Newspaper Coverage and Eye Gaze

Another excellent week for Andrew's campaign. His story was featured in the Scottish Sunday Express - please go and check it out and add a comment as this will increase the story's visibility. Next stop will be TV coverage!

Andrew ready to scare as a Psychotic Surgeon on Halloween

Andrew has recently started using an eye gaze communication aid where he uses his eyes a bit like a mouse. He looks at the screen, then selects by holding his gaze for a fixed period of time (instead of clicking the mouse, he holds his gaze). We've just been told by Andrew's speech and language therapist that there is huge potential here for Andrew to use this system to "talk". He has very quickly 

understood how it works, and has been using his eyes to paint pictures. He's going to sell some of these paintings at our Family Fun Day and Fayre! 

THIS is why Andrew deserves to go to college; without college he will not have the opportunity to continue to develop his skills.

Thanks for all your support so far. I'm planning a bloghop in January that should result in something very special to raise funds for the campaign: watch this space!

Andrew's Birthday and Sponsored Cycle Run

Andrew with his dad Neil at
the start of the bicycle race

Well, what a week it's been for the campaign. Andrew entered adulthood on Monday when he turned 18 and celebrated with two cakes (one from Mum and one from school!) We've added three fantastic raffles to the Facebook page: a decadent and indulgent afternoon tea for two with gourmet sandwiches, chef’s cakes & treats and a vintage teapot filled with your choice of cocktail to share at the recently re-launched Mamasan on Bath Street Glasgow; a delicious Boudoir Experience at Choccywoccydoodah in Brighton, and don't forget the amazing 15" flat screen football TV still up for grabs! Go on, snag yourself a top treat for next to nothing and support a great cause!

Also, today was a great day as we all went for our Sponsored Cycling Run in Strathclyde Park, North Lanarkshire. The sun may not have shone but we had fun cycling the 6k round the lake, and as you can see, Andrew was beside himself! We have yet to tally up the final total but we've raised a wonderful amount from our generous sponsors - thanks to you all!

We are currently looking for our items for our second Online Auction to be held in the run up to Christmas. Again, check the Facebook page to see the items that have been donated so far, and get in touch if you'd like to contribute. And if you're in the area we've got our Family Fun Day and Fayre in Ravenstruther Hall, Lanark on November 10th.

Results of the Auction!

Just one of the items which have been won!

Our very first Auction for Andrew is officially over, and thanks to the generous support of our donors and bidders, we've raised a final total of £457.50. The response has been amazing! Heather will be in touch shortly with all parties to facilitate the shipping of items. Thanks again!

In other exciting news, Andrew has received a letter from Beaumont College detailing his upcoming assessment and overnight  stay to check out the facilities and accommodation. The assessment looks at what care and support Andrew needs, and will also tell us how much this is going to cost! However, when Andrew read the letter, he smiled the widest on learning he would be getting a free dinner - typical!

We're pleased to have reached over 700 likes on the Facebook page, but we still NEED many more signatures on our Petition to build a specialist college in Scotland if we hope to make an impact. Please retweet, share on your Facebook walls, invite friends to sign! Let's get to a thousand and beyond!

Again, thanks to everyone who has supported us in whatever way so far. Back soon with more updates.

Carers' Parliament, Auction and Logo

It's been a productive week for the campaign. We've been out and about gathering signatures for the petition to build a specialist college in Scotland (you can still sign via the button on the right - PLEASE take a moment to do this, we can only hope to make an impact with enough voices behind us) and raffle prizes from local businesses. The response has been great!

Heather and Hannah, Andrew's mum and sister, are off to the first session of the Carers' Parliament today and I'll report back on the progress that was made.

Our online Auction for Andrew starts on Tuesday and will run for a week. We've got a fantastic range of prizes - check it out and have a think about what you'd like to bid on!

We now have our very own logo which you can see in the pic, designed by the talented Helen at ArtFoundHelen. There are t-shirts available on her website, which are another great way to support Andrew - ALL proceeds go directly to the fundraising pot.

Andrew also has his own button, linking directly to the Facebook page, which you can see over there and probably down a bit. It would be especially awesome if you could grab the code and paste it on your own blog! :)

That's about it for now - have a great week!

