Dates For Your Diary.

Beach Party & AGM.

Sunday 7th July Thame Barn, Thame.

10am to 4pm

Pantomime. Saturday 4th January 2014

Robin Hood. Oxford Playhouse

Refreshments afterwards at Randolph Hotel 2pm Start

Visit our website at http://www.friendsofoscar.org.uk/

Inside this issue…….

[Type a quote from the document or the summary

\ \

Pantomime 2013

On the 12th January, 97 people came along to the Friends of O.S.C.A.R annual pantomime. They were treated to an excellent performance of Dick Whittington at the Oxford Playhouse. The pantomime included some great characters’ including a very funny & at times colourful dame, who at one point forgot his lines. There was also an evil King Rat & of course the good fairy. The show also had a very agile cat that performed a lot of acrobatic moves. After the show families were treated to tea & cakes at the Randolph Hotel. Thank you to those people who were unable to attend & let us know promptly as we were able to fill your seats. As we have to pay for the seats ahead of the performance we do like to fill them if we can. Next year’s pantomime has been booked; it is Robin Hood at the Oxford Playhouse on the 11th January 2014 at 2pm. I would also like to say thank you to all the staff at the Oxford Playhouse & the Randolph Hotel with all their help both on the day & during the booking process.

Spring 2013

Read All About It.

Firstly we would like start by saying some thank you's, firstly to everyone that sold the Car Draw Raffle tickets this has raised £645.84 for Friends of O.S.C.A.R. As you will see from the list of donations we have had some large sums of money donated Including £10,000 from the ‘The Big Lottery Fund’, with the help of Rosie’s Rainbow, this money will be used for the adolescent weekend, £6,000 from ‘RWE Npower’ this has been set aside to be used to produce the Parent Information book for those of you that remember the old red shared care diary the new information book will replace these. We have also been awarded £2950.00 from Macmillan £1,950 of this will fund the Sharing Information Day & £1,000 will go towards the Parent Information Book. We would also like to say a huge thank you to all those individuals & families that have helped or ran fund raising events for us & those of you that have made donation to us. As many of you are aware it takes a substantial amount of money to run the events each year. We are always looking for help with fund raising this can be anything from helping out on a stall for a couple of hours, collecting a cheque on our behalf, letting us know of events in your area, running your own event or taking part in another fund raising event. If you are interested in doing any of these things or if you have your own ideas about how we can increase funding please let us know. We have booked a stall at the Banbury Town Show on the 9th June & as it is the week before Father’s Day we plan to do Father’s Day crafts & gifts. The Clare Foundation are organising The Red Kite Ramble again this year. It is on the 24th June, & rambles are 5, 10 or 18 miles long through the Chiltern Country Side. Refreshments and car parking will be provided. Dogs are welcome. Although we are not organising this event any money you raise will go to FOO. If you are interested in taking part please let me know & I will send you the poster with the links on it so you can register.

Read All About It…

Our next event will be the family Fun Day & AGM to be held on the 7th July at Thame Barn in Thame. Details Enclosed. We have a number of ways that you can support Friends of O.S.C.A.R without any cost to yourselves: www.spendandraise/friendsofoscar There are 100’s of retailers on here just type this address in before going to your online retailer & if they are on the list Friends of O.S.C.A.R will earn commission & sometimes they offer discounts to the purchaser.

Charity Flowers: Make a donation each time someone buys flowers. Charitecards: make an £8.00 donation to Friends of O.S.C.A.R when you sign up. Then send free cards for a year. Jewellery, Mobiles & ink cartridge recycling: Envelopes are available from the office or if you work somewhere that uses toner cartridges & they are thrown away please contact the office & I can put you in touch with a company that will come & collect them free of charge. Launched in November, we now have a Facebook group for Friends of O.S.C.A.R. We would like to say a big thank you to Stan & Steph Newton who have decided to step down from roles within Friends Of O.S.C.A.R, Stan has been looking after our web site for the last four years & Steph has been a committee member for about the same length of time. The Friends of O.S.C.A.R committee are delighted that Jay JayaMohan has agreed to become a patron of Friends of O.S.C.A.R. Many of you will know Jay but for those of you don’t he is Consultant Paediatric Neuro Surgeon at the Oxford Children’s Hospital & star of the recent BBC2 program Brain Doctors. Thank you to Jay for agreeing to become our patron. For more information on any of the above please contact the office

on 01235 816310 or carolharrison@utdsl.com.

