The Noah’s Ark Appeal is one of 12 charities to be chosen as part of People’s Postcode Trust’s Vote That Counts campaign. In partnership withWales’ four key media titles –Wales on Sunday, Western Mail, South Wales Echo and the Welsh Daily Post – the Postcode Trust is giving 12 selected charities the chance to receive £15,000 funding.

We are thrilled to be nominated – but we need your support to make sure we get the highest number of votes and secure the funding.

Here’s how you can help make your Vote Count:

1. Simply visit Vote that Counts
2. Enter your name, date of birth, phone number, email address and postcode to register
3. Select THE NOAH’S ARK APPEAL

The charity that gets the highest number of votes receives a fantastic £15,000; five runner-up charities are all awarded £1,000 each.

£15,000 would make such a difference to the Noah’s Ark Appeal. With the money we would be a step closer to funding the £500,000 purpose-built hydrotherapy pool. Currently children are treated in the adult pool but access is limited to one hour a week. Our project will ensure that an extra 500 patients with a wide range of conditions will benefit from hydrotherapy treatment annually.

Voting opens on Sunday 13^th May and closes at midnight on Friday 22^nd June. Please take just 2 minutes to make your vote count and vote for the Noah’s Ark Appeal.

Thank goodness the weather was nice on Sunday 13^th May, when Erika Baker and fellow fundraisers Lee, Simon and Erika’s husband Adam trekked over the Ten Tors in Cornwall.

The intimidating 14 mile walk, starting and finishing at St Breward on Bodmin Moor, demanded hiking over the highest points in Cornwall, including Brown Willy – a huge 1378 feet! The walk, which they completed in 4 hours 40 minutes, resulted in lots of painful blisters, but also in a tor-riffic fundraising total that’s now over £600!

Erika and her fellow walkers, who were inspired to fundraise after a friend lost her young son, are having a well-earned rest, and hope not to have to hobble anywhere too soon.

A huge thank you to our marathon men who undertook the huge challenge of the London Marathon in April this year.

Merrick Jones

Merrick Jones, Martin Humphries, and Mike Hobbs faced the twenty-six mile marathon bravely despite the cold.

Merrick was inspired to raise money for the Noah’s Ark Appeal by seeing how medical treatment improved the lives of his wife and her daughter. He’s thrilled to have raised over £1,300, and to have crossed the line in just 4 hours and 42 minutes!

He said of the run:“I can see now why everyone told me I was barking mad to run a marathon at nearly 40 years old, because that really hurt!  But I had fantastic support from family, friends and complete strangers who shared my desire to help the Children’s Hospital in way we could.”

Mike Hobbs, who works for Aviva, one of the Noah’s Ark Appeal’s biggest corporate supporters, completed the marathon in 4 hours 55 minutes. Mike’s wife is a nurse at theUniversityHospital, and so children’s health is close to his heart.

Mike Hobbs

He says “This was the toughest five hours of my life! With everyone’s fantastic support for the Noah’s Ark Appeal, aided by a massiveLondon crowd I managed to get through the last few miles making sure the last mile from Big Ben was proudly run.” He’s raised £2,530.

Martin Humphreys ran the race in 4 hours and 6 minutes, raising over £100. Next year he wants to make it under the 4 hour mark!

A ribbon-crossing thanks to our three marathon men. It’s time for a nice sit down and a cup of tea we think!

Sue & Bryan of Berry Hill Fruit Farm held a very berry Teddy Bears’ Picnic on May 7^th

Keen crafter Sue, who runs the Berry Hill Fruit Farm shop, knitted all the items a bear could need for a picnic – pies, sausages, cakes and even a bottle of champagne!

The Farm also held a raffle of teddy bears and we can’t wait to learn how much they’ve raised with their creative efforts.

Sue, whose grandson James was treated for leukemia in the Sky Ward of the Children’s Hospital forWales, said: “It’s amazing how wonderful the hospital and all its staff are; I couldn’t praise them more. They were fantastic and we hope to raise lots of money for the Noah’s Ark Appeal.”

There are so many wonderful events taking place during the Cowbridge book festival, there really is something for everyone! We’ve picked out some of the events that we’re excited about that we think you may be interested in too…

Saturday 12^th May –Old Hall Gardens
10am-5pm “The Gruffalo comes to Cowbridge” Family Fun Day with games, stalls, café and a brass band.

