
Welcome to 2024!
It seems strange to be doing a new year’s post in February, but here we are, and thanking you for coming back to join us!
We’re sorry it’s taken so long to reach out again, as you can imagine time is precious when we’ve all got full-time jobs, but lots of hard work has been going on behind the scenes and we can share some of that with you here.
Before we jump into 2024 let’s just have a quick recap of the end of 2023 and everything we managed to accomplish in our first full operating year…
Sadly it wasn’t quite to be for Ryan in the 2023 JustGiving Awards. He attended the event with Chris down in London, but what an honour for A Shining Light to be even part of the conversation on a national scale. It’s pretty difficult to sum up what that means for us that our little charity was sharing a stage with people that have raised tens of millions of pounds. We’re so proud of ourselves, and more importantly the world got to see Luke’s story in our amazing film that you can see right here.

December was one of our most successful months to date, collecting over £4,000 in just three weeks! It was also one of our biggest fundraising pushes with Festive Bingo, Santa’s Howden Sleigh Routes, Morrisons bag packing and the Howden Christmas Market. Despite the wind, rain and cold it was so humbling to see all of those events so well attended and supported. We really couldn’t do what we do without everyone else.

We held a 2024 strategy meeting shortly after Christmas to lay down some plans for the new year and it’s going to be a big one. What we’re really keen to do is share with you as much as possible where all of your amazing donations are going. As recently as December we made a valuable contribution to the ward Christmas party at the Leeds Teenage Cancer Trust unit, and hopefully this virtual tour can show you a little more of the work that we’re currently funding.
As well as launching some new events in 2024, we’ve also committed to supporting Teenage Cancer Trust’s launch of their IAM Portal. This app helps to connect young people facing cancer with other people like them, especially during a time when space on the wards is so restricted and many people are experiencing loneliness and anxiety in between their visits for treatment. This platform allows young people and health professionals to work together to identify the emotional and clinical support they need. We’re also exploring improvements to the Leeds unit and items we can donate to make people’s stay on the ward that little bit more comfortable.
Our first event of 2024 starts next week as we support Howden School’s production of Shrek the Musical (tickets available in our online store NOW!). Just like last year’s production of We Will Rock You, the school has kindly agreed to donate all of the show’s proceeds to us. Thank you Howden! We will also be support the junior Stagedoor Academy production of The Wizard of Oz in March before bringing back our very successful bingo night, this time with an Easter twist! And we’ve also just put the finishing touches to the date of our also returning junior football tournament which will be taking place across the weekend of July 20 & 21.
That just about brings us back up to speed, for now! Keep shining everyone.