Awesome Archie’s Christmas pop-up shop is now in full swing! (Bear with, I am going somewhere with this 😉 )

Today we launched our Christmas fundraising mission with our first Pop up shop of the season. We were lucky enough to be invited to sell at the Boscombe Salvation Army’s Christmas craft fair, and what a wonderful event it was.

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The Awesome Archie team were allocated a beautiful side room where we were not only able to sell our donated (thank you all) and created goods, but also had the chance to chat to families who wanted to share their troubles or celebrations of their experience with autism. The space meant that we could have plenty of time to have some really meaningful conversations and I am so grateful for the opportunity that the organiser, Claire Randell gave us . THANKYOU Claire!

Click here to see the video of us getting ready!

The whole building was FULL of Christmas treats and donated goodies and all the tables were manned by people who simply wanted to give their time to help others.

This struck a really valuable chord with me. My marriage, my Career, my children, my home have all thrived because of other people’s kindness. As someone with ADHD (unmedicated) and anxiety (medicated) I used to struggle to admit that I can’t do this parenting thing alone. Somehow, I used to think (many moons ago) that me not accepting Archie’s differences would make life easier for me and admitting his “problems” would be too big for me to cope with. I assumed that people would look at me as a failing parent and make judgements on my ability to be a mum.

NOT ANY MORE… and that is because of the age old proverb – “It takes a village to raise a child” (see, told you I’d get there!)

This  proverb  simply means that an entire community of people must provide for and interact positively with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.

This was so evident for us today! Not only do I want to say a massive thank you to all three of my AWESOME trustees for coming and supporting (thanks Elaine Hurll, Karen Newsome and David Mercer) but also, a huge thanks goes to…

* My eldest son for looking after Archie at home so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed.

* Every person that donated something for us to sell.

* Every penny spent at our pop up shop and all of those Awesome people who said “keep the change!”

* The organisers of this event who gave up so much of their time for not a penny of profit.

* The people that cooked bacon butties and made coffees so we wouldn’t be hungry.

* The parents who looked after other peoples kids so they could have a 5 minute breather and to those who took the time to ask how I was doing (it means a lot).

* The minister who let my daughter have a pillow fight with him! (No joke, I have photo evidence!)

* The people who felt safe enough to share some really emotional stuff and have others offer advice, knowing that it wouldn’t go any further!

I could go on forever.

So THANKYOU for helping us raise our children. THANKYOU for donating or buying so that I can pass that gift forward and THANKYOU for listening to me bang on about how children’s differences need to be celebrated, not feared.

Our little shop raised £149.50!!! EVERY PENNY of which is going back into the work we do to support kids with autism.

Our “village” is truly the blessed!!!!

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This weeks blog is dedicated to all the parents, carers, fundraisers and educators that support kids throughout their individual journeys through childhood.

This week I have been touched by the amount of kindness, love and support there is in our world. I know that the news can often fill us with dread but for me, I have been uplifted and humbled by people’s generosity and understanding for those born a little differently.

My week started with a message from the founder of the Dorset Children’s Foundation , the lovely Pasty Hallmey. She explained that she had been able to offer me ANOTHER £1000 which meant that I could buy yet more SEN equipment for the schools and families that we proudly support.

This has meant that this week, Awesome Archie have donated SEN goodies to Parkfield School, Mudeford Junior School, William Gilpin School, Christchurch Junior School, the Dare to Believe program with Dorset School Games, Poppets Pre-school along with a couple of families that asked for our help.

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We would like to publicly thank the Dorset Children’s Foundation for all the work they do, not only for the children with physical disabilities but for guiding little non-profits (like me!) to reach those with neurological differences as well. Archie and I NEVER take your support for granted! THANK YOU!!

Awesome Archie had a fantastic experience this week. He and I were interviewed by Helen Head, an inclusion journalist for the BBC. Archie has been interviewed a few times now, but this one was different. Helen came into our home and spent a long time chatting with us about the challenges and celebrations of living with ASD. I cant give any more details away at this time but we will keep you posted as to when the interview will air. We would like to thank Helen and the team at BBC Radio Solent for giving us so much of your time, it means a great deal.

