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Recent fundraising

Fundraising activities continue throughout the year. This page shows what’s been going on during the past 12 months or so. The most recent activities are at the top.

Fancy having a go at fundraising for ICP Support yourself? Here are some ideas!

Ride London 2022

Cycling events have returned, and ICP Support’s riders were back in the saddle on 29 May. ICP Support Patron Professor Catherine Williamson, Trustee Dr Peter Dixon, Jane Sinclair and Barry McAdam all completed the 100 mile course, raising a combined total of over £4,150 including Gift Aid.


Jane, Cath and Pete


Cath and Pete


Barry


Pete, Cath and Jane

Interested in having a go yourself? Let us know at fundraising@icpsupport.org!

Andy’s 100 Mile Pram Push

Our long-standing supporter Andy Edgecombe set out on 1 April to walk 100 miles in Long Melford by during the month, while pushing a buggy full of soft toys. She met many people in the village, and thanks to their generosity, as well as that of friends, family and neighbours, she raised over £2,000 for the 30th Anniversary appeal.

Andy says: ‘I am so grateful for the amazing support I have had. I hope that all those itchy mums will get the help and reassurance they need to cope with this really awful condition. Thank you to all the generous people who have donated’.

Some pictures of Andy and the people she met along the way:

And here’s Andy at the end, in a photo taken by Julie Thomson:

Celebrity Catchphrase

Christmas Eve brought a huge surprise when our Patron, Helen George appeared on ITV's Christmas Celebrity Catchphrase, aimimg to win money for ICP Support. Competing against football manager Harry Redknapp and Diversity member Jordan Banjo, Helen won through to the final round and earned an amazing £31,100!

Catchphrase Christmas Special
Jordan Banjo, Stephen Mulhern (host), Helen George, Harry Redknapp

Kindle Fire raffle

The raffle to win a Kindle Fire tablet raised £152. The lucky winner was Beth Muir.

James Pugh’s Sufferlandrian Knighthood Challenge

On 8 November 2020, James Pugh took on the Knights of Sufferlandria challenge (10 back to back Sufferfest videos of one hour each) to raise money for ICP Support. His wife, Jacqui, had ICP in both of her pregnancies.

James raised an incredible £1947.13, for which we just can't thank him enough. Here he is, looking amazingly fresh, just 30 minutes before the end of the challenge.

James Pugh

Yoto Player Raffle

This raffle raised £234.

Great North Run 2019

Three runners – Ruth Lee, Kevin Webb and Niamh Sayers – ran in the Great North Run half marathon on 8 September, raising over £1200 for ICP Support.

Great North Run 2019
Ruth Lee

Great North Run 2019
Kevin Webb

Great North Run 2019
Niamh Sayers

Ride London 2019

Chris Hampson, Peter Dixon, Paul Maclennan, Owain Taylor, Barry McAdam and John Nicholls took part in the Ride London event on 4 August 2019, raising over £2700 for ICP Support. Here they are, sporting their ICP Support cycling shirts and ride medals.

Ride London 2019

Ride London 2019

Ride London 2019

Ride London 2019

Ride London 2019

Ride London 2019

Rosalind’s massive sugar detox

Rosalind Rendall’s friend Gemma Mackay faced not only ICP (for the second time) but also gestational diabetes – which meant she couldn’t enjoy sugary foods during her pregnancy. So Rosalind decided to support her by giving up sweets, chocolate, sweet biscuits and cake herself for the whole of April to raise funds for ICP Support.

Gemma’s #LittleItch Chloe arrived safely, and Rosalind’s sacrifice raised over £550!

Here’s Chloe with her big sister Iona.

Chloe and Iona
Chloe and Iona

 

Afternoon tea in Staffordshire

Our postie, Diane Gurrey, organised an afternoon tea at her home, assisted by her daughter Lydia. Surrounded by pugs and observed by Dave the pony and Buffy the cat, Di raised £370! Special thanks to The Honey Pot Tea Room, who donated one of the raffle prizes.

Someone suggested painting Dave purple and having him as the charity’s mascot. We used Photoshop instead.

Dave
Dave

Mint Aero cake
Mint Aero cake

John Lewis Community Matters

Staff at the Tamworth branch of John Lewis voted to include ICP Support as one of their Community Matters charities at the end of 2018. The green tokens dropped in by the store's customers raised a superb £933 for the charity! Here's Debbie Fulbrook, Community Manager of the store, presenting the cheque to ICP Support CEO Jenny Chambers.