Adolescent weekend 2012

Adolescent weekend 2012

DONATIONS to Friends of O.S.C.A.R

Sale of Knitted Easter Chicks £100.00

Family Donations

£115.00

Recycle 4 Charity. £394.65

Tombola Banbury Christmas Fayre £155.74

Jewellery Envelopes.

£7

Northwood Prep School Easter Football Tournament £500.00

Banbury Xmas Fayre

£67.00

Chalgrove Cavaliers Football Team £200.00

Fun Day Raffle

£146.91

Wallingford Car Ralley £35.00

Alan & Janet Bayley Trail Rides

£1011.20

Robinson Family Stall at Tingewick Beer Festival £440.00

DONATIONS to Friends of O.S.C.A.R

Red Kite Walk

J Riches £87.00 Mrs Shaw £156.00

East Family £152.50 Fake Family £ 87.00 Haigh Family £237.00

Bristol to Oxford Bike Ride, Elton Riches

£1114.50

Mrs Thompson Donation £50.00

Dunwoody Family Donation & Sponsored Walk £85.00

RWE Npower

£6,000.00

MacMillan £2950.00

FSI Raffle £645.84

Lottery

£10,000.00

Coffee Morning Fake & Rowe Family £382.00

Useful Information

The Cinema Exhibitors’ Association Card: If you are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance or are registered blind. You can apply for the above card at

www.ceacard.co.uk or ask for a form at your local cinema. There

have been changes to the card it now only lasts one year & not three. Everything else remains the same. The National Blind Children’s Society: Has a wide ranging parent support service for families of children with visual impairment www.nbcs.org.uk tel 08007811444

Airport Guide for those with a disability or reduced mobility: This guide is available at www.parkat.co.uk/disabled. The guide includes things like travelling with medication along with information for people who have sight & hearing impairments as well as people who have mobility issues. Audio Books: Free postal book service, with a section for children. The Calibre Audio Library can also be visited in Aylesbury Buckinghamshire please phone 01296432339 or go to www.calibre.org.uk Medpac www.medpac.co.uk provide medicine storage bags in two sizes priced at £5.99 & £9.99. These are bright orange so can be easily found in the bottom of a school bag or medicine cupboard at school. They also come with a ID & treatment card. There is space for a photo of your child on the ID card & space to write information about the drug on the treatment card. These bags are ideal for carrying around EpiPens, diabetic medication or emergency hydrocortisone injections.

Education A new system for recording a child’s academic achievements has been trialled & due to become mandatory from January 2014. Every pupil from the age of 14 will be issued with a Unique Learner Number (ULN). This is a 10 digit number that a pupil or other educational organisation can use. Over the years a child will build up a Personal Learning Record (PLR) of achievements. Every child will be able to access this using their ULN & can use it when making applications for jobs etc. Other agencies will be able to use it for it administration purposes. Other users will include local authorities, education/career organisations, exam boards & funding agencies.

Free e-audio books & e books Oxfordshire County Council has set up a new free lender service for e audio & e books. For more details go to the Oxfordshire County Council website. If you live outside Oxfordshire go to your County Council web site & see if they are offering a similar service Driving If your child is in receipt of the high rate mobility part of DLA they can apply for a driving license at 16. You can book an assessment at one of the Regional Driving Assessment Centres the nearest is at Eynsham near Oxford www.rdac.co.uk or phone 08453371540. For a driver assessment you will need to have a full or provisional licence. They will also help with adaption’s to your car for carers & they have a fully equipped vehicle. Bus Passes for Disabled Adults & Children We have recently applied for one of these as a family & have been successful. We did not apply before because I did not feel we fitted the criteria set out on the web site. We then contacted the council & discussed it & we were advised to apply. It is free to apply via your local council web site you will need a letter from your doctor & a couple of passport sized photographs.

