Twinkle House

Summer Holiday Play Scheme

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:36:20 +0000

Dates are now on our website for the Summer Sessions under Holiday Club page.

Well Done to Suzanne Taylor (Gould) London Marathon Runner

admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:09:50 +0000

Twinkle House would like to say a HUGE WELL DONE to Suzanne who ran the London Marathon on 22 April 2012 in aid of Twinkle House. Thank you so much Suzanne, you are the first to do this for the Charity, and we are so grateful to you for putting us on this map and raising funds to help children and young people in your local area. Thank you to all of Suzanne’s supporters too, your help is really appreciated. Pictures will be available on the website soon. Best wishes from Jill and the team at Twinkle House xxx

Read Suzanne’s story below …

The London Marathon 2012
When I applied for the London Marathon for the year of the Olympics I never for one minute thought that I would get a place. Typical some people apply and apply and never get a place, I applied not ever expecting to get a place and hey ho October comes and my paper work arrived with my official offer, including my running number!!
For those that have never been lucky enough to get a place in the London Marathon, when they offer you a place the paper work comes with a magazine. This provides information regarding the day but additionally lots of adverts for various national charities that are trying to entice you to run in aid of them. Many are massive charities offering all sorts of support on the day and for after the race, for example cheering parties round the course and massages afterwards. However my thought process was that if I was going to be running 26.2 miles I wanted to know where the money I raised went and importantly wanted to know that it was my local community that would be benefiting.
I had heard of Twinkle House and had an idea of the support, advice and guidance that they offered families. Importantly I knew that the work they do benefits those locally. When I contacted them they invited me down, showed me around and obviously provided me with the all important t-shirt!
So once my seemingly endless training was completed including many dark 5am starts and long runs on Saturdays often in cold, icy, wet and windy weather race day was finally here. 22nd April 2012 was a lovely clear, crisp, bright, sunny day. A nervous tube journey surrounded by my family and friends (cheering squad) and fellow runners was followed by a short walk to the Blue Start. After my first experience of women’s urinals…..in for a penny in for a pound!! I made my way to the official start.
Now on to the race itself er….. horrific, horrendous, awful, painful, long! It was too hot for me and I felt sick from about mile 3, which was definitely not a good feeling. However the crowds and the views of London……priceless, unbeatable, outstanding, fantastic, uplifting! There was nothing greater than hearing someone in the crowd shouting ‘cam on Twinkoo Hause!!’ And then you have the finish, you think it’s never going to come, every mile had felt like 3 but then there it is the famous tree lined Mall simply one of the best sights ever and a welcome sight for sore legs, feet, hips and knees.
It took me 6 hours and 51 seconds, the longest 6 hours of my life. It would have not been possible without the support of my wonderful family and friends not only on the day, but in the 6 months running up to the race. On the day they were crucial in getting me round that is for sure. In the back of my mind was my ultimate goal reaching the finish so I could collect my sponsor money for Twinkle House.
I have always said that I wanted to do the London Marathon, I wanted to do it before I was 30 but before I am 40 will do me. It is without a doubt one of the proudest moments of my life a massive achievement and one I will certainly treasure for the rest of my life. Would I do it again, if you’d asked me on 22nd April the answer would definitely have been no. However as the days have passed (well the following day actually) I have found myself thinking about how I’d like to beat my time!! Would I recommend it to other……….without a shadow of a doubt, do it, if I can do it so can you!
I can’t wait to collect all my money and to hand it over to Twinkle House it makes the long hard months of training, the long 26.2 miles, the blood, sweat and tears and the PAIN afterwards are all worth it.
I would just like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way. To all those who encouraged me, sponsored me and cheered me on!!!

Suzanne Taylor (Gould)

Twinkle House Volunteer to Carry Olympic Torch

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 08:26:01 +0000

Twinkle House Volunteer Christopher Owens has been chosen to carry the Olympic torch for his volunteer services to the Charity. Chris was nominated by his Assistant Manager Cathy Maguire of Wilkinson store where Chris works.

Chris will be carrying the torch in Blackpool On Friday 22nd June 2012 , as part of the relay he is carrying the torch for his services to Twinkle House on behalf of Coca-Cola.

