We hope this update finds you well, having had an enjoyable summer.
We’ve had a fantastic year so far, and thanks to your love and support, Evie’s Foundation continues to go from strength to strength, with your generous donations and fundraising meaning that we now support well over 100 Heroes working in Paediatrics.
The summer has seen so many amazing events, with our inaugural bike ride in June, being chosen as one of the charities supported by the Deal Quilt show in July, partnering with the wonderful Dockers Brewery to launch our new Evie labelled IPA in September, alongside our flagship September Walk which was once again so well supported.
We have launched the 3rd season of our Fantasy Football league, hosted our annual Quiz night at Holiday Extras (raising a whopping £5k!), and held our second golf day at the world class Princes course in Sandwich.
Now we look forward to our Christmas party to be held once again at Betteshanger Country Park – huge thanks to Mark Quinn and his team for their continued support.
Please do read on for more information on all of these events and more as well as our new Heroes and what they’ve been up to.
Financials
The Foundation’s donations in 2024 has been amazing with a total of £108,990 raised so far, bringing our 2022-2024 total to £277,948 excluding money raised in merchandise. We are so grateful to each and everyone of you for your amazing donations and fundraising, for your unwavering support of Evie’s charity, and all the events organised.
We have just completed and submitted our first set of financial statements which cover the period from launching the Foundation in August 2022 to the end of December 2023. This is a great milestone for which we were ably assisted by an external accounting firm, Kreston Reeves, who have signed off the accounts.
We all need a hero!
We have been so delighted with the number and variety of incredible Heroes we’ve been able to support so far this year. We have had 56 new applicants, including people from completely new hospitals in Brighton, Manchester, York, Cambridge, Glasgow and Suffolk). We’ve also been proud to support 16 further applications from existing Heroes, many of whom are year 2 applications for their original course, but we have also been privileged to support some truly dedicated Heroes looking to complete a brand new course.
Finally, we have also supported 3 teams of applicants, which in total means we have supported 87 people so far this year, investing over £130,000 in their development, so they can provide even more exceptional care to children and their families. Here is some of the feedback we’ve received from our fantastic Heroes, thanking you for the support you have given that has supported their development which we wanted to share with you:
‘It was truly the best professional development experience I have had in my career thus far and so many ideas to bring back to consider in practice’
‘I just want to say a huge thank you for all the support this year. I have almost finished the second year of the MSc, and it’s been a great experience of learning and developing further as a Paediatrician. The third and last year is about to come, and I’m really excited for all that awaits me.’
‘I am so very honoured to receive this funding confirmation, for the very kind words from your trustees and their unanimous approval. I will endeavour to represent the Evie Dove Foundation to the best of my ability as I attend the SIOPEN meeting this coming week’
’Oh my goodness! You are the best!’
“Many thanks for your email and for the offer. This good news is a lovely way to start the week”
“I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Evie Foundation for granting me this opportunity. Your generosity and support are invaluable, and I cannot thank you enough for considering my application. The application process itself was remarkably smooth and efficient. It is evident that you value applicants’ time and strive to streamline the process as much as possible. Receiving this grant has not only provided me with financial assistance but has also boosted my confidence and motivation. Knowing that there are organisations like yours out there, willing to invest in individuals’ potential, inspires me to work even harder towards achieving my aspirations. I am truly grateful for your belief in my potential and for the invaluable boost of confidence and motivation that this grant has given me.”
Our Heroes have also blown us away this year with their incredible support. The King’s team (Sam, Lucy, Ellie, Kat, Rowen, Asha, Emilie and Laura) completed their own Evie heart walk in London, starting at Kings College Hospital, where Evie received such amazing care. Sam baked cakes, Hannah, Humphrey, Cuba, Katherine and Claire joined us on the walk and Ellie ran a marathon, all to raise money for other Heroes, passing on Evie’s legacy of kindness. Thank you.
What have we been up to?
A Mini Swim Film Festival
On the May bank holiday we put on a great and unique event; a film festival focusing on open water swimming and the benefits to health, mental and physical. This included the screening of Under The Surface, a documentary dedicated to the incredible Jim Read (a friend of the Foundation) who broke his back and was told he would never walk again… Well he did and now swims oceans together with our Trustee Simon Hagger! Jim and the filmmaker Rachel Sarah kindly dedicated the film to Evie and the Foundation. The event packed out the Folkestone Tower Theatre with 200 people and raised over £3,000. Thank you to Stephen Gould, swim coach and friend who organised the most incredible raffle prizes with top swimming and outdoor brands, and compered the afternoon.
The Big Bike Ride
Our first Big Bike ride in July was a great success despite the biblical weather conditions. We managed to escort 50 intrepid cyclists through a 45km ride through the hidden areas of the Kent countryside, followed by pizzas and a few drinks for all finishers. The ride raised £4,000 and was such a success we are already on sale for a repeat event in 2025! Our thanks to the amazing James and Chloe from Craft Bikes and their crew for running this on our behalf in such a professional way.
Fantasy Football League
We have recently launched the 3rd season of our Fantasy Football league – competition is fierce, both for those who spend hours trying to recruit the best team and for those who choose to do nothing and win the prize for the highest score whilst making no changes for the whole season! We call this the Clattenburg Trophy, after the referee Mark Clattenburg, who famously joined our league in its first year. This year’s league has an incredible 227 of you competing, raising over £4,000 – good luck to you all in your quest for a prize!
