Esther is on the mend and visitors at home and away!

Our little Esther who fractured her arm in a playground topple is well on the mend.
She has been to hospital for an x-ray to check that the fracture is healing well and Uncle Billy said they confirmed it was properly aligned and healing
She was a bit apprehensive but very good.
Well done Esther.

Greetings for guests in Kenya

Visitors are always welcome and Auntie Velma, Auntie Rose and Auntie Jessica were delighted to meet Attached is a Jan,Patrick, Phanice and Lawrence who were on holiday from Manchester and to show them around our wonderful Happy House.
Thank you for coming to see us. Please tell your friends.

And visitors for Mama & Papa in UK

Anyone who sponsors a Happy House kid will know the name of Louise Webster,

Louise is the wonderful volunteer who sends out all the profiles to new sponsors.

It's a task she loves and willingly fits in to her very busy life.

Yesterday she and her lovely family, husband Gary and children Grace and Alice drove over from Yorkshire for lunch and a catch up with Mama and Papa.

They are counting the days until their trip to Watamu and the Happy House in August - after the disappointment of previous cancellation.

This will be the fifth visit for Louise and Gary, the fourth for the girls, and the are so excited and especially looking forward to seeing their sponsor child Oscar again.

And the Happy House family can't wait to see you again too.

On the ball by Boniface

Scholarship student  Boniface Kai, 17, works hard in school and enjoys games.
He writes:
" I like playing volley ball. On Friday we went out for games and we came back as the winners.
 I was happy as a king  as my friend and I were selected.
We will be going out once again for games at Watamu Primary School and we will come back as the winners.
It is Happy House power!"

Eggstra special Easter and birthday kids

All set for a cracking Easter?

Easter chick, Lauren, is certainly set to step out in style in the bonnet made by her mum's cousin, Joanne Rossall and her daughter Charlotte at our Happy House coffee morning last week.

Grace & Favour, Marsh Mill Village, Thornton, has turned all the remaining materials into kits which are availabel in the shop in return for a donation.

Flakefleet School, Fleetwood, is celebrating after raising £290 for our family with an Easter Egg raffle. - started with a £5 egg bought by Rotarian Derrik Foulkes in the club's challenge to grow a fiver into more for Happy House. Friends offered him more eggs and the result was clutch of  chocolate eggs and Easter goodies for prizes.

Jill Clayton said: " We are so proud of our staff, children and parents afor donating and buying raffle tickets for our Easter Egg raffle.

 Thanks to Derrik from Fleetwood Rotary we raised £291!

 Good luck to Happy House.

We all loved doing it. I did an assembly for the whole school and the children couldn't believe that children still live in such poverty. 

Even some staff were in tears! 

We don't realise how lucky we are."

Thank you Derrik and Flakefleet your efforts will help to change more children's lives.

Birthday double

Two birthdays to celebrate at Happy House this week.

Children who received their gifts at Kidz Club were Suleiman (left) and Erick.

The two boys enjoyed their greetings from the family and being the centre of attention for the birthday song.

Happy birthday boys.

Forever friends and bonnet kits for kids

Mama popped in to say hello to hairdresser friend Shirley Dawson and came out with a new hairdo!
Sue was being treated for breast cancer back in 2012 when she met Shirley whose hairdressing salon in Beach Road, Cleveleys, runs hand in hand with Shirley's 2nd Image  where she provides both wigs and wisdom for anyone going through hairloss for any reason.
Shirley, who has lived with alopecia since she was a teenager, was a huge support to Sue and to Dave and Sue says: "She sorted my head, inside and out."
"I can never thank her enough for her kindness and generosity to me when I truly needed it."
They have remained good friends and so calling on Shirley, who is in out sponsor family,  was a must for Sue.
"She wouldn't let me leave without a wash and blow dry," says Sue "so I would look good for Rotary that night!"
Sue is pictured in the salon with , from left, Carly, Diane and Shirley.

Easter kits

Our friends at Grace & Favour, Marsh Mill Village, Thornton, are offering Happy House Easter Bonnet kits in return for a donation, from now until they close at 4pm tomorrow..

The kits have been made up from the material we had for a crafts stall at our coffee morning on Saturday, and the crafty folk at G&F have whipped up a few creations to tempt the shoppers.

