About

I'm running my first ever Marathon in February 2020, in aid of the Belvidere Centre. For those of you who don't know it, the Belvidere is a community centre tucked away in Wallasey that provides a safe and accessible space for people with additional needs and their friends.

The centre runs a youth club 3 evenings a week and summer playschemes for school age children. Since the council have stopped funding them the centre relies solely on fundraising, sponsorship and other enterprise.

The summertime funtime playschemes run during school holidays and provide a wonderful and enriching few days of play for children, and some well needed respite for parents!

Youth Club is going from strength to strength, offering more activities on a regular basis to members such as football and botcha tournaments, relax & yoga and creative/messy play.

'The college of Knowledge' is a brand new adventure being held at the centre with courses being offered on both a day training and weekly basis. Examples include: emergency first aid, epilepsy awareness training, relationships and young people, 10 week introduction to yoga, belly dancing, Spanish conversation to name but a few! These are open to the public and Friends of the Belvidere get free access to selected events.

Why is the Belvidere so important to me? The Belvidere has been a huge part of my life, my entire life. I'm lucky to have always been involved as a member and now a volunteer. My Mum is currently the chairperson and has ran the summer playschemes for my whole life, I've been going longer than I've been able to walk! As a volunteer I can really see how needed and valued the centre is by it's members. Sometimes on the edge of social inclusion, the centre gives people a real sense of belonging and community, something you cannot put a price tag on.

You can however put a price tag on more tangible stuff, so here is a bit of information about what kind of things your sponsorship can go towards:

£1-10 all donations up to £10 contribute towards our theatre and enrichment programs for young people. £10 covers all associated costs for a disadvantaged child to attend a day at our summer playscheme. £20 pays for one person to attend one of our planned days out. £50 pays for a live entertainer to play a gig at the Belvidere Centre. £100 provides enough food to feed 40 people at our monthly lunch clubs - this is a big hit for corporate sponsorship! £150 pays for our annual Summer barbecue or Winter feast night. £300 funds an 8 week enrichment project including drama, cookery and life skills workshops. £6000 Pays for our whole Summertime Funtime playscheme. £20,000 covers the running costs for a whole year.

I've got a lot of training to do for this, and have set up an instagram account to keep track of my progress, @emmatrainsforamarathon.

***You can be sure I'll be working hard for your donations!***

For more information about the Belvidere Centre please see www.thebelviderecentre.org or The Belvidere Community Centre on facebook.

Thank you for visiting our Givey page. When you make your donation through Givey, the Charity receives 100% of the donation. Your details are safe with Givey and donating is completely secure. Whatsmore, they never share your email address with any third parties except the Charity you donate to.

I'll also tell you guys that I am simultaneously fundraising during this marathon and training for a Spanish animal charity, local to where I currently live. All donations are kept separate and 100% of your donations to the Belvidere centre go to the Belvidere Centre.

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