This week we welcomed Abbie from Derian House Children's Hospice to come and talk to our families about the work of a children's hospice and how it could support our families when needed. Abbie soon became popular with our children getting lots of smiles. Our theme of the week was doctors and nurses and we welcomed four new families to the session who had fun bandaging up the dolls and putting them to bed. some of our children just wanted to relax on Nessie where our staff a

Today we welcomed a new family to our stay and play session, although a little apprehensive mum managed to enjoy a brew and chat with other families and our professional visitor Neuro Disability Nurse Grace. I think it's safe to say both mum and child left feeling very relaxed and asked when they could come again. Todays session was all about music and sounds made by various musical instruments, a very popular but noisy session. Aidan and Jannah also paid us a quick visit whi

This week is half term, so we welcomed more families to this morning’s session, 5 in total. It was great to see siblings joining the session too! Our new facilities were very much appreciated, our accessible, specialist equipment really opens the door to inclusion! Today, we welcomed both familiar and new families, we look forward to creating a Jolly Josh community in time. At present (until July) our Stay and Play sessions are only open on Tuesday mornings between 10am and

Super Saver Thomas generously donated his pocket money (a whopping £54.46) to Jolly Josh, he told his Mummy (Naomi) that he wanted to help our children and their families. Thomas is in Sophie’s class at school (Joshua’s sister) and has supported our journey throughout, we think you’re a Super Star Thomas, thank you for being so kind! And we love your creative money box too! #fundraise #fundraiser #fundraising #thankyou #InspireInclusion #give #donate #connectsupportthrive #J

Today at our Jolly Josh #stayandplay session we celebrated #nationalchildrensday with the moto #choosekind We welcomed a new friend and explored sensory foam with our hands and feet! We had a lovely time playing and stretching on the mats too. We were joined by this week’s visiting professional, Alex. Alex is a Health Visitor and also a Jolly Josh Trustee, thank you so much for a lovely morning! We are looking forward to welcoming more of our Jolly Josh friends next week.

This week to raise awareness of #mentalhealthawarenessweek we welcomed MIND Rochdale and District to the session. This year's theme is 'loneliness' and as part of the #JollyJosh moto we aim to enable families to connect with both their peers and supportive professionals, in order to help them to thrive. Today, for our second session at our new centre, we welcomed 2 families. It was great to see both children enjoy the new #magiccarpet equipment, as you can see they became sub

Surreal, it’s the only word I can use to describe the opening of our very own Jolly Josh centre! Today the charity has reached a gigantic milestone, that once was an unrealistic, unachievable dream. For those that have followed and read my previous blogs, ‘HOPE’ features greatly in most. Today firstly demonstrates that we should never give up on hope, nor should we give up on our vision, our passion, our drive. ‘Inclusion’ is defined as ‘the practise or policy of providing e

In 2019 I was invited to Rochdale Woman of the Year as a shortlisted nominee. I worked at the local special school teaching children with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities and so replied to say that I didn’t think I’d be able to attend. After much persuasion from the organisers, I came to the event with a friend who was also a representative trustee of Jolly Josh. Friends and family were unable to book the time off work and, in all honesty, even though I was incr

We're in the customer vote for a Tesco Community Grant. It's a scheme which gives community projects like us grants of up to £1.500. Tesco customers will vote in all Rochdale stores and express stores from the first week in January 2022 and continue until 31st March 2022 to decide how much funding we get, so please don't forget to ask for your Blue token at the tills & support us next time you shop in Tesco. Please also encourage family and friends, the more votes we get the

I had the pleasure of going to meet Graham Poole today and to do the draw for the Sir Henry Cooper signed boxing glove, donated by Billy Feeney. Graham kindly auctioned off the glove in memory of Peter G Cordwell. A staggering £3,000 was raised for Jolly Josh. Thank you so much to all that bought tickets your generosity will make a huge difference to our place to call home. Congratulations to RMS who won this amazing prize. #fundraise #fundraising #thankyou #donate #give #Roc

Congratulation to Gemma Crabtree who celebrated her 40th birthday at home with friends and loved ones. when asked what she wanted for her birthday Gemma said she just wanted everyone to come along have a great time & make a donation to Jolly Josh the Charity very close to her heart. Thanks to the generosity of all guests Gemma raised a staggering £2,000. The funds will be spent on construction of our Place to call home. Thank you Gemma for your continued support of Jolly Josh

Thank you to Samena and staff at Streamline Taxis for supporting Jolly Josh #thankyou #fundraising #fundraise #fundraiser #charity #donate #give #Rochdale #ConnectSupportThrive #InspireInclusion #KeyToOurSuccess #JollyJosh

We are now four years into our grief journey, and it’s not become any easier, time IS NOT a healer. I no longer cry every day, but Joshua is in my thoughts throughout, casting a feeling of numbness, a sense of emptiness. Upon reflection, I changed the day that Joshua passed away, I didn’t want to but how could I not? I have felt the most mental and physical pain humanly possible, child loss. Its effects are life changing, personality changing and I’m now learning that I c

It is with huge appreciation that we say Thank You to our Jolly Josh fundraiser who gave himself the ultimate challenge of running a huge 10K EVERY DAY for 50 days! We're very grateful for his efforts, in doing so Aidan raised an amazing £1625 for our charity. The funds will all be spent on the construction of our 'place to call home', find out more here. Pictured: Aidan Gleeson (left) with James Kelly, Joshua's Daddy and Jolly Josh Volunteer #thankyou #fundraising #fundra

We're so very grateful to each and every fundraiser, sponsor and volunteer who help Jolly Josh and this weekend we've a very special group of people to thank... PLASTERING PROGRESS! Volunteers have spent this sweltering weekend plaster skimming our ‘place to call home’ Our friend Jess is a professional plasterer, and a member of the online Plasterers Forum, she put forward the story of Jolly Josh to the forum and received amazing support from the community. In recent years, t

We decided to donate the money raised to Jolly Josh as we think what the charity offers is priceless for parents of children with special n

During #lockdown various craft businesses took part in a 'Virtual Craft Makers Market', the craft fair gained a huge £320 for #JollyJosh. Thank you to Lesley Downton and those involved in the supply and purchasing, we're extremely grateful and all funds will go towards the build of our #placetocallhome, updates of the construction can be found here. #ConnectSupportThrive #InspireInclusion #Rochdale#Charity

#Thankyou to Elizabeth Rushton from the Rochdale Observer for featuring our #JollyJosh Lockdown Photography Project, #aportraitofourfamilies. To view our beautiful gallery in full, please click here. #ConnectSupportThrive #InspireInclusion #Rochdale #NHS #HoldStill #PPE #ComplexMedicalNeeds #Shielding #Lockdown #Covid19 #Charity #volunteer @AsiaBurrilPhotography @AsiaBurrilWeddings

Oliver is one! Our journey has been difficult, we’ve never actually had the time to appreciate just how difficult...

I feel that I am very honoured to work alongside each family throughout their journey however long or short this is.