Please do pop in and get kits for the kids in your family, You will be helping our kids at the Happy House at the same time. Thank you.

Cash crop and Paws for thought

A harvest of talents brought in a cash crop adding up to £1000 for Happy House.

At the start of the year, Sandra Foulkes distributed £180 of her own money in lots of £5 to fellow members of Fleetwood Rotary Club and asked them to go out and grow it with their talents

And over three months that is what they have done, raising money in so many different ways.

For example Janet Simpson made and sold marmalade (the fiver bought the first batch of fruit and sugar) and raised more than £100; Derrik Foulkes brought in £200 by organising an Easter egg raffle  at Flakefleet School (after buying the first egg offer of others poured in) while Sandra  bought a batch of organza bags and spray paint and sold silver pebbles  to children at Larkholme and Charles Saer schools which they personalised to give to their mums for Mothering Sunday.

David Simpson used his £5 for a quiz prize charging £1 for quiz sheets, Margaret Lund took in ironing with her husband, Des, as doing collection and delivery,

Other members had great ideas too, and after receiving her initial investment back, Sandra and club president, Richard Newson, has the pleasure of presenting £1000 to Mama Sue and Papa Dave last night at Rotary's weekly meeting.

Fleetwood Rotary Club has long been a loyal supporter of Sue and Dave's work at Happy House and a number of members sponsor kids, so it it was lovely for  Sue, Dave and Elizabeth to be back with them at the North Euston Hotel.

Sue gave them an update of all the latest news and developments both in our family and at school, and thanked them for their continuing love and support.

Robert Stead presented Sue and Dave with a signed group photograph of the club members mounted alongside one of his stunning watercolours. They will be displayed at Happy House.

Thank you to everyone who went the extra mile with their fantastic fivers challenge, the money will go toward supporting Dr Danwata Scholarship students on free places in our school, keeping them on the road out of poverty.

Paws for thought

 

We have friends from many different walks of life, but this week we recruited two four-legged friends!

The pet pooches came along with their owners to swell the audience when Elizabeth Gomm went to speak to the ladies of Bispham United Reformed Church, Cavendish Road, on Tuesday.

They were very well behaved, sitting quietly throughout a film of Happy House and Elizabeth talk.

The ladies group has been following Sue's work since the very beginning, donating money to buy three bricks for the school she developed long before Happy House.

They were delighted to see how her work since has touched so many more young lives and the local community as well.

It was a lovely evening and a donation was made for Happy House.

Thank you ladies.

School blog: Dining in style

 New dining tables, made and tiled by our Happy House joiner, are now in place in the dining banda at school making it much easier to organise school lunch times.

Madam Neema writes: It has created more space and is much more comfortable for the students, and the staff who organise meal times.

Mr Omoi led a guidance and counselling session when pupils were guided on how to set goals and what to do so as to achieve them.

Playgroup class teacher Madam Sarah has been doing leaf printing with the little ones during creative arts activity.

This helps young learners to develop observation skills and strengthens their fine muscles.

Students turn to chores into cash for Happy House

 Raising money for Happy House was a cheerful chore for youngsters from Cheadle Hulme School.
Head of Year 8, Peter Upton, handed his students blank cheques and asked them to go home andoffer to do the household chores for family and friends in exchange for donations.
Then they could return the cheques filled in with the amount they had earned.
The cash brought  from the chores weekend  along with an odd sock and shoes day and other fundraisers in school during the autumn term brought in a magnificent £2061.
Yesterday, Mama Sue, Papa Dave and Elizabeth visited the school for a special assembly where Mama was able to tell them how they had helped to furnish our secondary school.
She thanked them for all they had done and how special it was that they were children, helping children less fortunate than themselves.
Happy House and Cheadle Hulme are working together to forge stronger link between the two. Our little ones even had fun mixing up their socks and shoes to pose for a thank you picture for their friends in Cheshire.
The link between the school is particularly poignant as Cheadle Hulme, now one of the North West most prestigious schools, started life in the 1855 as a school for orphaned children. 
Thank you Cheadle Hulme for your support and love for our Happy House kids. You are doing a great job!