January was a quiet month but then....

In February 2023, we had some supporters join our 'Swim the English Channel... well, kind of' event - Kellie-Marie raised £290, Tracy raised £117 and Chloe raised £258.

Kellie-Marie is pictured above with her son, Alfred, who joined his mum for the last lap in the pool.

Our student community also took part in some fundraising in February - the Cardiff students raised £79 with a cake sale and Prithi & Aishu held a fundraising for their joint birthdays, raising a very impressive £734 from generous friends and family.

In March, Belfast student Zhi ran the Belfast marathon and raised £197. Well done Zhi!

May 2023 saw another swimming challenge. Richard, who is a member of our Fundraising Committee, took part in the Great North Swim alongside fellow doctor Clare. Between them... £1,412 was raised. Amazing work!

Richard and Clare are pictured above with their medals after the swim on a very sunny day in the Lakes!

Arthur's grandad, Richard, climbed the Yorkshire Three Peaks on one of the hottest days of the year. He also managed to raise £1043 along the way. 

The summer was a little quiet although Julie Davies, Speech and Language Therapist, gave an excellent online talk which also brought  in £240.

And then.... Liam and Mahaveer decided to jump out of a plane for CLEFT in August!! We think they're a bit crazy but also very special for managing to raise £509, in just 48 hours too!

   

This autumn was our peak fundraising time. We had people taking part for CLEFT in some of the big events around the country: the Great North Run, Swim Serpentine and the mighty Berlin Marathon. This was our first time in Berlin and it didn't disappoint.

       

Jane and Emma (left), James (centre) and Mahen (right) before, during and after the Great North Run. They raised £1759 between them.

After only being given the go-ahead to swim the day before the event (due to the state of the algae in the Serpentine), our three Swim Serpentine swimmers, Leanne, Paul and Tracy brought in £1,173.

     

Vicky, Joshua and Ailbhe, three of the Berlin runners pictured left, and right, their loyal and wonderful supporters who cheered them every step of the way. The Berlin Marathon runners raised a total of £7,009 in the end which was our biggest fundraising event of 2023. 

It wasn't all about running or swimming. We had some less active but no less fun activities in November and December, starting with the Queen's University Belfast bake sale, selling so many cakes they raised £274. Hot on the back of their success, they held a pub quiz (amount raised TBC).

   

Zhi is pictured above at the quiz with fellow student ambassadors.

Then came the wine tasting at the end of November and thanks to the incredible generosity of people donating on the night, we raised £728. Our pre-Christmas Grand Toy Raffle raised £405 from the 81 tickets we sold - thank you Mattell for donating the toys raffled. Mattell also donated some Barbie Dreamhouses which were sold (with permission) for £750 on Facebook marketplace.

The last event of the year was our Christmas online quiz with our brilliant Quiz Master Anthony, raising £445.

Also to mention is Gwyneth, who has been quietly selling friends' unwanted clothes on Ebay all year long, giving 100% of proceeds to CLEFT.

Every person's effort and contribution this year, whether through fundraising or by raising awareness of our charity, is very much appreciated. We look forward to seeing what happens in 2024 now!