Serving Others during Covid-19
During Covid-19 the Berkhamsted community have found ways of serving others and helping in a variety of ways. We want to support these projects, but also to share the fundraising efforts of our Charity partners who are finding this period particularly hard to support those who require assistance.
This page will be kept updated during our lockdown period in order to share information of the various fundraising initiatives with our community. If you are able to help – please do follow one of the links below to get involved.
Thank you.
Mufti day with an ‘around the world’ theme. Pupils dressed up to represent different countries from around the world to raise money to raise money for Go MAD in Tanzania and Oxfam.
Supporting local NHS Practices and Hospices
UPDATE 2 JUNE: After a lot of hard work and a few teaks to the designs, Simon’s masks have now received BSI Approval. Simon will begin production again w/c 8th June with a request for 250 masks already. 50 are being delivered to Watford General next week. Thank you to all those who have supported and donated to this cause.
If anyone would like to help support this project please follow the link below:
Crowd Fund – Helping fund face mask production
The project started knowing that I couldn’t use the files which have been generated nationally due to materials available and the size in which we can 3D print. As our manufacturing situation is similar to many others out there, it led me to design a face shield which could be 3D printed in 3 parts and use a laser cut shield with stock of sheet PETG. In just a couple of days with minor tweaks I had a working prototype and I’m now making this in larger quantities in order to meet demand. Yesterday I made over 30 of these and I’m aiming to achieve approx another 30 each day to meet the demand from our local NHS practices in addition to the Hopice of St Francis. These masks are being used to help our local staff whilst they wait for the NHS supply of medical standard PPE to arrive.
The School has been helping to fund these masks but I am hoping to make over 300 and therefore started a crowd funding account to raise money for the additional materials required to produce this number.
UPDATE 27 APRIL : Production is currently on hold whilst Simon works with the BSI to get approval for his design to continue with the production of PPE.
UPDATE 20 APRIL: Crowdfunding has continued and the materials have now arrived to allow for Simon to continue with his production. 260 masks have been made and delivered to date with an additional 50 due to go out today. With the local surgery demand met Simon has now been offering his visors to those working in local care homes. Please do contact marketing@berkhamsted.com if you know of any local care homes who may benefit from these until their healthcare provisions arrive.
“The partners and staff of Rothschild House Group would like to extend their thanks and gratitude to Berkhamsted School for providing the surgeries with much needed PPE during this time. The visors you have made will afford our clinical and nursing staff more protection when seeing patients and will more importantly help to reduce the spread of coronavirus. We are incredibly grateful for your kind donation.”
Maggy Furneaux, Operations Manager, Rothschild House Group
UPDATE 14 APRIL: Thank you to everyone who has helped so far and allowed Simon to raise the funds he needs to make the additional masks and hopefully provide more supplies to those who have contacted us following the report. 7 visors were collected yesterday and 47 visors collected this afternoon for local (Berko and Hemel Surgeries) and the new Covid-19 Assessment rooms they are setting up at Hemel Hospital. Additional materials should be arriving shortly allowing Simon to continue to meet demand locally for support.
Simon Brown – Design & Technology Assistant
Greenes to Greenland
Greenes trip to Greenland (kind of)! As a collective, all the members of Greenes House (Berkhamsted Boys, Y-11) including staff will be travelling the distance to Greenland on bikes or by feet.
Their charity initiative will see all proceeds going to the Willow Foundation
They said “It’s a wonderful charity dedicated to providing the seriously ill with special days who are between the ages of 16 and 40. The total distance is 3052km, giving each of our sixty members a target of roughly 5km per week for ten weeks, although we expect we will smash this out the park. Please do share with your friends for this amazing cause and fun cause, and if you are wondering why we chose Greenland, it’s simply because it has the word Green in it.”
They aim to raise £3,000 in total.
Donate via their Just Giving page
Casper and team cycle breadth of the country for Parkinson’s UK
Casper is cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats to fundraise for the charity supporting people with the neurological condition – Parkinson’s.
A family effort, Casper is joined by his father Cameron and two ex-rugby players (Julian and Angus). Pedalling for 8 hours and 20 mins, they conquered 114 kilometres on Day 1. Their journey continues through the hilly terrain of Devon and Cornwall. They aim to reach the tip of Scotland by 25 August.
More information and fundraising page
They are on the verge of raising £2,000!
