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New Year, New Challenge?

Are you looking ahead and wondering what kind of adventures 2024 will bring? Can we suggest a few for you so that you not only have an amazing time, but raise some vital funds to help us give life-changing support to children and adults with dyslexia?

Royal Parks Half Marathon

Sunday 13 October
The half marathon around London’s Royal Parks is one of the most iconic and beautiful, especially as it is in autumn and the trees are lovely. How else can we sell this to you? We would absolutely love you to run with our team and raise money to help us support children and adults with dyslexia.

Find out more and register here.

Discover Adventure Challenges

Choose an adventure to suit you!

We have partnered with specialists Discover Adventure to offer you a huge choice of trekking and cycling challenges in the UK and across the world that take place throughout the year. If you have a passion for travel, this is an amazing way to see some fantastic places. These include:

Northern Lights Winter Trek in Iceland

Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Sea to Summit – includes cycling, hiking and kayaking

Cornish Coastal Challenge

Tour du Mont Blanc

Vienna to Prague Cycle

And there are other challenges further afield!

Find out more here.

By Helen Mortimer|2024-04-24T09:30:11+01:00January 1st, 2024|Fundraising news, Homepage featured, Latest news|0 Comments

Our Christmas Appeal

Writing to us at Helen Arkell, Lillian’s mum said,

‘I just wanted to share my proud moment with you. Lillian’s diagnosis has brought her a great deal of comfort in why she struggles and has allowed her to identify areas that there are easy solutions too. She has embraced lots of coping mechanisms and is a much happier little girl – thank you.’

Read Lillian’s story here

At Helen Arkell, our mission is to create a world where individuals with dyslexia can achieve their full potential. We offer tailored and expert support to remove any barriers to education, employment, and daily life.

This Christmas we are requesting donations to kindly help us continue giving the gift of learning. Your donation, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated.

Together, we can support more people.

Give the gift of learning

Donate

Thank you for your support.

By Helen Arkell|2024-04-24T09:30:17+01:00December 5th, 2023|Fundraising news, Homepage featured, Latest news|0 Comments

Send a card this Christmas and help us out!

This Christmas you can do a good deed by sending Helen Arkell Christmas cards.

Our 5-pack of Christmas Tree cards have been designed by artist Sian van Driel who has kindly supported the charity since her family received help from us.

These cards are available on the website and in our shop at 24 West Street, Farnham. One hundred percent of the profits from these cards goes to help us support children and adults with dyslexia.

You can also send e-cards from DontSendMeACard.com and make a donation to us with the money you save on buying cards and on postage. Choose from Sian’s design and lots more.

However you choose to celebrate this Christmas, thank you for your ongoing support.

By Helen Mortimer|2024-04-24T09:30:20+01:00December 5th, 2023|Fundraising news, Homepage featured, Latest news|0 Comments

Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary – the power of working together

Theo Paphitis and the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity have this month, November 2023, launched the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary to provide funding for schools to offer free training to teachers and teaching assistants around the UK.

The response to the free training for primary and secondary state schools was incredible and all 50 spaces filled quickly.

Successful applicants are taking part in the charity’s 6-week online ‘Supporting Learners with Dyslexia’ course.

We are delighted that, thanks to Theo and his team, another 50 training spaces will be released in Spring 2024.

TV Dragon, retail entrepreneur and dyslexia champion, Theo Paphitis, commented: “Dyslexia has been a huge part of my life and shaped me into who I am, but school and coping with what I now understand to be undiagnosed dyslexia, was tough to deal with. To have had access to teachers and TAs who understood how to identify, and more importantly, how to help people like me deal positively with dyslexia would have been a game changer.

I hope that this Bursary will grow and grow and help many more with dyslexia in education, but also in the workplace going forward. That all the teacher spaces were snapped up within the hour shows the need for this bursary and support for those with dyslexia.”

The aim of the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary is to particularly support state schools where there are young people from low-income families, by giving them access to the expertise and guidance of Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity regarding the best ways to support young people with dyslexia.

Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity CEO, Andy Cook added: “Helen Arkell’s aim is to remove barriers to learning, employment and life for more and more people with dyslexia, regardless of ability to pay, and we are indebted to Theo Paphitis and Ryman for helping us to achieve this. The demand has been high for the online places with a waiting list already in place for the spring training spaces, showing the power of what we can do when we work together and offer the right support in the right places.”

