Students to put their best feet forward for hospital appeal

Bingley Grammar School students will be walking 5K to raise money for the Bradford Hospitals’ Charity Rays a Smile appeal.

This Friday, 28 June, more than 300 year seven-students and staff will walk a round-trip from the school along the Leeds to Liverpool Canal, into Bingley town centre and back. They will be joined by clinical staff from Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who will talk to the young people about the appeal and how the funds will be spent.

They aim to raise £4,000 in total towards the Rays a Smile appeal. For more information about the Rays a Smile appeal and to view the appeal video, visit https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/rays-a-smile/.

LeeAnne Elliott, consultant paediatric radiologist at Bradford Royal Infirmary, will be among those joining the school walk. She said: “We are incredibly grateful to the students and staff from Bingley Grammar School for choosing to walk and raise money for our NHS charity.

“The money raised will go to our ‘Rays a Smile’ radiology appeal, which aims to make our scanning facilities in Bradford more child-friendly.

“Almost all patients treated by Bradford Teaching Hospitals – either as an inpatient or outpatient – are referred for imaging. More than 20,000 children and young people are imaged each year. We believe these changes will not only make scanning less stressful for our young patients and their parents, but for all our patients.”

David Brown, student support officer, said the fundraising walk reflected the school’s ethos of ‘Belong, Grow and Succeed’. “All our students follow a LORIC award programme. This relates to Leadership, Organisation, Resilience, Independence and Communication. This walk fits perfectly within this programme.

“Our year seven students are really enthusiastic about the walk and are doing well with their fundraising. We have made it clear that they should raise what they can, with no pressure, but they are doing so well. We are extremely proud of them all.”

Hayley Collis, head of fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “Thank you to the staff and students from Bingley Grammar School for taking on this 5K walk for our charity.

“We have had an excellent relationship with the school, since they supported our refurbishment of the new Children and Young People’s Unit at Bradford Royal Infirmary and we look forward to working with them again. We will certainly be delighted to welcome them to have a look around the radiology department, when the project is finished, to see how the money they raised has helped our patients.”

To find out more about Bradford Hospitals’ Charity and how you can support your local hospitals, visit www.bradfordhospitalscharity.org. Alternatively, contact Hayley Collis or Elaine Drake on 01274 274809 or email [email protected]