Raising money and hair for the Little Princess Trust
Katie has decided to grow her hair to donate to the Little Princess Trust who make and then donate wigs for children who lose their hair through cancer treatment. The big cut was done this week and Katie is shocked by how much she has raised.
Katie at the Prep School has raised more than £1,000 for the Little Princess Trust and donated over 10 inches of her hair.
More information is available in her Just-Giving page
Heatherton Y5 girl inspired by study of Africa and riding for charity
The Heathterton Year 5 girls have been learning about Africa. Harriet was so inspired by their talk on the ‘Born Free Foundation’, linked to their study of Africa, that she has decided to do a charity bike ride to raise money to protect the elephants. She has raised around £140 already. If you would like to support her the just giving link is here.
Walking to raise money for the NHS
Sasha from Year 8 has fundraising for the NHS. She has just completed a 30 mile walk in her garden by been completing this every day during my online school break time. Sasha said “I found not only the fresh air between lessons did me good but I also raised £1,200!” If you wish to donate here fundraising page can be found here.
The Tudor House Charity Reps Elizabeth, Captain, Lucas, and Deputy House Captain, Charlotte, would like to invite you to join their charity event
Having watched Captain Tom and his amazing contribution to fundraising, Tudor House has been inspired with the idea of everyone doing 5km of physical activity each day across 7 days (10th-17th May). By working together as a team, Tudor House will collectively have covered 1300kms.
The money we raise from will go towards ‘Young Minds‘ and ‘NHS Charities together‘ to support all the amazing work they are currently doing in the fight against Coronavirus.
We hope you are all staying safe and healthy during these uncertain times, and invite you to join us by being active and/or donating to our ‘JustGiving’ to reach our target of £500.00.
Running a marathon to raise money for Cancer
UPDATE 19/05: Ben completed his marathon in 4hours 2minutes and 53 seconds! To date he has raised £1,575. If you would like to donate please use this link
For the last month Ben has been training for a marathon on the treadmill which will take place this Sunday (17th May).
Ben said:
“This is a fundraiser for Cancer Research UK, as due to COVID-19 and the lockdown situation, a lot of charities including Cancer Research UK are missing out on vital funding which keeps their charities and the brilliant work they do alive. Whilst we know that many 100,000’s of people have been infected by COVID-19; it is a fact that one in three people will get cancer.
I have just passed £500 raised to date and I am trying to raise a target of £1,000; I would really appreciate it if you could donate something, however little, towards this cause as this will affect and improve so many lives. If you would like to donate please use this link
I will upload a video of me running the marathon on the day after the actual run and I will be posting constant updates during the run on my GoFundMe page.”
Ben – Adders House – Year 10
The twopointsixchallenge
A number of girls from the Senior school have been participating in the twopointsixchallenge in a variety of ways:
- Chloe (WO) also completed the 2.6 challenge be competing a series of football challenges to each 26 points in total.Chloe is supporting a 10 year old girl in Cambridgeshire who is encouraging a group to do 7.1 million keepy-uppies (one for each UK key worker) to raise funds for NHS Charities Together (more details here – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-52441509 ) Chloe has ‘donated’ 20,000 keepy-uppies so far and her record is now 150 in a row! Please click here for her just giving page.
- Thea (HO) – 26 hr silence this weekend for Dementia UK from 8am on Saturday to 10am on Sunday. She has raised over £708 pounds. Thea’s just giving page can found here.
- Iris (WO) – 2.6 mile stair challenge for Cancer Research UK – currently completing the 2.6 challenge by climbing 2.6 miles up and down her stairs. This equates to something like 450 trips up and down her stairs! She is completing this over three days. She is raising money for Cancer Research UK. To help donate please click here for a link to her justgiving page
- Savarnah (StD) is undertaking a charity run. It was all her own idea to put her running to good use and raise much needed funds for a local charity that is suffering at this time from the usual fundraising events being cancelled. She has smashed her target and has raised an incredible amount of money but if you would like to donate to find our more about her marathon run please click here for the Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity.
‘Reverse Mufti Day’ to celebrate the key workers and to raise funds for our charity partners
The Sixth Form prefect team have set up a ‘Reverse Mufti Day’ for the Berkhamsted Schools Group to take part in from home. Each pupil is being asked to wear a bit of school kit/uniform and the colours of the rainbow in order to ‘Serve Others’ and raise funds for our charity partners during this difficult time.
To facilitate the fundraising the Sixth Formers have set up the following donation links for the charities.
