Welcome to Friends of Beaulieu House
Friends of Beaulieu is a registered charity made up of parents and volunteers, with Mark King of Level 42 as their patron, who work towards raising funds for Beaulieu House Respite Centre in Newport on the Isle of wight.
Beaulieu House is a 10 bedded unit providing short term breaks for children and young people who have severe learning disablilties, challenging behaviours and complex health needs, some of which are life limiting.
The aim of Beaulieu House is to not only provide a break for the children and young people in an environment that is safe and non-judgemental but to also provide a much needed break for parents and carers whom often get very little sleep and find things that we take for granted, such as shopping, very difficult to do. It also gives siblings the chance for quality time with their parents.
The short breaks that Beaulieu provide can be anything from 4 hours per week to 2 overnights per week depending on the needs of the family. There are two learning disability nurses and a paediatric nurse who work alongside care assistants to help achieve the best outcomes for the children and young people and at times staff are a lifeline to families that are struggling.
Beaulieu House is registered with Ofsted and has recently received Outstanding for the third time in a row. This would have been hard to acheive without the support from the 'Friends'.
Money isn't all the Friends of Beaulieu need - just 4 hours volunteering per week would provide a young person with a break.
Debbie Hawkins (George’s Mum) has kindly written an insight into their personal experience of Beaulieu House
"We are the parents of George (13) Anna (9) and Alfie (7). George suffers with Dravet Syndrome which is a very rare form of epilepsy. He has numerous seizures day and night, and also has behavioural, speech and language problems. He has been attending Beaulieu House for a few years now and absolutely loves it there. If I drive past there without going in he growls at me and says “Go Beaulieu.” Every morning he asks to go there and gets cross when he ends up at school instead!!
He started off by having a tea visit every week. Beaulieu staff would collect him from school and take him back there for his tea and sometimes depending on what mood he was in… he would even have a lovely Jacuzzi bath! After a year his visits increased to him eventually having an overnight stay. We look at his time at Beaulieu as if he is going to a friends for tea or having a sleep-over with friends.
We are very protective over George and it takes a lot of trust for us to let George go anywhere without us. The trust has been built up at a pace suitable for us, as well as George.
Beaulieu has been very good at not only building up a good relationship with George, but also with us as a family. I feel that if I have any sort of problem I could easily ask Carol the manager there about advice etc regarding it.
George having respite at Beaulieu has given us the much needed quality time needed to spend with our two other children. George’s condition has taken over everything we do and everywhere we go, we have to make sure we have a phone with us at all times in case we get a call saying he has had a seizure and been rushed to hospital. George being at Beaulieu gives peace of mind, they have qualified nurses on site and well trained staff that are excellent in dealing with his complex needs and seizures.
In October we were lucky enough to take our other two children away for a weekend while George stayed at Beaulieu House. It was a huge decision to make as we would be taking the children to Butlins on the mainland. We were very nervous and called Beaulieu daily for updates.
We have never in 13 years been able to actually sit down and relax with a drink and eat our meal. It was a very strange feeling…. George would not have coped with the noise and amount of people there. We were able to do whatever Anna and Alfie wanted to do… swimming, go karting, watching all the shows in the evening, a Halloween ghost tour. We all had a fantastic much needed break which many families take for granted…. George had lots of fun while at Beaulieu, we were given lots of photo’s of what he got up to, which was lovely as George cannot really tell us what he has done. Such a simple thing to do, but much appreciated.
We as a family could not cope without the support of Beaulieu House. They do a fantastic job with all the children that are lucky enough to go there."
FUNDRAISING UPDATES
PUB QUIZ - WE ARE HOLDING A PUB QUIZ AT THE HARE AND HOUNDS PUB ON FRIDAY 27TH APRIL AT 7:30PM. £5 FOR A TEAM OF 4. SEE EVENTS SECTION FOR MORE INFORMATION.
FIRE WALK - THE LAUNCH OF THE WALKING FESTIVAL IS UPON US AND ON THE SATURDAY 5TH MAY, THERE WILL BE A FIRE WALK AND GLASS WALK IN ST THOMAS SQUARE, NEWPORT. AGAIN, ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TO BEAULIEU HOUSE. SEE EVENTS SECTION FOR MORE INFORMATION AND DETAILS ON HOW TO REGISTER
LEVEL 42 AND ISLE OF WIGHT RADIO ARE HOLDING A JUBILEE GARDEN PARTY AT NORTHWOOD HOUSE, COWES ON MONDAY 4TH JUNE. ALL PROCEEDS WILL COME TO BEAULIEU HOUSE. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS FABULOUS EVENT PLEASE GO TO www.iwradio.co.uk AND OUR UPCOMING EVENTS PAGE
ISLE OF WIGHT WEDDING EXHIBITION RAFFLE RAISES A FABULOUS £759 FOR BEAULIEU. A HUGE THANKS GOES OUT TO ANNE MARIE AND JULES GREGORY OF FINISHING TOUCHES AND SALLY COOPER FROM THE BRIDAL ROOM FOR THEIR FANTASTIC ACHEIVEMENT! AND WELL DONE FOR A BRILLIANT EXHIBITION!
'TREK 4 BEAULIEU' - NIGEL LOCKWOOD IS CLIMBING MOUNT KILIMANJARO IN SEPTEMBER TO RAISE FUNDS FOR BEAULIEU
FANTASTIC NEWS - FRIENDS OF BEAULIEU HAVE BOUGHT A NEW MOBILITY CAR FOR BEAULIEU HOUSE, THIS WILL MEAN MORE TRIPS OUT FOR THE CHILDREN. THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US AND HELPED TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE!
MARK KING - EBAY AUCTION FOR BEAULIEU HOUSE RAISES OVER £11,000.00 FOR BEAULIEU
'WALK 4 BEAULIEU' - *UPDATED* RAISES £11,357.59 SO FAR FOR BEAULIEU
THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO WALKED AND RAISED MONEY FOR US
ISLE OF WIGHT WALKING FESTIVAL LAUNCH - THIS YEAR THE CHOSEN CHARITY FOR THE FIRE/GLASS WALK EVENT IS BEAULIEU HOUSE. THE EVENT WILL BE HELD ON THE 5TH MAY 2012. PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT US AS WE DARE TO WALK ACROSS HOT COALS AND BROKEN GLASS. SEE EVENTS PAGE FOR FURTHER DETAILS
