Huge thanks to our friends at Farnham Town Council for an amazing Community Grant of £1,000. This generous grant will help our work supporting children and adults with dyslexia in Farnham and the surrounding villages who might not otherwise be able to afford help.
Here’s our CEO Andy being presented with a suitably giant cheque by Alan Earwaker, Farnham’s Mayor and a great friend to the charity.
The TCS London Marathon is one of the world’s most famous running events. The course follows an iconic route taking in many of London’s landmarks, from the Cutty Sark and the City to St James’ Park and The Mall – with the crowd cheering you on along the way.
Do something amazing! We need your help raising funds to support children, young people and adults who have dyslexia who need our help more than ever.
More information here.
We were thrilled to be back at Worplesdon Golf Club on Thursday 11 May for the charity’s Annual Golf Day.
Organised with the help of supporter, Sue Stradling, and her son Ewan, the competition has been held in aid of the charity for over 30 years.
The weather was much better than predicted as the players headed out onto the stunning Worplesdon Golf Course to play 18 holes of four ball better ball.
Worplesdon is one of the classic heathland Surrey courses which remains much as it was set out by J F Abercrombie in 1908.
The competition was followed by a delicious buffet lunch after which prizes were awarded and Andy Cook, CEO of Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity, gave a short speech.
We were thrilled to be joined by David and Peter Arkell, sons of the charity’s founder as well as other members of the Arkell family.
Many congratulations go to David Chiltern and Terry Perkins who won the competition, taking home the silver salver.
Winners of the silver salver
Huge thanks to all the players for taking part and for their many generous donations. The day raised a fantastic £9,330 which will enable us to support many more children, young people and adults with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties.
Thank you so much for helping us to achieve this.
Annual Golf Day 2024: Thursday 9 May
If you’d like to take part in next year’s charity golf day email events@helenarkell.org.uk for details.
We look forward to hearing from you.
A massive thank you to our 2023 London Marathon team, for going above and beyond for the cause of dyslexia, and for really making a difference in the world.
Six intrepid heroes signed up for the Helen Arkell team in this year’s London Marathon which took place on 23 April.
David, Debbie, Eskil, Justin, Sam and Steve all showed incredible determination to help us fulfil our mission to transform the lives of children and adults with dyslexia.
The months of intense training in order to manage the 26.2 miles in one piece involved running whatever the weather, on dark evenings after work and chilly early mornings.
On the day itself, the team all completed one of the greatest challenges there is, collecting their hard earned medals before celebrating with proud family and friends.
You can read their stories by clicking on their names below, and this will give you an insight into their own individual, personal reasons for putting their bodies on the line in this way.
And they would all be hugely grateful if you contribute a little something to their fundraising pages, because raising sponsorship can be as challenging as the running itself.
To join our 2024 London Marathon team, please apply here.
We had a fantastic day on Sunday at Teddy Arkell Bear’s Big Walk for Dyslexia. This was the first Big Walk we had done from our West Street Centre and we were delighted that it was part of Farnham Town Council’s Walking Festival.
The sun came out and our dedicated walkers spent a beautiful afternoon enjoying leafy Farnham Park. We then enjoyed tea and cake and a lovely chat back at the Centre. Teddy was very well-behaved and managed to leave enough cake for the rest of us.
Thank you to everyone who came along to raise awareness and funds to help support children and adults with dyslexia and to those who sponsored our walkers. A big shout out and thank you to 11-year-old Finlay who raised £400 for us!
If you would like to join us next year, the date will be announced in our e-newsletter. You can subscribe here.
It all started last October when Andy and Tory presented an Introduction to Dyslexia Lunch and Learn session to IT consultant firm Capgemini. Sam Smith watched the presentation during his lunch break and, having dyslexia himself, was inspired to fundraise for us to help support others with dyslexia.
Sam doesn’t do things by half and has now run the Leicestershire Half Marathon in February, the London Marathon last month and this weekend he took to the air and did a skydive, falling from 14,000! So far, Sam has raised a massive £2,140!
You can read Sam’s inspirational story and support him here.
We’d like to say a monumental thank you to Sam for going to all these lengths (and heights) to help us provide much-needed support to children and adults with dyslexia.
Our Big Walk for Dyslexia is on the afternoon of Sunday 21 May and we’d love you to come and join us! We will be walking in beautiful Farnham Park – just a stone’s throw from the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity in West Street. And this year, we’re thrilled to be part of the Farnham Walking Festival.
As you know, Teddy Edward Arkell Bear loves to be involved where he can so he’s decided to take over the Big Walk and would like your furry teddy friends to come along too. There’ll be tea and cake at the end (if Teddy hasn’t already eaten it all).
