with every disability, along with their carers and family members. Others will be loaned out to families with a disabled member, who can make use of them but would be unable to afford to purchase their own dinghies. The dinghies also help young disabled people to achieve Royal Yacht Association qualifications.”

More about Disabled Sailors Association

Unique in the sailing world the Disabled Sailors Association (DSA) helps disabled people enjoy the benefits of sailing in a unique fleet of specially-designed yachts and dinghies.

25 years of research and development have enabled them to innovate a state-of-the-art dinghy design, which caters for all disabilities and is equally appealing to able-bodied carers and family members.

Over 40,000 people have sailed the yachts since the charity was founded in 1993. So the DSA needs to replace craft to maintain safety compliance and increase their fleet so even more disabled people can enjoy the sport of sailing.

The charity sails from Port Solent Marina Office, Lock Approach, Portsmouth.

There is more about DSA here.

 

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disadvantaged

Centred Horseplay

June 13, 2022By

With specially-trained horses, Centred Horseplay helps hard-to-reach young people.

The Axis Foundation donated £7,091 towards building an indoor arena in a barn. Once built, the new premises will enable Centred Horseplay to stay open all year round. They will then be able to help even more hard-to-reach youngsters: many are experiencing drug and alcohol misuse, anxiety and eating disorders, neglect, abuse, aggression, and bullying.

“Thank you so much! This is going to make such a difference! This vital new facility will allow the charity to stay open all year round. Many of the young people who come to us are suffering from social exclusion and depression. All of this is exasperated in dark and cold winters. Our new arena will be well ventilated but also partially undercover so these very lonely young people can still participate in our courses throughout the winter. Our new location is incredibly peaceful and with your help we will be open all your round” – Marie Longstaff, Fundraiser

More about Centred Horseplay

Centred Horseplay describes itself as ‘often the last resort’. It helps young people referred to them by professional support workers and partners. Crucially these are children who are not progressing within conventional services, who may be ‘stuck’ or disengaged from talk-based support. Their fun and busy ReStart behaviour-change programme transfers successful behavioural training techniques for equines into the human world.

Centred Horseplay was founded in 2015 and is based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire. It is the approved Gloucestershire Hub for world renowned charity TheHorseCourse.

Efficacy of equine assisted approach

Centred Horseplay’s work has helped reduce re-offending and improved attendance and engagement with school/work/training. Multiple external, independent and academic reports testify to the efficacy of this equine-assisted approach.

There’s more about Centred Horseplay here

This donation was made utilising the Travis Perkins Community Fund.

 

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Care

Little Heroes

March 7, 2022By

Little Heroes helps children and families affected by Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

The Axis Foundation donated £1,200 to help Little Heroes develop their monthly girls club sessions for parents and children.

Here families of likewise children meet to share information, advice and support and develop friendships whilst creating a growing supportive community.  Often girls who are on the autistic spectrum do not get the opportunity to meet other girls on the spectrum.

“This is fantastic news – thank you so much. The funds will really help to be able to make something more meaningful and help the children benefit to the full potential” – Kim Drake, Co-Founder

More about Little Heroes ASD Support Group

Official diagnosis of ASD can take a long time (sometime up to three years). Based in Southend on Sea, Essex, Little Heroes supports families when they need it most: as soon as they discover their child’s needs. They provide support, information, opportunities for respite, social activities and networking opportunities. They also hold weekly drop-in sessions and also organise social activities in the school holidays.

There’s more about Little Heroes here

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