Chris, of Ashurs, Skelmersdale generously volunteers his time and skills on his day off to help support local children and young people with disabilities and additional needs in sessions at Twinkle House.

Jill Appleton, Manager of Twinkle House said,
“We are so proud of Chris, he is a valued team member and very deserving of this opportunity. He puts a great deal of effort into his work at Twinkle House and cares very much about improving life for our clients. Chris really deserves this once in a life-time opportunity that he can treasure forever, well done Chris from all of us.”

Families and supporters are welcome to go and watch Chris carry the torch in Blackpool, there will be entertainment events on throughout the day in the surrounding areas.

The time of the event in Blackpool will be added to our website under ‘News’ once it is released.

CHARITY QUIZ NIGHT RAISED £468.08 – Thank you all contributers

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:35:22 +0000

Twinkle House would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the successful Quiz night held recently at Skelmersdale United Football Club.

The event raised £468.00 that will be used towards providing sensory sessions supporting local children and young people with disabilities and additional needs. Special thanks to Jan for organising the event, Quizmaster Harry, Lite Lunch who provided a Hotpot Supper, the band, Rasputin Jones who gave their free time to provide live music and Stan the fabulous DJ. The quiz winners who won £50.00 cash also kindly donated £10 back to the Charity, thank you

Thank you to all of the local businesses for their raffle donations including:
The Left Bank Brassiere, Garners, TurtleWax, PotsuPaint, Bannatyne’s, Knowsley Safari Park, Camelot Theme Park, Nye Bevan Pool, Charity Paintballing, Co-op Sandy Lane, Nails by Helen, McDonalds, Sunseekers, Rampworx, West Lancashire College, and the Grand Prize of £200 Treatment Voucher kindly donated by The Birkdale Clinic.
We really appreciate your support.

The Crystal Ball – Black Tie Event – 21st April 2012

admin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:26:36 +0000

Glass Slipper Events are holding an evening of entertainment in aid of Twinkle House.
The Crystal Ball will be held on Saturday 21st April 2012 at The Ramada Hotel, Southport.

Please join us to help raise much needed funds to support the vital work of Twinkle House that helps children and young people with disabilities and additional needs to improve their social and communication skills and their emotional well-being.

Show your support by buying a table for your business, invite your family and friends for a night filled with fun.

The Black Tie event will start at 7.30pm and guests will enjoy a four course dinner with live entertainment, Raffle, Charity Auction and dancing.

Tickets: From £350.00 for a table of 10 (few tickets left)!

For further details, please contact Glass Slipper Events direct:
Email: glassslipperevents@hotmail.co.uk
Telephone: 07935445003

Skelmersdale Football Club – Youngsters raise funds for Twinkle House

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:54:52 +0000

Twinkle House sends its THANKS to the Boys from Skelmersdale United Academy Under 10′s who entered a local football tournament at skelmersdale sports center and went on to win the ‘Chairmans Plate’ trophy for their particular division recieving a winners cheque for £200.

Winning the cheque was fantastic for the group who also recieved medals each and a big trophy.

The boys decided that it would be a great idea to donate the winning money to Twinkle House to help local young people with disabilities.

See the cheque presentation picture of the boys with Jan Fitzsimons at Skem United by viewing our Gallery under Donations.

CHARITY QUIZ NIGHT – FRIDAY 30TH MARCH – Skelmersdale Football Club

admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:54:59 +0000

Twinkle House is holding a Charity Quiz Night at Skelmersdale Football Club on Friday 30th March 2012, 7.30pm for 8pm start.

The event is being held to help raise funds to enable Twinkle House to provide its free supported sessions for local children and young people with disabilities and additional needs. The group need to raise £40,000 per year on top of the Lottery funding received last year and needs all the local help possible to do this.

You can help Twinkle House by joining us for the Quiz night. Tickets are £5 per person and include a Hotpot Supper supplied by Lite Bites and a Disco with local DJ who is supporting the Charity by giving their time for free.