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Author and illustrator William Grill encourages kids with dyslexia to just write for love and never give up.

Firstly I need to admit that this was a party to which I totally gate crashed 🤣Oak Class at William Gilpin school had worked so hard to get a day taught by William Grill himself and they very graciously let me check in. What a fantastic and inspirational teacher he is to us all. As a successful dyslexic author, he was a real inspiration for the kids, especially those that find writing tough. I have attached his website deets here and would love you to check him out 🙂

Lastly, today I had a really incredible experience. For years I have been using little bits of makaton to help Archie communicate in public. Although he is incredibly verbal at home (and where he is comfortable), he is predominantly non-verbal when out in public.

I was privileged today to go to the beautiful Portfield School and be trained in ‘Signalong’ by an Autism Unlimited educator called Jenny. This all-day course was unbelievably helpful for me, not just as a parent, but also for my work in supporting children with autism in main-stream.

We started the day with a coffee and a chat and continued to, not only learn about the importance of signing for non-verbal children, but also the positive impact it has on the families and friends of those supporting. I was fortunate enough to sit amongst some parents of kids at Portfield School and it was amazing to be able to engage with people who just fully understood how tough parent caring can be however, it was even more lovely for us to be able to share all the positives and laugh about our parenting disasters.

I have attached a link to the incredible Autism Unlimited here and would urge you, as either a parent, carer or educator, to take a look at what they offer. I will now be practicing daily and signing wherever I go in the hope that it will encourage others to be brave enough to use other forms of communication.

Thank you Jenny and the Autism Unlimited team.

WOWSERS, life at Awesome Archie is cool right now. 😍 These last few months have been a really exciting ride and this weekend has to have been the happiest in our career to date!

The one and only king of the jungle, the football legend and genuinely lovely guy HARRY REDKNAPP has shown his support of the work we do here at Awesome Archie non profit!

Not only did we get to meet him and his utterly wonderful wife Sandra, but he has kindly signed our books for us to auction in the new year

He has also sent us a little clip of him reading our books. Just remarkable . We are still giddy with excitement!

link below 🙂

Harry Redknapp reads Awesome Archie!

We will finalise the deets nearer the time but for now, here is a sneak peek of the goodies up for grabs and the awesome man himself!!!!

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THANKYOU HARRY REDKNAPP. You are helping us to support children with SEN and we LOVE you for it xxxxxx

As always, my week has been one of real excitement and variety.

Over the last few months, my children and I have been relentlessly collecting donations of Christmas decorations to sell and raise money to support children with SEN and toys to donate to the Dorset Children’s Foundation Christmas Appeal.

On Monday, the Awesome Archie team lugged a HUGE amount of generously donated second-hand toys to the DCF Treehouse.

I would like to thank each and every one of you for your kindness. Patsy is an incredible supporter of local children who, like the rest of us, may find Christmas more of a stretch this year. With the economic climate affecting everybody, it felt really good to know that Patsy would be able to put these donated toys to good use.

This week, I was also privileged to meet an incredible person called Dr Miriam Walker. Prior to joining the University of Winchester, Dr Miriam was a teacher in both primary and secondary special schools. For many years she was a coordinator for gifted and talented education as well as a SENCO. This sparked a particular interest in children with autism. Her doctorate in education has continued to consider autism in main-stream primary schools, particularly focusing on autistic pupil’s perceptions of how well they are understood. She then went on to developing a model that will hopefully help both teachers and pupils to gain a better understanding and awareness of the need for direct and respectful communication in order to form strong working relationships.

I could continue to go on and list the many incredible things that Dr Miriam has done, but I fear that might take up an entire blog post by itself! Needless to say, getting to meet Dr Miriam Walker was a genuine pleasure and I could have spoken to her for hours on end. I am delighted to say that we are now in contact and I am hoping that, moving forward, we will be able to assist each other in the support of children with autism.