The Prep and Senior School have been asked to donate to one of the following three charities:
The Hospice of St Francis: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/berkhamsted-homemuftiday-hospiceofstfrancis
NSPCC’s Childline: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/berkhamsted-homemuftiday-childline
DENS of Dacorum: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/berkhamsted-homemuftiday-dens
The Pre-Prep are supporting their partner charity and can donate on this link:
NSPCC Childline: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/berkhamsted-homemuftiday-childline
Heatherton are donating to Captain Tom Moore’s fundraising for the NHS Charities or direct to the NHS :
Captain Tom Moore’s Just Giving page or https://www.justgiving.com/associationofnhscharities
We hope that everyone had fun today and thank you for taking part.
We have managed to raise over £5,000 as a community for the charities today!
The Sixth Form Prefect Team
Brothers in Tilman House – cycling daily to raise funds for Wythenshawe Hospital who have helped their family
Charlie and Henry are currently trying to raise money to support the Hospital that has been treating their father who has sadly been suffering with the virus. The boys’ are cycling the ‘Pednor Loop’ every day their father is in hospital in order to fundraise and make a donation to the Wythenshawe Hospital. 36 loops and counting.
“We have no way to repay these brilliant doctors and nurses for saving Dad’s life, but we can try to raise a little bit towards the c. £250K cost for his treatment. Dad is not out of the woods yet; he still has a long way to go, so please give generously towards this amazing life saving team.”
To help Charlie and Henry please donate on their just giving page
Update from Charlie and Henry 22.05.2020 “Dad has now been in hospital for 60 days! Great news…he is now out of ICU and in a separate room on a general ward. He is eating and drinking for himself and working hard with the physios to get his strength and mobility back. We are up to date with the cycling loops and will continue to do them until he comes home. Thank you everyone who has donated money, which is now at nearly £7,500, which is amazing. Special thanks to the staff at Wythenshawe hospital for all their care and hard work. C&H.”
Update 03:09:20: Wythenshawe Hospital staff send gratitude for a whopping £9,033 raised.
This video from #TeamMFT is a must watch!
Charlie (Y12) and Henry (Y11) have raised a whopping £9,033 for @WythenshaweHosp – where their dad had been treated for Covid-19. Their fundraising is an incredible display of determination and strength.
More 👉https://t.co/VamG222IiR pic.twitter.com/R2A1KAjm4M
— Berkhamsted School (@berkhamstedsch) September 3, 2020
Inspired by the NHS Heroes
After seeing the amazing work that the NHS is doing, William in Year 7 felt that he needed to do something to help.
“I have decided to dye my hair and hope to raise over £300 for NHS Charities Together. I’d be really grateful for any sponsorship to help reach my target.”
Here is a link to William’s fundraising page
Joshua from Adders has also felt that he needed to fundraise for the NHS and decided to dye his hair in dedication to the NHS. He has raised an astonishing amount for charity this year following on from his record attempt to make the largest Marshmallow for BBC’s Children in Need.
To help Josh with his continued fundraising – in this case for the NHS – please donate here.
The 5,5,5 Run for Heroes Challenge by Year 9 boys goes global
Jerry, a boarder at Berkhamsted, gathered some of his football friends in China and did the 5k run for heroes to join in with the rest of his Greenes year group – what a star!
5, 5, 5 Run for Heroes challenge undertaken by Year 9 Berkhamsted Boys
UPDATE 30 April: The Sports department have joined the Year 9 boys with Miss Baker, Mr Evers, Mrs Costin (with buggy) to complete the 5, 5,5. Who else is joining in?
During the Easter holidays, a group of them have taken part in the 5, 5, 5 Run for Heroes campaign on Instagram. The aim of this is to give a £5 donation , run 5K and nominate 5 friends to do the same. So far a total of 57 boys have taken part, raising at least £285.
Inspired by their efforts, several of us mums / dads and siblings have also joined in and donated too , boosting the total raised even further.
The names of the boys who haven taken part so far are :
Lewis McG , Fergus R , Jack S , Sam K , Oscar K , Archie F, Adam Y , Josh M, Oscar T, William R , Oscar P , Tom W , Alex N , Alex O, Jack B, Jack H, Daniel K, James P, Jasper R, Algerto H, Dominic H, Ollie R, Matthew E, Barney B, Hugh C, Fergus T, Chris W, George C, Noah C, Sam F, Josh F, Will R, Luca G-S, Archie P, Sami W, Matthew R, Thomas P, Michael B, Finn J-M, Jamie W, Will L, Thomas T, Hugh C, Rohan P, Sam M, Pierce P, Zac H, Archie D, Harvey E, Freddie M, Sam W, Ollie H, Charlie B, Jonny H, Gunsagar P, Joshua P, Noah M.