Join in wherever you are!
If you can’t attend on the day, why not do a ‘virtual’ walk for us and tag us as you share your photos on social media?
This is all to raise money to help support adults and children with dyslexia and to raise awareness of dyslexia and the work we do here at Helen Arkell so we would love your support.
It’s a lovely, fun family day out – dogs are welcome too. You can find out more and register here.
Good luck and enjoy the walk! It will be great to see all your pictures on social media so be sure to tag us.
Why would anyone want to run non-stop for 26.2 miles, when they don’t necessarily even enjoy running? Which probably means somewhere between three and a half hours, to five and a half hours of very painful activity?
More than that. Why would anyone put themselves through several months of relentless training in order to manage the above in one piece? It probably means they’ve had to run on cold, dark winter’s evenings after work. Or icy winter mornings. And if you only run on nice, dry days, you probably won’t do many runs … so out you go (again) for another 2 or 3 hour run in the rain, when everything chafes twice as much as it normally would.
Why on earth would anybody do that?!
Probably the best people to answer that question are David, Debbie, Eskil, Justin, Sam and Steve, who are doing it on Sunday.
These intrepid heroes are the Helen Arkell team in this year’s London Marathon. You can read their stories by clicking on their names above, and this will give you an insight into their own individual, personal reasons for putting their bodies on the line in this way.
A common theme is that they have a determination to help us fulfil our mission to transform the lives of children and adults with dyslexia. That’s why they’re doing it.
So, please join me in saying a massive thank you to all our team, for going above and beyond for the cause of dyslexia, and for really making a difference in the world.
Think of them on Sunday morning, as they negotiate one of the greatest challenges there is. Please send them lots of positive vibes, to help get them safely to the finish line, where our Hazel and Helen will be waiting for them.
Above all, please contribute a little something to their fundraising pages, because raising sponsorship is actually just as hard and painful as the running itself.
Good luck David, Debbie, Eskil, Justin, Sam and Steve! You are all absolute heroes!!
Good luck!
Andy
PS If you feel inspired by the efforts of our London Marathon runners and want to ‘do your bit for dyslexia’ too, there are various options available to you, including the Royal Parks Half Marathon on 8 October, or Teddy Arkell’s slightly more gentle Big Walk for Dyslexia on 21 May.
Tesco Express, 10 Salisbury Street, Fordingbridge SP6 1AF
Tesco Extra, Bourne Centre, Salisbury SP1 2NY
Tesco Express, 21-25 Castle Street, Salisbury SP1 1TT
Tesco Express, Wilton Road, Salisbury SP2 7HW
Huge thanks to everyone who has been supporting us in various Tesco stores around the country since last October – this really makes a difference!
You can find out more about Tesco Community Grants here.
We were absolutely delighted to welcome Thierry HENry to the Centre in West Street at the beginning of this month. This honoured guest was brought along by the Howard family who also brought a very welcome cheque for the charity for £1,000.
Brian Howard has been organising a charity event in Haslemere since 2017; there have been hogs, hares and hounds and this year was the turn of the hens. Thierry HENry is a three-foot fibreglass model hen – just one of 80 sponsored hens that have been decorated, hilariously named and sold in aid of local and national charities. Other hens included an artistic HENri Matisse, a super-heroic Cluck Kent, a musical EGG Sheeran and a nature-loving David AttHENborough. The events have raised a huge £190,000 since they began.
Thierry HENry is the brainchild of Brian’s grandson Charlie who is an avid Arsenal fan. Eleven-year-old Charlie was diagnosed with dyslexia at here at the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre 18 months ago and decided that his footballer hen should raise money to help children like him to get the support they need.
Charlie’s mum Lorraine said, ‘[the diagnosis] really changed Charlie’s life. We know first-hand what amazing work the charity does supporting children and adults with dyslexia as well as their families. Charlie wanted to give something back.’
Charlie’s dad Douglas is CEO of the Real English Drinks Company which sponsored the Arsenal-kitted hen. The hen was bought by a determined and enthusiastic club fan for an amazing £1,000 – all for the benefit of the dyslexia charity.
Our CEO Andy Cook said, ‘It was so lovely to welcome Thierry HENry and the Howard family and to hear Charlie’s story. He’s proof that the right kind of support can make a world of difference. As a charity, our aim is to make this support available to as many people – children and adults – as we possibly can. The £1,000 donation goes a long way to helping people, so thank you to Charlie, Brian and the family and to the very keen Arsenal fan.’
Registered charity in England and Wales (1064646). A company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, company number 3432423.