Finally, today was a genuinely moving day for me at William Gilpin School. I volunteered this morning to help children with their catch-up learning and I was blessed to be invited to sit in on their remembrance service. Mrs Linsley told the children a story of people who had to leave their homes and stand up for what they believed in. She explained that many of those people who fought never managed to make back home and it is their sacrifices that we honour today. I have never heard the reason for celebrating remembrance told so sensitively and so appropriately for children and, as we sat in our two minutes silence, I don’t mind admitting that I had a quiet moment and a little tear. I was then invited to help the children in placing some metal, ornamental garden poppies in a special area of the playground where the flagpole stands.

I would like to thank Mrs Linsley and all the staff at William Gilpin School. Since I have been volunteering there, there has been such a sense of understanding, support, love and fun for all the children within their care. For a mum of a child with neurological differences, I know first-hand how rare this is and I am so grateful to each and every one of them.

I would also love to give special thanks to Linzi and Will, the proprietors of the gorgeous Dirty Gerties in Christchurch. Over the years they have been a tremendous support to Arch and I and they have generously gifted us a cash register to use in our fundraising sales. THANKS SO, SO MUCH.

This week has been a really interesting one for Team Awesome!

The week started off as it usually does with resource making, online parent-carer support and content creating. However, Thursday was a day that we won’t be forgetting in a hurry!

Archie and I were honoured to be asked to attend the gallery viewing of “Canvas For The Mac” in aid of MacMillan Caring Locally. We were able to enjoy viewing an exclusive preview exhibition with a varied selection of unique art pieces.

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The event was held at the beautiful Captain’s Club Hotel in Christchurch and we were not only able to see lots of fantastic pieces of art but were also privileged to meet lots of really interesting people. The booklet given to us on our arrival stated that…

“Canvas For The Mac will help raise funds for the Brick-by-Brick Appeal. We are truly grateful to the small ‘Canvas For The Mac’ team who have dedicated so much of their time and efforts to make this project possible.”

Please click here for a link to the auction of these remarkable pieces and for additional information.

We would like to say an ENORMOUS THANK YOU for the privilege of being invited to such an important event and we will be forever grateful that it opened up a conversation with our children about the incredible work that MacMillan Caring Locally do.

I’d like to make a special mention to Harry Redknapp and his lovely wife Sandra. Thank you for taking the time with Archie and I and for giving up a small piece of your evening to tolerate an overexcited me 😂

I’d also like to say a thank you to Reformed Plastics for helping to sponsor the event and to the incredible team that organised this terrific event (I won’t mention your name… but you know who you are! 😘 ).

We at the Awesome Archie team want to wish you all a happy Halloween. Although Arch has never been a fan of this season as it is all rather too scary, we are embracing it our own way 🙂

We have written a little tale for you to enjoy, particularly if you are a bit nervous of trick or treating. ⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇

We have also created a polite “No Trick or Treat” sign for those of you who do not want to have that door knocking dilemma. Just download and print with our best wishes 🙂

WOW, what a week to finish the half term on! This week was one of our busiest but most brilliant weeks to date. Lots of news and tips to share so let’s do it 🙂

This week started with the delivery of an Awesome Archie assembly that we have given many times now. It is an awareness and acceptance lesson named “See the able and not the label”.

It speaks of how we should never use our diagnosis as an excuse to not have a go. Life is going to be full of highs and lows for everyone, we wanted to share that all the lows can lead to a really exciting high, if you never give up💪 . Thanks to the kids at the Priory C of E School for sitting and listening so politely 😁

On Wednesday, I had a really awesome meeting with the SENco of Parkfield School, Miss Kim Tucker. What an incredible passion and love for the job Kim has! We discussed lots of little tweaks and changes to help support the SEND pupils of the school and I was lucky enough to have a little tour.

Miss Tucker took me to the “green room”. This is a beautiful space in which children who are struggling, for whatever reason, can come and complete their work. It is a quiet, calm and safe space where the staff make the kids feel very welcomed and supported. They also have a dark sensory den and sensory toys. Linwood training and support have been fundamental in some of these remarkable installations and so I would like to thank them for that support. Moving forward, we at Awesome Archie are delighted to be able to supply Parkfield school with more SEN tools , a pea pod seat, sensory mat and an Awesome Archie inclusion pack.