Debbie Fullbrook presents the cheque to Jenny Chambers
Debbie Fullbrook presents the cheque to Jenny Chambers

20 running events in 10 months

Our running manager, Jenny Hastings, set herself the challenge of completing 20 separate running events in 10 months to raise funds for ICP Support – and she's made it! Here's the photographic evidence:

Jenny’s medals
Jenny’s medals

Jenny with all her medals
Jenny with all her medals

If you’d like to raise funds by running for ICP Support – just one event is fine! – head to our Itching to Run page for more information.

Elle Vie Beauty fundraising evening

Elle Vie Beauty in Boldmere, Sutton Coldfield, held a fundraising evening on 6 November, raising a magnificent £710!

ICP Support CEO Jenny Chambers was there: ‘It was an amazing night, and I am so very grateful to Sue, Liz, Lesley, Coralie, Chelsea, Abbie and Dawn from Elle Vie who all worked so hard to make it a success. A big thank you too to everyone who attended and supported the event’.

Elle Vie staff with Jenny Chambers
Elle Vie staff with Jenny Chambers

Afternoon Tea with Helen George

ICP Support patron Helen George delighted the guests at our afternoon tea event at the Lanesborough hotel in London, chatting to guests and posing for photographs, along with her partner, fellow actor Jack Ashton. The occasion raised over £2000 for the charity.

The Lanesborough kindly let us have the stunning Belgravia room without charge. The staff and service were superb throughout, and we are hugely grateful to the hotel for their support.

A selection of photographs:

Helen George presents the raffle prizes
Helen George presents the raffle prizes (photo: Antonina Mamzenko)

ICP Support Patron Professor Catherine Williamson
ICP Support Patron Professor Catherine Williamson (photo: Antonina Mamzenko)

Helen George speaks to the guests
Helen George speaks to the guests (photo: Antonina Mamzenko)

Jenny Chambers makes her speech
Jenny Chambers makes her speech (photo: Antonina Mamzenko)

The Belgravia
The Belgravia room before the guests arrived

Pete Dixon, Helen George and Jack Ashton
ICP Support Trustee Dr Pete Dixon talking to Helen George and Jack Ashton

Jenny Chambers and Helen George
ICP Support CEO Jenny Chambers with Helen George

Cakes
Some of the delicious treats provided for the guests

Great North Run 2018

No fewer than five members of Team ICP took part in the Great North Run on 9 September 2018: Donna Wilkinson, Vikki Meredith, Mark Heath, Carly Evans and Tracy Brown – all of them new to running – took on the famous half-marathon and completed the course raising over £2,650 between them.

Mark’s children were both little itches, but were born 17 years ago, proving that it’s never too late to get involved. Donna didn’t have ICP, but one of her friends did and she decided that she wanted to support the charity. Carly, Vikki, Tracy and Donna all have children under two, so fitting in training was a challenge in itself! And you can read more about Vikki’s story at Chronicle Live.

Donna, Mark and Tracy
Donna, Mark and Tracy

Donna and Mark crossing the Tyne Bridge
Donna and Mark crossing the Tyne Bridge

Vikki Meredith with her little itches
Vikki Meredith with her little itches

Carly Evans
Carly Evans

Tracy takes a well-earned rest
Tracy takes a well-earned rest

 

Great Run Tees

Chris Harston kicked off a busy weekend for Team ICP’s runners, taking on the Stockton on Tees 10K on 8 September 2018 and raising over £1,100. He also managed to lose 17 lb while training!

Chris Harston
Chris enjoys a beer after his run

Emily and Rosie

Emily Harvey faced up to her greatest fear and raised over £2500 for ICP Support by holding Rosie, a Chilean Rose Tarantula, for over a minute. The encounter was broadcast live on Facebook, and here’s the video (click here if you can’t see it below):

For good measure, ICP Support CEO Jenny Chambers – no fan of arachnids herself – also held Rosie:

Rosie and Jenny

Rosie took the whole thing in her eight-legged stride. She was supplied free of charge by Wild Fangs, an educational animal encounters company based in North London. We are very grateful to them for their generosity.

Afternoon tea in Staffordshire

Kerry and Stuart Dawson hosted Afternoon Tea for ICP on Sunday 5 August 2018 and raised £644.55. Together with two other cheques they had been given this resulted in a total of £2744.55 for ICP Support!