Rowathon at Hellidon Lakes Hotel

I heard that Q Hotels' Hellidon Lakes had chosen Friends of O.S.C.A.R as their Charity of The Year & were organising a Rowathon to raise money. We are members of their Gym so when my Mum told me she had entered me for this, I thought I was rowing across the Lake & not on a machine in the middle of the Spa corridor, next to the Bar!! People had been rowing throughout the day & I was booked to row for ten minutes at 7.00 pm, after my Mum & before my Dad (they didn’t get away with it). I was quite conscious that people were walking past me but there was a good atmosphere & as I really enjoy the O.SC.A.R Adolescent Weekends, I was happy to try & raise some money. Ten minutes doesn’t sound a lot but when you are going flat out, it seems like thirty!!! I managed to raise £120.00 for my effort & I think the total, for this event, was around £600.00.

A Huge thank you to George & his family & the team at the Hellidon Lakes Hotel for choosing us to be their Charity of Choice.

Brighton Half Marathon

Katherine Thomey a family friend of the Fake family offered to run the Brighton Half Marathon in aid

of Friends of O.S.C.A.R.

. We would all like to say a huge thank you & congratulations to Katherine she finished the run in 2 hours & 22 seconds. Katherine has raised approx £400.00 & she is hoping to be able to get this match funded. The money she has raised will go towards our family fun day & AGM to be held on the 7th July at Thame Barn. The day will have a seaside Theme.

Christmas Card SALE

We have reduced the Christmas cards to £2.00 per pack including postage. If you would like to take advantage of this offer please email the office on carolharrison@utdsl.com or phone 01235 816310.

Donations To O.S.C.A.R

We would like to say thank you to a few people who have made donations to O.S.C.A.R recently including Paula Watson who makes Xmas puddings & mince pies annually then sells & raffles them for us. They must be good as she raised £67.00 this year. Also Helen Dunwoody who has been continuing to collect in sponsor money from the sponsored walk she arranged last year with a group of friends. Helen has also made some contacts in the area that she lives. She has recently been invited to talk about O.S.C.A.R at her local Inner Wheel Group at Uxbridge & they made a donation of £50.00. In 2010 she arranged to sell Xmas cards on our behalf at a local nursery called Sticky Fingers as a result of making this contact she was presented with a cheque for £50.00 last year. We would also like to thank Faye from the same nursery who made & sold cakes & raised £20.00.

WANTED

Friends of O.S.C.A.R are planning to have a number of stalls at various events throughout the coming year, including amongst others a small gift stall at the Banbury Mayors Christmas Bazaar. If you have any unwanted small items that we can wrap & make into gifts or anything we can use as tombola or raffle prizes we would be very grateful for them. You can either give the office a ring or drop me an email & I may be able to arrange collection or bring them along to the next event that you attend

Congratulations To:

To Ian & Hannah on the birth of Reggie. As far as we are aware he is the first Friends of O.S.C.A.R baby. Both Ian & Hannah have attended the Adolescent Weekends.

Contact Details

We have had a number of problems recently where families have moved or changed phone number without letting us know & then contacting us to find out why they have not had information sent to them. If you change any of your contact details including email & mobile number please let us know. Even if you don’t wish to continue receiving information we can then take you off our contact list. A quick email to let us know your change of details is fine. Our contact information is: Friends of O.S.C.A.R 5 Abingdon Road, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 9BL Phone Number: 01235 816310 Email: carolharrison@utdsl.com

Travel Insurance

This seems to be a problem year round for families we are still keen for you to try Freedom Insurance as they pay us a commission on all policy’s sold. Please quote O.S.C.A.R when you phone.

Medi Quote Telephone 0845 8800163

Essential Travel Telephone 08707353600

All Clear Travel Insurance. Telephone 08707779339,

Website www.allcleartravel.co.uk

Freedom Travel Insurance. Telephone 08707743760, Website www.freedominsure.co.uk

Insure & Go. Telephone 08448882787,

Website www.insureandgo.com

One word of advice from a family that has recently been trying to obtain travel insurance please double check all the information given to

the company go through it twice if need be. They did find that the information given was not taken down correctly the first time.

If you are having difficulty finding travel insurance please contact the

office as I have just been sent a new list of insurers.