From April 2015 to March 2016 we will be running a number of fundraising activities for our charity of the year, Jack Banks’ Star Tribute Fund for Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal.

Event #7: Skills auction
As a grand finale some of the talented people at The Real Adventure Unlimited have volunteered their services in a skills auction. We've got all sorts of things, from photoshoots, to 'showstopper' cakes and even someone offering to make a delicious and nutritious lunch every day for a week. I can feel some competitive bidding coming on, which is obviously a good thing for our fundraising total!

Event #6: Games night
There was no sign of Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit at our games night. These games are about strategy, puzzles, bluffing and dexterity. Mental gymnastics, if you will. Our games master said ‘If you were to compare monopoly to a Big Mac, then modern games are your gourmet burgers carefully created by the best chefs in the world and full of flavour.’
A fabulous night that ended with a very competitive game of Werewolves.

Event #5: Summer party
Whilst our summer party wasn’t meant to be part of our fundraising, it was a sports-day themed event and we took the opportunity to extend this to include fundraising. We had some hilarious games of egg wars (basically, a relatively small pitch is drawn up, and you have to balance an egg on a spoon whilst trying to knock your opponents eggs off, or knock them out of the pitch) and some very competitive tug of war games, ending with one member of the agency against about 10!

Event #4: Jonny's crazy adventure
On 8th August, Jonny Savill cycled from Bristol to Snowdonia. And as if that's not enough, he then climbed the mountain...And because of the money raised, he did it all dressed as a cheerleader, complete with flowing blonde locks. Photo evidence below. Well done Jonny. You're ace!

Event #3: Color Obstacle Rush
On Saturday 11th July, a band of 7 intrepid Adventurers took on the Color Obstacle Rush at Bath Racecource. Laura Hargraves, Sam Blanchard, Lily Shanahan, Jade Wicks, Mel Wrensch, Warren Vice and Sophy Wells ran (OK, walked mainly) 5k, jumping over and through big obstacles whilst being pelted with coloured powder. All in the name of charity. Very messy and lots of fun, that's got to be worth sponsoring.

Event #2: Tour de Creston
The Tour de Creston cycling challenge will set off from the Bristol office on Friday 3rd July. With 3 routes to choose, depending on the cyclists' level, the race is on. Will our intrepid band of Adventurers make it to London in one piece? Visit www.justgiving.com/TourDeCreston to see how they got on and to donate.

Event #1: Run Simon, run!
The first event was Simon Brace’s brilliant London Marathon run. With an amazing time of 2.42, he was rightly thrilled. Now that deserves a donation, don’t you think?

Treasure Chest: In the run up to Christmas, lots of the wonderful people I work with put a couple of extra purchases in their baskets during their Christmas shopping trips and donated the extra toys and games to Captain Jack's Treasure Chest.

Book sale: With a big clearout at home, we've started a book sale in the office.

Ongoing events: As well as the big events listed above, we're also raising money through our tuck-shop and other smaller events, such as a guess the baby competition, sweepstakes and bake sales. We love a good cake!

Jack's cancer story: The fund was set up by Paula Banks in memory of her son, Jack, who died from a rare form of leukaemia on 23 July 2008, when he was only 9. All money raised goes straight to the Bristol Children’s Hospital cancer unit to help make life a little better for all the children who have to go through such a
horrific experience.

Jack was diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia in November 2003, aged just 4. He underwent chemo and a bone marrow transplant in February 2004, for which his brother, Joe, then aged 8, was the donor.

Following his transplant, Jack remained in remission for over 2 years but in August 2006 he relapsed. He received further chemo from which he developed a life threatening fungal infection on his lungs. Miraculously Jack
recovered from this and went on to find out that he was in remission, however the lung infection had left him too weak to undergo a second bone marrow transplant. 

For just over a year Jack remained well but following a routine bone marrow test it was confirmed that Jack had relapsed a second time. He had to undergo more chemo and radiotherapy and an unrelated donor was found for his second bone marrow transplant. In May 2008 Jack was admitted for his transplant and spent 2 months in hospital. Jack developed pneumonia and had no immunity to fight anymore. He passed away on 23 July 2008 with his mum and dad beside him, holding his brother's hand.

Through all of this Jack remained a strong character, he had a wicked sense of humour and endless sense of fun. The Doctors, Nurses and other hospital staff gave him such brilliant care during all the time he spent at the
hospital, this is his family’s way of saying thank you.

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