Congratulations to Seymour House who, this week, celebrated their fantastic achievement in raising £3,885, as a house, for Teenage Cancer Trust over the course of last year.
Every year, Bloxham School selects a focus charity and last years was Mary’s Meals. However, alongside supporting Mary’s Meals, Seymour House, one of Bloxham’s six senior boarding houses consisting of 65 boys, chose to support Teenage Cancer Trust after finding that some of their boarding community had been personally affected by the work that Teenage Cancer Trust does.
Teenage Cancer Trust makes sure the seven young people aged 13 to 24 diagnosed with cancer every day don’t face it alone. They help young people and their families deal with the many ways cancer affects your body, mind and life. The charity works in partnership with the NHS, providing expert staff and specialist units in Principal Treatment Centres for cancer, and bring young people together so they can support each other.
In order to show students the importance of determination and teamwork it was important for Seymour to have a challenging goal. The boys came up with the idea of The Great British Challenge as a way of raising money for their chosen charity. All boys completed a form of triathlon that replicated great British challenges and between them they climbed the height of the Three Peaks, cycled the distance of John O’Groats to Lands’ End and swam the distance of the English Channel around Broughton Castle moat!
Alongside this, students came up with alternative ways to raise extra funding through fun and interesting activities: a group of boys set up and ran a bingo night for parents, staff and students with all proceeds going to Teenage Cancer Trust; the musical talent show of Seymour House Concert was enjoyed by friends and family with all proceeds from the bar and admission going to the charity; even the boys’ new shirts for the annual inter-house rugby sevens tournament provided a means of donation to the Trust!
Mr Yates, Assistant Housemaster of Seymour, said; ‘This was without a doubt, the proudest moment of my teaching career so far. Supporting the young men in Seymour to create and run a series of successful charity events has been incredible, watching the boys support each other and come together for a bigger cause has been an unbelievable experience, as well as raising the profile and awareness of Teenage Cancer Trust. We have a couple of boys who have been directly affected by the work of Teenage Cancer Trust, and they were really the driving force behind a lot of our events. Overall, the money that has been raised is important, but our pupils will take away so much more than just raising money; they will have learnt how to come together to support teenagers just like themselves who are struggling with cancer.
On Wednesday, Charlotte Kendall, a Teenage Cancer Trust Regional Fundraiser returned to Bloxham to congratulate the boys on their hard work; ‘It’s amazing to have received the students’ support throughout the academic year, they pushed themselves to their limits to support young people with cancer. As a charity we rely on voluntary donations and the support of the local community through events like these to ensure young people with cancer and their families have access to the best possible care and support. A huge thank to Seymour House and everybody at Bloxham School and in the local community for their support and for helping to raise awareness and funds for Teenage Cancer Trust.’
Huge congratulations to all the boys in Seymour and to Mr Bull and Mr Yates for their support and encouragement throughout the year.’