Please Sign Our E-petition for a Specialist College in Scotland

It's been a really busy two weeks for the campaign, and we want to thank everyone who's supporting us, offering donations, and liking the Facebook page! Before I get into what we've got coming up, I'd like to direct your attention to the right and ask you to sign our e-petition. Hopefully, with enough voices behind us, we will get them to listen!

Courtesy of Carluke Gazette

Andrew's story is starting to permeate the media - last week, we were on the front cover of the local paper. We have now been interviewed and photographed by The Scottish Sun and Heather has written an article for the Times Educational Supplement. I'll update you when the articles are printed/online.

Excitingly, the campaign now has its very own mascot! It was designed by Helen of ArtFoundHelen and brought to life by Jules of JuJuStuff. We thought the ant was an apt symbol for Andrew, as it is very small, but very strong, and can achieve so much more when working with others. For a fun way to get involved with fundraising, we're running a competition to name this cuddly critter. Just send your suggestion to heathermcwilford(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk together with £1 via Paypal. The winner, who will be decided by Andrew himself, will get to give the mascot a loving home.

We have a couple of events coming up in the local community. First is the Cycle for Success at Strathclyde Country Park on Sunday 28th October. Andrew will be taking part himself on a specially adapted bike - here is a picture of him using one at a fun day three years ago.

Then we are holding a Family Fun Day and Fayre at Ravenstruther Hall on Saturday 10th November, with local crafts: jewellery, candles, cards etc, as well as a bouncy castle and facepainting. We've already filled the hall to capacity, and we're thrilled by the local support.

MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) Claudia Beamish has expressed an interest in our cause, and will be meeting with Heather and Hannah at the Carers' Parliament event on 1st October.

Don't forget you can still donate items for our online Auction for Andrew - a massive thanks to all those who have already done so! The auction will start on Tuesday 2nd October at midnight GMT and run until Tuesday 9th October at 10pm GMT, so it's not far away. There's some great stuff - get those early Christmas presents in!

We also have a fantastic prize being offered by Barrowboy Trading - a fantastic LCD 28" flat screen Football TV! Raffle tickets are just £5 and can be bought by sending a Paypal payment to dk006e8503@blueyonder.co.uk. Looks pretty sweet, doesn't it?

As always, we are open to any more suggestions for fundraising - just get in touch via the comments or email. As you can see, there is a lot going on - I'm planning to do weekly updates on the blog from now on. Thanks again - we've got the snowball rolling now and hoping it will turn into an avalanche...

News and Andrew's Mum

Just popping in with a quick update. Pleased to say the campaign's been going brilliantly - as of now we're up to 91 likes on Facebook. Please go here to see all the news. We're also up to 23 items for our auction, and I'm offering a full book critique! Can I ask you again to please have a think about anything you'd like to donate. Go here to look at all the brilliant goodies we've got so far.

Cheesy pic on Brighton Pier

Andrew's sister Hannah has been invited to the first Carers Parliament on October 1st. This is an amazing opportunity as she will get to question the Scottish Parliament about the provision of specialist further education (or lack thereof) in Scotland. Andrew's mum has also submitted an online petition to the Scottish Government, and I'll let you all know when it's available for you to sign!

The local paper are coming to take Andrew's picture on Friday and the story will run next week. We've taken the plunge into Twitter too - please follow us, @NickPWilford and @HeatherWilford. We really want to keep the pressure up and make this a sustained campaign, as that's the only way we'll make a difference.

Andrew's mum has been feeling poorly the last few days, but all the support has pepped her up and I'm glad to say she's on the mend. She's been keeping up with the campaign in between bouts of rest!

Back soon with more updates...

Auction for Andrew

Hello. I'd like to draw your attention to an online auction that we're planning to hold to help raise funds and awareness for Andrew, and ask you a very special favour: if you can donate anything or ask anyone you know to do the same, it would be very much appreciated! I'm thinking signed books might be a neat idea, but really anything you can offer would be amazing. You can go to Andrew's Facebook page to see more updates, and here is an album of items that have already been donated.

We'll only be able to do this, and make a change to the status quo, with the help of people like you... and after all, how can you say no to this smile??