TOTS turned silly and went bananas to help towards raising £20,000 for disabled youngsters in the region. Scores of toddlers and their families packed up a picnic and enjoyed a fun day at Cobalt Office Park in North Tyneside in support of the Chronicle Sunshine Fund Go Bananas appeal.The office park teamed up with the Just Learning Day Nursery on site to host a Chimps Picnic on Saturday where everyone dressed up for the occasion. Participants brought along cuddly monkeys, dressed in animal onesies, wore yellow and ate bananas while fooling around and picnicking in the park. Some made their way up to the Sun Dial, which is the highest point in North Tyneside, where they took advantage of the warm weather.
Amy Carrol, community coordinator for Cobalt, said:
“We are delighted to be supporting the Sunshine Fund in conjunction with supplying a host of fun events for staff and their families throughout the year.Working at Cobalt brings with it great benefits, everyone can get involved in the extensive package of events and offers available for the whole Cobalt community.”
More than 11,000 employees on Cobalt, families of children attending the Just Learning Day Nursery, the local community and Sunshine Fund. Families were invited to attend with scores taking up the offer. All picnickers met at nursery before enjoying an easy stroll into the Silverlink Biodiversity Park on site.
Victoria Solomon, manager at the Just Learning Day Nursery, said:
“At Just Learning Nursery on Cobalt Park we love to support local charities and the park with events that will benefit both the charity and our nursery children.Most of our nursery families took part and the event was enjoyed by all. We hope to raise lots of money for the Fund.”
Last week, we launched the Chronicle’s Sunshine Fund “Go Bananas” appeal where – throughout the whole of June – we are calling on everyone to do something wild to enable us to reach a fundraising target of £20,000 by the end of the month. Whether it be getting sponsored to dye your hair, staging a ‘Let’s Dance’style competition, organising a cake and coffee morning, there are hundreds of ways to help. Those who don’t have the time to organise an event can help even just by donating a couple of pounds as every penny counts towards bettering these children’s and their families’ lives. Fundraisers can also sign up to take part in this year’s Sunshine Run. The annual 5k run, which is sponsored by Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, will take place on June 26 and money raised from the event will hopefully help us reach the £20k mark.
Caroll Pattison, director at the Sunshine Fund, said:
“What a fabulous sight to see all the children and families in costumes enjoying themselves while raising much needed funds for our Sunshine children’s equipment.”