Theo Paphitis and Andy Cook

By Helen Mortimer|2024-04-24T09:30:23+01:00November 24th, 2023|Fundraising news, Homepage featured, Latest news|0 Comments

Shop and donate during Black Friday and Christmas

We are coming to the time of year when we put our hands in our pockets to make life that little bit lovelier for the people we care about. And who can resist a bargain? If you are shopping for Black Friday, could you send a bit of love our way and sign up to the various schemes that mean we get donations while you shop – at no cost to yourself? These include:

Want to help us raise even more for FREE? Well, now you can just by shopping via Give as you Live Online!

When you shop at over 6,000 top stores including John Lewis & Partners, Expedia and Marks & Spencer via Give as you Live Online, they’ll turn a percentage of your spend into free funds for us!

Simply sign up, search for the retailer and start shopping. It’s that simple!

Get started today! Sign up via Give as you Live

Whenever you buy anything online – from your weekly shop to your annual holiday – you could be raising free donations for Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity with easyfundraising.

There are over 7,000 brands on board ready to make a donation – including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S – and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help us raise funds.

All you need to do is:

1. Go to https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/hadc/ and join for free.

2. Every time you shop online, go to easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping.

3. After you’ve checked out, the brand will make a donation to Helen Arkell at no extra cost to you whatsoever!

There are no catches or hidden charges and we will be really grateful for your donations.

eBay for charity

Support Helen Arkell every time you sell on eBay. Simply pick us as your charity and the donation percentage (10-100%). eBay waives the same percent in fees. When the item sells, the donation is automatically sent to Helen Arkell and you get a donation receipt.

When you pay through eBay Checkout for an item, you also have the option to add a small donation to Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity. You can ask PayPal Giving Fund to claim Gift Aid on your donation, boosting its value at no cost to you.

For more information about how it works, click here.

Thank you for your support and happy shopping!

By Helen Mortimer|2024-04-24T09:30:25+01:00November 20th, 2023|Fundraising news, Latest news|0 Comments

CEO blog – A plea from me

When I look back over recent years at Helen Arkell, I can see lots of areas where we’ve made progress. We’re helping many more people with dyslexia than we used to. We’re reaching people from a much wider geographical area. We’re helping lots more people from lower-income backgrounds with bursary-funded support. We’re training more teachers in how to support children with dyslexia in the classroom, and workplaces in how to support their dyslexic employees.

But there’s still something that we continue to be pretty rubbish at. And this is a plea from me, to do something about it, between us as a team. Because if we make progress in this area, we will really make a step-change regarding the numbers of people with dyslexia we can help with every year that goes by, long into the future.

So, let’s talk about gifts in Wills.

Other charities attract many generous benefactors who leave gifts in their Wills to ensure charitable activity can continue long after they’re gone, leaving a lasting legacy. For many charities this enables them to double the number of people they can help. But for us, this remains an area of relative weakness.

Don’t get me wrong, we are starting to see growing numbers of the Helen Arkell community start to write the Charity into their Wills in some way, shape or form, large or small. (Only last month, another person informed me that they had done so, which is what prompted me to write this). While that is absolutely brilliant (and these people are heroes, who will ensure that future generations continue to be helped by this charity) I would dearly love to persuade each and every person in the Helen Arkell community to at least consider updating their Will, and to consider making a gift to this charity, however small.

It doesn’t matter whether you have personal experience of dyslexia or not, or if you’ve been a teacher and want to give back to the dyslexic community, or indeed if you just happen to know someone whose life has been touched by this charity – any contribution would make a huge difference.

I would be immensely grateful if you would read the attached, and take action if you feel moved to do so. I have already written the charity into my Will. Mrs F from Northumberland wrote the charity into her Will too, and we received a gift of £5,000 to help us fulfil our mission.

As you will see from the attached information, it’s not a question of choosing between family and charity – it’s just seeing if you could spare a little gift after you’ve made provision for your nearest and dearest.

And leaving gifts to charities in Wills can bring tax benefits too.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for anything you can do to help!

Andy

Andy Cook
Chief Executive

PS As someone who makes a pledge to Helen Arkell in your Will, you will be invited to our events, so you feel in touch with our innermost plans and activities. Please do let us know if you decide to act on the attached information, so we can be sure to include you. If you prefer to remain anonymous, that’s fine too.

By Helen Mortimer|2024-04-24T09:30:31+01:00November 3rd, 2023|CEO blog, Fundraising news, Latest news|0 Comments

Giving Tuesday 2023

A global day of giving.

Giving Tuesday is on 28 November and is a day that encourages people to do good. This may be through a donation of money, time or a community act. We know that times are difficult and this means that with every penny that is donated to us must work hard to help us help children and adults with dyslexia.