Dawson family
The Dawson family

Cakes
Cakes!

Double 10k!

Ursula Gonthier ran not one but two 10k races to raise funds for ICP Support. The first was in Salford on 3 September 2017, and the second was the Essar Sutton 10k on 17 September.

Ursula Gonthier
Ursula Gonthier mid-race

Ursula Gonthier
Ursula Gonthier and medal

Great North Run

Four members of Team ICP took part in the 2017 Great North Run from Newcastle to South Shields. Between them, Ian Farn, Jim Johnson, Michael Patrick and Jacqueline Smith raised over £2000.

Great North Run 2017

Santander in Solihull

Christine Gingter held a fundraising day at Santander, Solihill in August. Christine had ICP in her last pregnancy and wanted to do something to support the work of our charity.

As our Founder, Jenny Chambers, lives in Sutton Coldfield she was able to pop in to see Christine to thank her and to wish her luck. Whatever is raised on the day will be matched by Santander, which is wonderful! If the company you work for does something similar do get in touch with us.

Santander staff
Staff at Santander Solihull

Christine Gingter and Jenny Chambers
Christine Gingter and Jenny Chambers

Fear of horses!

Libby and Barry McAdam have been raising funds for ICP, and have sent us £348.02 with the promise of more to come with a coffee morning in October.

One of Libby’s challenges came from her sister, Nicola, who knowing Libby’s fear of horses challenged her to ride her own ’mahoosive‘ (Libby’s words!) horse, Jess, round the river at Dalkeith Country Park. Libby couldn’t turn down the challenge (and money), so on 26 April she did just this. Libby’s daughter was on hand to demonstrate what to do by getting on her own pony, Mouse.

McAdams and horse

Military in the Forest

Abigaile Purser ran the Military in the Forest run/hike – 6 km over heather-clad heathland through the Ashdown Forest – to raise funds for ICP Support. She reports: ‘The weather was awful. We had planned to do more than the 6 k but had to stop after 7.5 k as we couldn’t even walk in the rain. Down side to forest run: if it gets wet there is no footing!’.

Abigaile Purser

A marathon a week!

During August, Lianne Kingswood, her son Michael and two other members of her family have challenged themselves to raise funds for ICP Support by walking a marathon a week. Lianne says ‘We came close to losing our gorgeous little boy and feel so lucky that he is okay. We decided that we wanted to do something Michael could be involved in’.

Kingswood

Sweets and cakes

Charlotte Squirrell raised £61 with a sweet stall at her local village fête on 15 July, and her mother Andy Edgecombe raised a further £62 by selling cakes and biscuits at the church toddler group two days later.

The sweet stall
The sweet stall

Cakes!
Cakes!

Christening fundraising

Natalie and Mark Fryer – see the Manchester 10k report further down the page – took the opportunity to raise a further £200 for ICP Support at their daughter Sienna’s christening in July.

Fryer christening

Race to the Tower double marathon

The amazing Kim Kenny, who last year ran over 1,000 km for ICP Support, continued her fundraising efforts by taking on the Heineken Race to the Tower double marathon through the Cotswolds on 10–11 June.

Kim Kenny on the course
Kim Kenny out on the course

Kim Kenny and her little itches
Kim Kenny and her little itches at the finish

Great Manchester Run 2017 10k

This year’s Great Manchester Run took place only a few days after the terrorist bomb attack on the Manchester Arena that killed 22 people and injured many more. Once the organisers had taken the decision that the event could go ahead, ICP Support’s four runners – Mark and Natalie Fryer, Jim Johnson and Angela Whitecross – all decided to run as planned, while the charity’s CEO, Jenny Chambers, decided to head up to Manchester to support them, along with webmaster Ian Kingston.

Happily for everyone, the event went off without incident. Jenny and Ian managed to meet up with all four runners before the start, and then made their way over to the finish to welcome them all in. Our runners raised over £1200 between them – a brilliant result.

Natalie, Mark, Jenny and Jim at the start
Natalie, Mark, Jenny and Jim at the start

Angela and Jenny before the race
Angela and Jenny before the race

Natalie and Mark at the finish with ICP Support balloons
Natalie and Mark at the finish with ICP Support balloons

Jim and Mark celebrating together
Jim and Mark celebrating together

Rose Westall – cake sale

Rose Westall held a cake sale, raising over £50 for ICP Support...