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Wednesday afternoon was also the day that I was privileged to chat with Pasty Hallmey, the founder of the Dorset Children’s Foundation. As you know, Archie and I have been closely affiliated with the DCF for a little while now. It is something that we are immensely grateful for.

Pasty explained that a fantastic fundraising team called “Reggie’s Big Adventures” had cycled 1000 miles across France and raised a whopping £19,000 for the DCF!!! She then floored me by giving Awesome Archie non profit £1000 of the money raised to help the kids that we proudly support. Once I had stopped crying, I immediately started shopping for SEN equipment, tools, toys, dens, pea pods ⬇⬇⬇ , projectors.! You name it, we got it 🙂

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So THANKYOU, to Reggie’s team , the DCF and to anyone who as ever donated . You are genuinely changing children’s lives !

Thursday saw me giving my usual volunteered Classroom support at William Gilpin school, but this time with a fantastic twist. We celebrated “Dress UP for Downs”.

My time at “Willy Gilly” is genuinely the highlight of my week. ALL of the staff, the Children and Head Teacher (Mr Croutear) are a joy to be around. There is always laughter, kindness, acceptance and understanding and I am truly blessed to be a small part of this magnificent school. Thankyou for all you do for for your pupils (and me) 🤗🤗🤗

Lastly, but definitely not least, was Thursdays “Dare to Believe” event at TGS. You may recall me telling you that, not too long ago, I had a fantastic meeting with Mr Dan Moody (strategic lead for sports and development) and Mrs Claire Tabor (children and young persons manager and school games county lead). In this meeting they explained to me all about the Dare to Believe program.

It’s a sporting event for children who find sporting events tough. It may be that they are really shy and reserved, they may struggle to make friends or maybe they find teamwork tricky. It may also be that they have a physical disability or have a neurological difference. Whatever the reason, all are welcomed and what a JOY it was.

Dan asked me to come to the event with a criticising eye🧐. He wanted me to spot any improvements that needed to be made or what they could do better moving forward. Well, I walked around the event, speaking to teachers, TA’s, parents/carers and the kids and had nothing but positive feedback. 🦾 The Event was beautifully organised, extremely welcoming, fantastically inclusive and, for me, very moving. What choked me up the most was the Dorset leadership team trained by Mr Moody himself. The team is made up of school pupils, some as young as year 7. They not only supported the kids but created a lot of the games themselves. Just EPIC!

At the end, each child was rewarded for their efforts with a certificate and medal, all with a personalised value chosen for them.

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Thankyou Mr Moody and Mrs Tabor for your AWESOME work. The Awesome Archie team highly recommend the Dare to Believe program to all 🙂

Told you it was busy 😉

Have a wonderful half term break everyone and stay AWESOME!!!

I thought I’d dedicate our latest blog post to the Awesome Superhero Siblings. It is so easy to forget that so many kids are thrust into a life that they didn’t ask for. A life where someone else’s needs will ALWAYS be put before theirs. That is so unbelievably tough.

Superhero siblings have to learn that its never about favouritism, or unfairness but about love and acceptance. Can you imagine how difficult that is as a young child? I have made no secret of the fact that being a full time, life long carer is something that I occasionally have a real wobble about, so I can only imagine the massivness of that to a kid!

Joshua , Herbie and Daisy ( Awesome Archie’s siblings) have always been so understanding of Archie’s needs. I am not going to pretend that its always easy, its not, but they always try to include him and make him feel like a real member of our Awesome team.

I would also like to take a moment to mention the kindness of Joshua’s “teenage” friends. They come into our home ( Archie’s safe space) with respect for the necessary house rules and the kindness and acceptance of real superhero’s. There is no muttering or sniggering, no inside jokes, no loud music . Just the willingness of a bunch of 16 year olds to care for a mates disabled brother. For us as parents, you have no idea how special that is for us.

