We are organising a 24 hour lampwork bead making marathon  which will bring members of the UK lampworking community together in the same place to create a wonderful collection of handmade glass beads for Be Child Cancer Aware. These artist made beads will then be given to children on the Beads of Courage program as Act of Courage beads which are a marker to honour bravery and courage. We will start Friday the 12th of October at around 7 to 7-30pm and we will then make beads continuously for 24 hours through to the evening of Saturday the13th.

Also by having this event and sponsorship page here on Just Giving we are hoping to raise a significant amount of money towards keeping the hospitals in the UK BoC progam supplied with some of the hundereds of program beads that they need every single day.

£50.00 sponsors one child on the programme.

£1,000.00 sponsors one shared care hospital for one year

The beads of courage program was introduced in the UK just last year by the charity Be Child Cancer Aware. Be Child Cancer Aware aim to provide training and fully fund the program in every Oncology ward in every UK hospital that wants to participate in the program. So far the Beads of Courage program is enriching the lives of children with serious illness in 47 UK hospitals.

The Beads of Courage Program is a new concept being introduced in the UK which is designed to support children going through their treatment. It allows them to tell their story using colourful beads. The beads are used as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate different milestones such as blood transfusions, bone marrow transplants, hospital stays, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.

The beads help the children to take ownership of their journey and to make sense of the experience they are going through in a very visible and tangible way. The beads gives them a tool to explain it to themselves and others, adults, medical professionals, brothers, sisters, friends and says to everybody “this is my story, this is what I’m doing –  it’s not nice but I’m strong and I will get through it”.

We are also hoping to broadcast the entire event through live web streaming so please watch this space for further information.

Please visit http://www.bechildcanceraware.org/beads-of-courage/ for more information.

Thanks Jolene