If you would like to be part of this, you can donate here, get fundraising ideas here and become a volunteer here.

Thank you from everyone at Helen Arkell.

By Helen Mortimer|2024-04-24T09:32:37+01:00October 31st, 2023|Fundraising news, Latest news|0 Comments

Our Royal Parks Heroes

Huge thanks to our magnificent Royal Parks Half Marathon runners!

They did an amazing job running on 8 October. It was a warm day which was lovely to hang around in but not so great for running. Between them, Ceri, Peter, James, Jackie and Daxa raised a fantastic £4,400 to help us support adults and children with dyslexia!

If you would like to run for us next year, please subscribe to our e-newsletter – this is where we announce applications for the next event.

By Helen Mortimer|2024-04-24T09:32:38+01:00October 26th, 2023|Fundraising news, Latest news|0 Comments

Launch of the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary

On behalf of all of us at Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity, I am absolutely thrilled to announce the launch of a new partnership with TV Dragon, Retail Entrepreneur and longstanding dyslexia champion Theo Paphitis and Ryman Retail Limited.

Together we will launch the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary, giving us the opportunity to offer free training to teachers and teaching assistants from state schools around the UK.

Starting with 50 free training spaces, the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary will enable the state school sector to take part in the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity’s six-week online Supporting Learners with Dyslexia course, free of charge for teachers or teaching assistants.

The aim of the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary is to particularly support state schools where there are young people from low-income families, by giving them access to the expertise and guidance of Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity regarding the best ways to support young people with dyslexia.

Theo Paphitis said: “I am delighted to create the Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary, supported by one of our key partners, the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity. Many have a story with dyslexia, either through their own story or someone close to them, and through this Bursary and further work in the dyslexia area we want to make sure that as many stories as possible are positive ones.”

Helen Arkell’s aim is to remove barriers to learning, employment and life for more and more people with dyslexia, regardless of ability to pay, and we are indebted to Theo Paphitis and Ryman for helping us to achieve this.

Andy Cook

CEO

*Please note: all 50 Theo Paphitis Dyslexia Bursary places have now been awarded.

Non bursary places are still available, but the normal fee will apply. Full details here.

Theo Paphitis and Andy Cook

By Helen Mortimer|2024-04-24T09:32:40+01:00October 17th, 2023|Fundraising news, Homepage featured, Latest news|0 Comments

Dyslexia Awareness Week 2023 – Join in!

2 to 8 October 2023

We are now counting down to Dyslexia Awareness Week. This is the week in the year where we go even further to help people understand what dyslexia is, that there is effective support available and to explain the up- and down-sides of having dyslexia. If you can join us, we would love it!

The theme of this year’s Dyslexia Awareness Week is Uniquely You.

Look out for posts on our social media pages and for ways you can get involved.

Could you help spread the word about dyslexia?

Celebrate what makes people with dyslexia unique.

We would really love you to share your own unique dyslexia story in the form of a short video, lasting no longer than one minute. Look out for others’ films during the week on our social media channels.

You can use your mobile phone and let our community know what makes you you!

• Please email your video to: events@helenarkell.org.uk

• Share on social media using #DAW23 #Dyslexia #UniquelyYou #DyslexiaAwarenessWeek2023

Could you fundraise during the week?

Could younger members of your family do a sponsored one-mile run, a board game marathon, or sell homemade cakes to neighbours?

Or how about gathering your friends for a quiz night?

If you’re feeling daring, we can help you plan ahead and organise a sponsored skydive or wing walk!

Your fundraising will help even more people with dyslexia make sense of their life.

We’re here to help so drop us a line on fundraising@helenarkell.org.uk

Support our Royal Parks Half Marathon team

Our magnificent 7 Royal Parks Half Marathon runners are taking part in this race on Sunday 8 October.

Good luck to Ceri, Alice, Peter, James, Jackie, Gary and Daxa!

We’ll be there cheering you on!

Find out more about the team and support their incredible efforts here

Join a Spotlight Talk

Join our Spotlight talk on Thursday 5 October on How to be a Brilliant Dyslexic Student with Sarah J Myhill.

If you have any questions, email the team on events@helenarkell.org.uk.

Thank you!

Watch this space for DAW updates or sign up for our e-newsletter.

By Helen Mortimer|2024-04-24T09:32:41+01:00September 27th, 2023|Fundraising news, Homepage featured, Latest news|0 Comments

2 to 8 October 2023

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