So, to any Superhero Sibling or Superhero sibling friend, WE THANKYOU.

Your sacrifices, your kindness and love makes a real difference to those kids who didn’t have the choice to be born the way they were.

YOU ARE ALL AWESOME!!!

On Monday, the Awesome Archie team were privileged to be invited to the grand opening of the DCF’s inclusive cinema.

The Dorset Children’s Foundation is an incredible charity of which Archie and I are very proud to be affiliated with. Patsy Hallmey (founder) has, not only managed to open three charity shops but, with the help from her incredible team, has created a beautiful and inclusive space for Dorset kids in the Sovereign Centre in Boscombe.

The DCF’s “Tree House” is not only a charity shop but a space where children can be read stories, make friends and now watch movies on their all new bespoke cinema setup.

Together for Cinemas organised this fantastic installation and now Patsy and her team are giving disabled children the chance to visit the cinema like any able-bodied child.

Archie and I would like to personally thank EVERYONE at the DCF. Not only for all the incredible things that you do for Dorset children… but for how you have supported Archie and I on our very own non-profit journey.

See below, links for our Radio Solent interview and a video of the opening itself.

Well, what a 3 weeks it’s been for the Awesome Archie team. We have SO much exciting news to share . Now, I know the title of this blog post will look completely bonkers, but by the end of this post it will all become clear… hopefully 😉

Dorset School Games meeting.

I was privileged enough to be invited to TGS to meet two rather incredible people. Dan Moody, Active Dorset’s strategic lead for sports and development and Claire Tabor, Children and young persons manager and school games county lead.

We had an hour long sit down where we chatted about the importance of inclusion and adapting lessons to suit all abilities. I am so delighted to say that they really didn’t need to learn much from me at all. Both Dan and Claire have an open passion about getting EVERYONE to love sport and are already leading a program called “Dare to believe.”

Dare to believe is a sporting event that is targeted to those children for whom PE is just that little bit tougher, for whatever reason.

Students with mobility differences, the neurodiverse, the quiet and reserved… EVERYONE IS THERE TO HAVE FUN! I am delighted to say that I have been invited to join them at the end of this month to observe in person. This way, we can collect our thoughts and see how we can make this, already brilliant event, even more AWESOME!

I want to say a massive thankyou to both Dan and Claire for all the work they are doing and for going the extra mile for the kids that have a tougher time in PE. THANKYOU X

Willy Gilly wellness.

William Gilpin is a school that I am currently 1:1’ing in a couple of days a week. I am so lucky to have two AWESOME students who just fill my time there with laughter. It is a genuine joy to be part of such a welcoming and nurturing school team. When one of their incredible teachers asked if I could help her create a ” Wellness Hub” within their stunning New Forest grounds, I JUMPED at the opportunity.

It is so vital that kids have a break out space. So many children can find the school day overwhelming… and having a sheltered, but outdoor chill zone will provide some calm. I plan to use it a lot 😉

This week, we got started on this exciting project. I donned my PG Tips apron and painted the walls white, the bunting in being sewn and the wooden positivity messages are underway.

The school are hosting a bake off fundraiser where we hope to raise enough money to buy weatherproof beanbags, cushions and outdoor rugs. Thankyou to Harriet Crossen and Simon Croutear for trusting me with this, it means a lot. Watch this space for progress reports 😉

And lastly…..CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!! #sorrynotsorry 🙂

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Being a non-profit means that you spend your entire career asking for money, eeeek.

One of the most productive ways that we raise Awesome Archie funds is to create and sell. This year, we are hosting 3 Christmas/craft tents. All profits will go into the Awesome Archie fund to then be used to directly support a child with a neurological difference.

Thankyou so much to my ever supporting husband, Ian. He is not one for the limelight at all but he needs this public recognition. Last week, he worked for 50 hours, then spent his weekend chopping wood and making Christmas trees and decorations that I will paint and sell at the upcoming fayres. He does this because of love. Love for Arch, love for our family, love for the cause and the fact that he is just a properly top bloke.

Thanks dude, You are AWESOME! X