The Genie’s Wish

by Martin Neal

The Genie’s Wish is a UK-registered charity whose mission is to enhance the lives of people aged 0-40 years, living in England and Wales, suffering from a critical or terminal illness or living with a life-limiting medical condition.

Our purpose is to bring respite and joy into the lives of our beneficiaries and their families, by providing them with a life-changing wish, experience, or ongoing opportunity. We also provide wish experiences, bespoke events, and activities for young carers, aged 5-16, in recognition of the bravery, kindness, and selflessness they display daily by caring for a family member.

We pride ourselves on being beneficiary and donor lead and focus on providing specialised experiences, equipment, and special events to individuals up to the age of 40 who are living with a critical, or terminal illness.

↑ The Genie’s Wish was founded by Martin and Katie who wanted to create a unique charity that sprinkles a little bit of magic into the lives of those who need it most

We also offer our wish opportunities to UK young carers aged between 5 and 16. Opening the barriers to offering wish opportunities to a wider age group and young carers puts The Genie’s Wish in a unique spot in the Charity Sector.

We provide a unique, fun, and personal service whilst creating long-lasting relationships with both the donor and the beneficiary. The Genie’s Wish aims to bring people joy and unify them together because we believe that is the most important result overall.

The wish is just the beginning of someone’s journey.

Charlotte

Neurofibromatosis (Type 1)

“I chose to watch Arsenal Women at the Emirates because of their strength and what they do for the women’s game. Katie McCabe has always inspired me to keep pushing forward physically and mentally, even during my numerous hospital appointments and challenges like spine surgeries, paralysis in my left arm, and ongoing tumour growth and daily pain.

The Genies Wish Charity made everything perfect for me. They arranged my safe arrival in London, accommodation, and a sightseeing weekend. They also gifted me a beautiful McCabe shirt that Katie signed. Most importantly, they made it possible for me to meet Katie and the team and watch a live game at the Emirates. I am incredibly grateful to them for fulfilling my wish and making my life brighter.”

We want to offer future opportunities and experiences to make everyone feel part of our Genie’s Wish Family info@genieswish.co.uk

Anyone can make a wish, but only a Genie can grant one!

07717 533418

Search for The Genie’s Wish on social media

Wilmslow Prep has a long history of encouraging creative excellence, and in February 2025, we will complete a two-year project that has seen the whole School community working towards the highly coveted Artsmark award.

Artsmark is an initiative from Arts Council England which supports schools to embed arts, culture and creativity across the whole curriculum. The programme is the only award of its kind and the only creative quality standard for schools.

Meeting the standard ensures that every pupil has access to a diverse cultural education and ongoing opportunities to be creative.

At Wilmslow Prep, the programme has involved the staff, pupils, parents, and also governors.

Pupil questionnaires have been key to gaining a deeper understanding of what aspects of ‘the Arts’ (with a capital A!) the children most enjoy, what they would like to experience more of, and how the Arts are perceived from a pupil enrichment perspective.

In addition, a parent survey and an audit of parent and staff arts skills and interests, has helped the team at Wilmslow Prep assess who could input into the programme, and how their skills and expertise could best be used.

Pupils have embraced the programme, and to ensure that their voices are heard, a pupil voice committee has been created. The children meet termly to discuss the ideas of their classes and to decide what projects to work on next.

Speaking about the programme, Mrs. Liz Wolski who is leading the Artsmark submission said;

“Arts play an important role in school life here at Wilmslow Prep, making a significant contribution to pupil attainment and wellbeing. Artsmark is bringing everyone together to celebrate the Arts and even to explore areas that we haven’t covered before. The children have so many wonderful ideas and it has been fantastic to see these ideas being put into practice. To give you a taste of our activities, earlier this year, we had a whole week of celebration under the theme of “Cities of the World” inspired by a visit to the Halle orchestra.

The children suggested that we should have a catwalk show and made child- sized structures to represent a building from their chosen city. We had children dressed as the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and a Pyramid and other famous buildings. The children sang songs, created poems and acted out scenes about their cities.

We have welcomed visitors into the school - including a local artist and a poet - as well as taking children to events outside school. Artsmark has inspired our EYFS and KS1 children to enter creative writing competitions and so far, we have even won three of them; we clearly have a lot of budding writers!!”

Headteacher, Mr. Bradley Lavagna-Slater commented;

“I am really proud of the way in which our whole School community has embraced our Artsmark journey.

We believe in embedding arts, culture, and creativity to support our pupils’ learning, and to enhance their health and wellbeing; the benefits really are far-reaching.”

Stationery Retailer

Jacqui Priestley spends five minutes with Sarah Laker; entrepreneur, business owner, and award-winning independent

When did you know you wanted to become a business owner and entrepreneur?

I trained as a nurse when I left school but after 17 years I wasn’t happy and I felt that I needed to do something that would give me more joy and fit in with my, then young, family. So, I took the brave step of leaving a secure job to buy a stationery retail business with no idea how to run one! I just knew that I loved stationery and had always wanted my own shop. 18 years, two shops, and a website later I still wake up each day excited to see what the day will bring.

When and how did you become an award-winning stationery retailer?

During the lockdowns, I got quite vocal about the fact that stationery shops had to close and that people were working at home and being home-educated, and yet the government didn’t think that stationery was a necessity. So, I started finding places where I could voice my views on local radio, and it grew from there.

It was never a case of waking up one day and wanting to be a spokesperson for the industry or wanting to win awards.

However, being totally committed to my shops and the surrounding community, and of course my industry, founding a Facebook group for independent stationers, and even being asked to run National Stationery Week, have all contributed towards the awards that I have won.

How do you come up with new ideas?

This is a tricky question to answer because my head is never quiet, there are always ideas forming. I take inspiration from all over – social media, other retailers, trends, colours, seasons etc. I’m not a very good sleeper so often come up with ideas in the early hours of the morning, which I write down in a notebook by my bed so I don’t forget them.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

Mary Portas, aka Mary Queen of Shops, from a window dresser to the creative director of Harvey Nichols, she has forged a path for women to be taken seriously in the retail world. She showed that independent shops can have passion, purpose, and beauty creating an experience for their customers.

What motivates you?

My love of all things stationery, and my customers! Alongside the thought that I will be passing the business I’m building onto my eldest daughter who started working for me 4 years ago when we opened a second shop in Wilmslow.

What advice would you give to someone starting their own business?

Just be you. Don’t look what everyone else is doing, just be your genuine authentic self in everything you do and let your passion, knowledge and personality shine through. Not everyone will like you, not everyone will want to buy from you, but you will find your people.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

To be resilient in the face of challenges. Being a self-employed independent retailer is not for the faint-hearted, and the last few years have been the hardest of my, nearly, 19 years in retail.

But the silver lining is that because I am independent, I can respond quickly to challenges by changing direction and I can jump on, and off, trends and this enables me to survive and prosper by continual adaptation.

What do you like most about Wilmslow?

Our shop is on Chapel Lane, and I just love the sense of community. There is an active Facebook group with a group of volunteers who organise events and keep the area looking lovely. We have great neighbours and support local community events.