Saturday 12^th May – Old Hall
2pm Historical Novels
Ben Kane “Spartacus: The Gladiator”
Tony Riches “Leopard Sword”
Tickets £6

Sunday 13^th May – Old Hall
3:30pm Roy Noble “Noble Ways– Lay-bys in my Life”
Tickets £5

Monday 14^th May – The Duke ofWellington
3:30pm 1066 – two sides of a bloody history
James Aitcheson “Sworn Sword”
Stewart Binns “Conquest”
Tickets £6

Tuesday 15^th May – The Bear Hotel
7:30pm Peter Jackson “Triumph and Tragedy – Welsh Sporting Legends”
Tickets £5

Wednesday 16^th May – Cowbridge United Free Church
7:30pm CRIME NIGHT – Crime writers discuss their latest books
M R Hall “The Fight”
Belinda Bauer “Finders Keepers”
Martin O’Brien “The Dying Minutes”
Tickets £8

Thursday 17^th May – The Duke ofWellington
2pm Jamie Owen “Jamie Owen’s Journeys inWales”
Tickets £5

Thursday 17^th May – The Quarter Penny Café
6:30pm Girls Night Out!
Jo Carnegie “Horse Play”
Sparkling wine, nibbles, and mini beauty treatment.
Tickets £10

Friday 18^th May – Cowbridge United Free Church
8pm Jon Gower “The Story ofWales”
Acclaimed BBC series, Jon Gower in conversation with producer Phil George.
Tickets £8

Darling Buds Nursery in Cardiff Bay is among the latest to sign up to hold a Teddy Bears’ Picnic, and the excitement is building. They are even holding two Teddy Bears’ Picnics next week, to ensure no child or teddy misses out!

The nursery, who care for children from eight weeks to five years, have big plans for their teddy bear days. They’ll be getting crafty and making teddy bear hats, eating bear shaped sandwiches and posing for teddy bear photos.

Cherie Roberts, Owner of Darling Buds said; “It is something that we think everybody should be passionate about. It is a necessary thing, the hospital is something that we may all need for someone we know and love at some point in our life.”

The team members have been training incredibly hard over the last few months, throwing themselves out of bed in the early hours of the morning to climb mountains at 6.30 am on cold winter mornings.

Please show your support for team Rhys Lightening by sponsoring them at http://www.justgiving.com/RhysLightning.

Rain Ponchos Adult £2.50 Child £1.50

We are all hoping for a sunny day on Monday May 7^th for the hundreds of Teddy Bears’ Picnics taking place all across Wales to raise fund for the Children’s Hospital for Wales.

However, if the Welsh weather rains down on us don’t let it stop the fundraising!

Here at the Noah’s Ark Appeal we don’t let anything rain on our parade!

Who says you can’t have a Teddy Bears’ Picnic when it’s raining?

Here are our top tips for a rainy day Teddy Bears’ Picnic:

• With only a chance of a few light showers outdoor picnics are still happening all over Wales! But it’s always best to be prepared so why not buy some of our extra special Noah’s Ark Appeal rain ponchos. All proceeds go to the Noah’s Ark Appeal and the ponchos come in Adult and Child sizes!

Get yours today by calling 029 2033 5016.

We can even offer them on a sale or return basis if you are holding a big picnic!

• Teddies love tents! Why not put a tent up and add to the excitement as you hear the pitter patter of raindrops on the tent as you all eat your yummy picnic!

• Move the picnic inside! Find a local hall or play centre to hold your picnic in or push back the furniture and lay your blankets on the floor of the living room - and in the house it’s easy to finish up with a big bowl of ice cream!

Not long till a host of celebrities and authors descend on the picturesque market town of Cowbridge for a week long book festival. The Festival will be taking place from the 11^th – 18^th May, with all proceeds to be divided equally between the Noah’s Ark Appeal and Leukemia & Lymphoma Research.

A strong line up of distinguished authors, from a wide range of genres, will talk about their books and visitors will have the opportunity to meet the authors and purchase signed copies of their books.

Jamie Owen and Roy Noble are just two of the celebrities who will be making appearances. Sports journalist Peter Jackson will talk about his new book “Triumph and Tragedy Welsh Sporting Legends”.

May 12th will see a very special visitor for young readers; “The Gruffalo” will be greeting children in the story telling marquee. There will also be plenty of children’s activities, a variety of craft stalls and the St Athans RAF Brass Band will be on hand to provide some oompa pa pa!

To find out more about the festival visit our Events page.

The evening was well supported by many of the police team as well as staff from various departments across the UHW – including one from Land Ward, Children’s Hospital for Wales!

The Winning Team was made up of Staff from Tesco House, who are based in Heath, and they very kindly donated all their winning cash back to the Noah’s Ark Appeal!

Gary Dunning, Front Line Support Officer in the Llanishen and Llanedeyrn Neighbourhood Policing Team said; “It was a very good social night for everybody. Stuart, our Quizmaster, was a star and even started off the Karaoke. Laura worked very hard at selling raffle tickets and bears both in the Quiz Room and also in the bar next door.”

This is just one of many events the team are holding for the Noah’s Ark Appeal this year as they have selected us as their Charity of the Year for 2012. The team recently raised more than £2,000 in a charity football match at the Millennium stadium.