NEWSLETTER  •  AUTUMN 2022

Anna's News

Wow, what fun I've had in my first few months as Activity Leader for HopScotch. I feel so happy to be back helping to provide our visiting groups with lots of awesome and memorable experiences. It's been great to visit familiar activities like horse riding and the gondola, as well as trying out new ones like tubing and the segways.

My favourite new addition to HopScotch is the fantastic activity centre which has given the children another place to play. This space has been extra handy when the weather has been wild outside, on the darker evenings, and for our kids yoga sessions. The activity centre has also enabled me to run climbing sessions with the children where they can rise to new challenges, learn and develop their climbing skills, and have fun playing some climbing games. As the week progresses I can see the children gain more confidence in climbing and in themselves too.

Of course the best part of my job is to be able to see the children having the most amazing week. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard a child say "this is the best week of my life"! What a privilege to be able to share it with them.

Funding News

We are always delighted and honoured when someone chooses to give to HopScotch, and we're especially thrilled when a very kind lady got in touch earlier in the summer to say she would like to donate. For her 90th birthday, she decided she would like to give back to the area she had grown up. So she generously asked people to donate to HopScotch - in the end, she raised an incredible £250! She grew up in Muirhouse, just around the corner from our HopScotch office in Edinburgh. We were so happy to welcome her and her daughter into our office to hear her lovely story and receive her wonderful donation.

We want to say a big thank you to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission staff, who supported us as their staff charity. The team arranged brilliant fundraising events, from bake sales to quizzes, climbing Ben Nevis, and cycling the North Coast 500! In total, the staff team raised a phenomenal £4612 for HopScotch. Thank you so much to everyone who was involved and everyone who gave so generously.

We're also very grateful to the Robertson Trust and the Barbara Ward Children's Foundation, who have contributed to funding our Project Worker post for the last three years. This long-term support has been invaluable to us.

Finally, we are so proud of our fantastic administrator Alison Bass who recently ran the London Marathon (again!) and raised a tremendous £643.61, and you can still donate here if you'd like to make your contribution! Alison has been part of the HopScotch team for an incredible 18 years, helping to make everything on the operations side run smoothly and working hard to generate vital funds. What a star!

If you feel inspired by our fundraising stories and would like to help, get in touch, and we'd be happy to help you get started. Don't forget that we have also recently made it possible for you to make a direct donation via text. Text HAPPY to 70560 to donate £10. Texts will cost the donation amount (£10) plus one standard network rate message, and you will be opting to hear more from us. If you want to donate but don't want to hear more from us, please text HAPPYNOINFO instead. You can also click on the link here to donate any amount. Either choose from the amounts displayed or type your desired amount into the box. 

Thank you to everyone for all your support. It makes such a difference to our work and helps us to continue to support vulnerable children in Scotland to have better childhood experiences.

'Taigh Sona' Activity Centre Opening

On a joyful summer day on June 15th, we were so excited to get together to celebrate the official opening of our activity centre! Children from the Big Project were enjoying their respite break with HopScotch that week, so we could enjoy food and fun together in the beautiful space that had been created. Derek gave a short and moving speech, and then Angus finally cut the ribbon to declare the centre officially open. The activity centre has been given the name Taigh Sona, which is gaidhlig for "The Happy House". Based on the children's feedback, it seems like the perfect name!

...And Finally

We were sad to say goodbye to Angus and his family at the end of June. Angus has been a phenomenal Project Worker, and we know he will be missed by everyone who has spent time with him at Ardvullin.
However, we are delighted to welcome Anna back to HopScotch! In Anna's new role as our child-centred Activity Leader, she will continue to ensure the children who come to Ardvullin have fabulous respite breaks and make brilliant memories that will last a lifetime.
Working alongside Anna at Ardvullin is Angela, our new Caretaker. Angela is living on-site and ensuring that everything runs smoothly and looks great. It's fantastic to have her on our team! Completing our team at Ardvullin is Frank, our Minibus Driver - if you have travelled to Ardvullin, then you will have already had the pleasure of meeting Frank, and maybe singing along with him too!