If you would like to support the cause or find out more about how you can join in please see the link below:
The Run for Heroes initiative has raised over £3.7 million so far and its great to see our boys keeping fit and helping others by contributing their own money to this worthwhile cause.
Poppy, aged 4, is running a marathon to raise funds for the NHS
Poppy is 4 years old and in currently in Berkhamsted Pre-Prep Reception. Poppy is intending to run a minimum of a mile a day ( with my mummy) whilst we are in lockdown over the next 3 weeks until she has completed the equivalent of the London Marathon. Poppy has chosen to do this to try and raise money for the very special NHS doctors and nurses who are looking after everyone during the current Coronavirus pandemic .
If you can help Poppy please see her fundraising page
One Pre-Prep Family is helping to sew scrubs for Watford General Hospital staff
One Pre-Prep family are sewing scrubs for Watford General and aiming to get them 1,000 sets as soon as possible. When they heard about the huge shortages the hospital staff were facing they started to coordinate a local effort with Watford General’s Emergency Planning Team and now have a small group of 30 local sewers helping to make the sets: Watford Scrubs Drive.
The Pre-Prep pupil has been remarkable, helping her mother to unload boxes, count sleeves and pockets and is currently sewing her own set of scrubs for the Matron of the ICU. The group are part of a national campaign and need support in helping to fund the material to help groups across the country fund the materials they need to create the scrubs:
https://uk.gofundme.com/f/helping-dress-medics
The team currently have 320 sets due to be sent to Watford General this week but still have a long way to go….680 to be precise!
Finding ways to help the local community during Covid-19
Old Berkhamstedian Isabelle Holland has been extremely busy during lock down here in Berkhamsted. Having completed her Fashion degree, she has put her skills to good use making hand sewn face masks, she is permanently at her sewing machine! Once completed they are placed into a collection box outside our front gate in Cross Oak Road and are free for the public to use. The face masks are designed for the general public – two-ply sanitised cotton, washable and re-usable.
Isabelle has already received thanks from a kidney transplant local who cannot get hold of a mask for shopping trips. She is trying to keep up with high demand and using lots of different, interesting fabrics in the production of these homemade masks!
Berkhamsted Students – Virtual journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats
A group of Berkhamsted pupils are planning to do a charity event where they intend to run, cycle, walk etc 970km the distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats. We are doing this for a week from 6th April for the charity Dens as a few of their events have had to be cancelled due to self-isolation and the pupils wanted to help.
The group are raising funds through a just giving page to try and raise as much money as possible for those who will be strongly affected by the virus outbreak. If you would like to support and donate to this charitable event please click here.
Update 14 April: the pupils have smashed their target!
The Hospice of St Francis
Our charity partner The Hospice of St Francis has a number of initiatives underway. Please follow their Twitter page to find out more about how you can help. Maybe join the virtual run club or join the next virtual quiz night on Facebook – 19:30 each Wednesday.
Keech Hospice Care
Looking for a great activity during lockdown?
Why not consider signing up for the Keech Virtual Challenge?
Select the distance you think you can achieve in the month, take the whole month to walk, run or cycle the distance and receive a shiny medal – all whist keeping fit and healthy and supporting Keech Hospice Care
Helping in the Community
- Pupils from Year 8 in Russell House are helping to shop and prepare food for elderly neighbours during this time
- Our caretakers are also helping out at St Peter’s Church by helping to mow the lawns and tend to the gardens in the absence of their usual support due to Covid-19
- A number of teachers volunteered to deliver Maths and English sessions for Looked-After Children as part of the Herts Virtual Schools.
Adders House is fundraising for Smile Malawi, one of their nominated charities.
They have completed an enormous challenge of covering the distance between South Africa and Malawi by running, walking, swimming and rowing. That’s a total of 5524 km!
As tier 4 regulations started and ‘Christmas was cancelled’ in terms of family gatherings, the community appreciated the generosity of our students more than ever.
The joy of the Lagley House residents receiving their Christmas Hampers from New Stede brought a smile to us all.
“We all really appreciated our hampers. It was so lovely to see the surprise smiles from my neighbours such a small gesture went a long way. So many lovely gifts. Thank you all for your kindness.”