The winning team will win £50! and there will be a Grand Raffle with super prizes such as a £250 Voucher for the Birkdale Clinic, meals for two, family days out and luxury packages for Women, Men, Children and the home.

Come along and join us for a night out with your family, friends, colleagues and see if you can be the Twinkle House Quiz Champions of the year as this is sure to be an often-repeated event!

For further details and tickets
contact: Jan Fitzsimons,
Tel: 01695 455625
Email: admin@twinklehouse.co.uk
or call into Twinkle House on Sandy Lane Centre, Skelmersdale.

Sign up for the 2012 Walk of Hope or Twinkle Trek – (1st September 2012)

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:12:51 +0000

If you need a good incentive to get back walking or running through the great outdoors during these winter months, what better than training for the 2012 Lancashire Walk of Hope?

If you would like to do this as a sponsored walk on behalf of Twinkle House please register online as per details below and also contact Jan Fitzsimons at Twinkle House. Tel: 01695 455625 or email Jan at admin@twinklehouse.co.uk for Flyer, sponsor form, T-shirt ect. If you would like to register for the Twinkle Trek (Family Walk) please contact Jan Fitzsimons.
(your registration fees will go to the Hands of Hope Romania Charity),

Bookings have just opened for this year’s event which is on Saturday 1st September at the same location as last year. In addition to our 4th 25 mile “Four Peaks Challenge” and the 18 mile “Two Peaks Challenge”, both of which are open to runners as well as walkers, we have a new 13 mile route “The Three Peaks Walk” which as its name suggests is for walkers only.

Another change for this year is the use of a third party company “UKforms” to help process the applications and send confirmation emails. The event is also advertised on the www.ukresults.net site, which is also another route onto our new online application forms. (we still have downloadable paper forms if someone you know is interested but has no access to a PC)

We very much hope you can join us again this year, booking is as usual via the website www.walkofhope.co.uk . Even if you can’t make it, we would be very grateful if you could spread the word amongst family, friends and colleagues, as more entrants not only makes for an even better atmosphere, but also raises more for charity.

To this end we have attached some flyers that you can email to others or print and put up in your workplace or college etc. to help advertise the event.

If you have any questions feel free to email them to me (Trevor Hilton) at this email address. lancswalkofhope@yahoo.co.uk

See you there!

Trevor Hilton
on behalf of The Walk of Hope Organisers

Well Done Kingsley Judd – Winner of the Furness Charity Challenge

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:03 +0000

Twinkle House Young Ambassador Kingsley Judd took part in the Furness Charity Challenge on Saturday 21st January at Lancaster Grand Theatre, competing against ten other talented applicants for a share in the £3,000 prize. Kingsley’s performance was outstanding and he won first prize of £1000 for his chosen Charities including Twinkle House and The Headway Charity.

Well done to Kingsley from everyone at Twinkle House, we are so pleased that he won as he is so talented and very much a deserving winner.

Pictures from the night will be on our website soon ….

Thank you Councillor Maggie Skilling

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:27:22 +0000

Twinkle House has benefited from a local Councillor grant from Lancashire County Councils Maggie Skilling. Maggie has shown her support for Twinkle House by providing funds to purchase six much needed Laser projectors for their Specialist Resource Library in order that more service users can benefit from taking the projectors home to help continue the vital support that the Charity offers with sleep and relaxation difficulties for local children and young people with disabilities and additional needs.

Twinkle House said;
Parents and carers have told us that using these special laser projectors has made a dramatic difference to relaxation during bed-time routine or at other times for clients with disabilities and additional needs such as sleep problems that use our service. By following advice and support provided at Twinkle House they have been able to follow a good night time routine using the projectors and get a good night’s sleep having their child/young person motivated to go to bed and stay in bed (information collected from parent/carer feedback).

Parents/carers tell us that the laser projectors work so well, however they are having to wait up to two months to be able to take one out from our Specialist Resource library as we only had a small quantity. The projectors are quite expensive to buy for parents, and we would like to be able to offer our additional support by having more of this fabulous resource to them.

Our many thanks to Maggie for the generous donation from her funds. The projectors will help many families in West Lancashire. Best wishes, Twinkle House