Dockers Brewery – Evie Labelled IPA
The 1st September saw the launch of our Evie labelled IPA in collaboration with Dockers Brewery in Hythe.
The launch event was held at the Dockers bar in Sandgate, where the sun shone, many Evie beers were drunk, delicious curry from the Fat Raj next door was eaten and we were treated to much laughter thanks to the comedic talents of Kate Lucas.
A huge thanks to Angela and her team at Dockers for their support, love and partnership, and to Jasper at the Oak studio for creating such a beautiful Evie label design. The label features jellyfish drawn by Evie herself which made it all the more special xx
The beers have been doing well, we have a few boxes left so do make contact if you would like a box – £90 donation for 24 beers, with £33 of that going straight to sponsor our heroes.
The Big Coastal Walk and Little Canal Walk
September also saw the second edition of The Big Coastal Walk and Little Canal Walk, hosted by the amazing Unit 1, and attended by a staggering 250 people. It was wonderful to see so many old and new faces taking on a great challenge, it is truly heartwarming to see that sea of pink t-shirts making their way along the Hythe, Sandgate and Folkestone seafront. A huge thank you also to good friends Oli & Patsy Ashford who organised their own version of the walk in the Midlands, to Ktown who organised the second annual Cyprus leg of the walk, and also to our sponsors including Biddenden Juice, Kent Crisps, Tescos, Asda, The Harbour Arm, and Trophies Plus Medals whose contributions mean every single penny of the £20k raised in donations will go towards creating new heroes. We have already allocated funds to a new hero, Sumeya Abdi and will keep you updated on how we invest the remaining donations. If you want to guarantee your place for next year then sign up early for 6th September 2025 – it is getting more and more popular every year! The Big Coastal Walk 2025
Where’s Dickie?
We can’t mention the walk without an update on the legend that is Dickie Mackness, we are delighted to confirm that he is on the move again having recovered from injury and was last seen in Scotland advancing towards an incredible 2000 miles walked since September 2023! Thank you so much Dickie, we are forever grateful that you are out there walking day after day in all weather conditions to raise money and awareness of Evie’s Foundation. You can keep track of Dickie using this link https://theeviedovefoundation.org/campaign/wheres-dickie/
TEDF Golf Day
The annual TEDF golf day was held at the famous links in East Kent, Princes Golf Club, on 16th October. We were treated to a sun bathed course in superb condition and warmly hosted by Rob and Ali McGuirk and their team at the club. In total 76 golfers took part in the competition and we raised around £12k, which will broadly fund 6 NHS heroes. The winning team was assembled by Matt Spanton (who led his side remotely as he tended to his asparagus fields due to a last minute emergency!). We already have a date for next year at Princes (15th October 2025), so please put it into your diaries and email Hugo Loudon if you wish to enter a team.
Deal Quilt Show 2024
In July we were so lucky to be selected as one of the charities supported by Phoenix Quilters. The show included a quilt made by Evie’s great grandad and was a huge success and a lovely weekend, raising almost £2000 to help us sponsor another Hero. Thank you.
Merchandise
We also have a fabulous range of merchandise available for sale, with around 10-15% of the purchase price going towards creating Heroes. We have a lovely new stock of pink t-shirts, pink and white baseball caps and sweatshirts including a fabulous brand new blue version – perfect as the winter months approach.
Thank You
A massive heartfelt thanks to all those that have donated to the Foundation, every donation helps us with funding paediatric medical professionals. In particular the donations from Mr & Mrs Kenny, The Pack Foundation, Cornwallis Freemasons, Twelve Electrics and also to our fundraisers; Scott Ware for an amazing amount raised in such a short time; Kings School Support Staff for making us their annual charity and also joining in the walk and bike ride; the Partnerships Team at Holiday Extras for Evie Sells Sea Shells, a car drive around Europe; the team at King’s Hospital for Evie’s Heart Walk in London; the Chequers Inn in Ash; Cathy Wybrow for doing the 3 Peaks Challenge; Becky Boyce for 100k during September; Chris Elson, Emma Taylor and Alison Ortiz for walking the North Downs Way. And also Radnor Arms, Folkestone for raising funds by doing a monthly quiz night and, as always, Unit 1 for their ongoing year round support, and fabulous hosting of the Big Coastal Walk.
We’re sure 2025 will be another very special year for Evie’s Foundation, continuing to build on Evie’s legacy by helping to support more amazing people working in children’s medicine in so many fields to make a difference to the lives of sick children and their families.
We already have plans for so many events in 2025, including the return of the Big Bike Ride (register before the 1st Jan 2025 for early bird offer), our 17 mile annual walk is now an annual staple in the events calendar (and/or contact us to arrange a walk in your area), our Christmas party grows each year and will be back again, alongside our popular garden party also returning in June next year in the beautiful village of Kingsdown.
It just remains to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you for all you have done to support Evie’s Foundation – your support makes a difference, helping to save lives and make a difference to the lives of those sick children and their families that our Heroes look after.
We hope you can join us in 2025 at one of our events, or even do your own challenge to raise funds to support our Heroes.
Kindest regards,
Howard, Katie, Caroline, Simon, Matt, Hugo, Helen
The Trustees