Rose Westall’s cakes
Rose Westall’s cakes

...but that wasn’t all she did: see below!

Rose Westall – marathon runner

Rose went on to run in the Halstead and Essex Marathon on 7 May. She completed the course in 3 hours 55 minutes and raised over £700. Let’s hope there was some cake left over to recharge her after that!

Rose Westall
Rose Westall and medal

Rose Westall on the course
Rose Westall on the course

Great Birmingham Run 2017 10k

Five runners – Michelle Berry, Ian Kingston, Dan Marshall, Gerry Urwin and Matt Urwin – ran for ICP Support in this year’s Birmingham 10k. This was the first of five Great Run events that ICP Support has places in this year – if you want to take up one of the last few places (including the inaugural Birmingham International Marathon!) or take part in another running event, visit our Itching to Run page or email Jenny Hastings at running@icpsupport.org.

Michelle Berry, Ian Kingston, Gerry Urwin and Matt Urwin
Michelle Berry, Ian Kingston, Gerry Urwin and Matt Urwin with their finishers’ medals

Dan Marshall and son
Dan Marshall and son

London marathon

Barry Wilton was lucky enough to get a place in this year’s London marathon and decided to run for ICP Support because his partner, Kay Stevens, had ICP. On his fundraising page, Barry wrote that their son Oscar was born 11 weeks premature due to ICP, and without ICP Support’s help he might not have survived.

Barry finished in a highly respectable time of 3:44:16, raising almost £2,500 (including Gift Aid).

Barry Wilton and Oscar after the race
Barry Wilton and #LittleItch Oscar after the race

Barry, Kay and Oscar
Barry, Kay and Oscar

Lee Valley Velopark half marathon

Al and Cam De Wys raised just over £2,000 (including Gift Aid) for us at the Lee Valley Velopark half marathon on 25 March 2017. An amount like this can fund a stand at a health professionals’ conference where we have the chance speak to hundreds of midwives about ICP. These conferences really help us to make a difference, because we are able to raise the profile of our charity and educate those midwives who don’t know a lot about the condition. Thank you Al and Cam!

Al and Cam De Wys
Al and Cam De Wys

Multiple event fundraisers

Some of our fundraisers have participated in several fundraising events during the year. Among then are Michael Patrick, who has raised £737.75, and Claire and Robert McNeil, who have raised £1936 plus Gift Aid.

Michael Patrick
Michael Patrick

Robert and Claire McNeil
Robert and Claire McNeil

Afternoon Tea for ICP

Catching up with some more afternoon tea fundraising events: Laura Lockwood raised £94 in March; Rachael Brown raised £147 on 11 September; Kerry Holden raised £630 in September; Jenny Hastings raised £400 on 7 October and Chhaya Patel and her colleagues at the Home Office Hendon Data Centre raised £100 at the end of November. Thanks to all!

Kerry Holden's afternoon tea

Tadpoles Nursery

Claire Dimpfl raised over £2500 at the Tadpoles Nursery School (Chelsea) Christmas Fair on 25 November.

Tadpoles Christmas Fair

Andy Edgecombe

Andy did another of her supermarket collections in November, raising £100.

Climbing Kilimanjaro

Tharni Vasavan, a PhD student doing research into ICP, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on 10–16 October, raising £560.

Tharni om Kilimanjaro

Birmingham half-marathon

Six runners from Team ICP lined up for the Birmingham half-marathon on 16 October. This was the third Great Run event in which ICP Support had an official presence this year (the others were the Birmingham 10k and the Great North Run), and the combined total raised was over £7500.

Support team
The support team: Jenny Chambers and Jenny Hastings

Birmingham half-marathon
Top: Kim Kenny, Rachel Hill, Danielle Kenny; Centre: Ian Kingston, Rachel Hill; Bottom: Michael Patrick, Danielle Kenny, Kim Kenny

Bristol half-marathon

James Southgate and David Swindells raised almost £1000 at the Bristol half-marathon on 25 September. Here they are with their little itches after the race.

Bristol half-marathon

3 Peaks Challenge

Staff from PRA Health Sciences took on the Three Peaks Challenge – climbing the highest peaks in England, Wales and Scotland – in September, raising around £2750.

Three Peaks Challenge