Stripes Winter Edition 15-16

The charity for bereaved british forces children

STRIPES

THE MAGAZINE OF SCOTTY’S LITTLE SOLDIERS Winter 15/16

scotty’s magical Christmas party

Photo Special Feature - pages 8 & 9

FUNDRAISING

LATEST NEWS

SHOP

EVENTS

Support

DONATE

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

WELCOME FROM NIKKI

As I write this we have just returned from our 3rd annual Scotty’s Xmas Party where we entertained over 150 of our brave Scotty Members.

It’s such an important event for us as we can see up close the positive effect the charity is having on the families we support. So many special friendships & bonds are formed at the party and, as I hope you’ll see in the photo’s in this magazine, a massive amount of smiles as well!

Thank you all for helping us to make events like the Christmas party a reality.

A NOTE FROM OUR CEO

As we come to the end of our fifth full year at Scotty’s Little Soldiers it’s amazing to see how much the charity has developed in such a short space of time.

What started as Nikki’s dream to provide holiday breaks to a handful of bereaved families is now a national charity supporting hundreds of children who have lost a parent serving in our Armed Forces.

Scotty’s is now a sustainable charity providing employment to a small team and with a clear range of benefits & activities available to the families we support.

During 2015 we launched our Member Zone website, exclusively for our Scotty Members to use and access all of the benefits on offer from the charity, from booking holiday breaks at our Lodges to applying for one of our many grant schemes.

Despite these successes we still have one major objective to reach.

That is to offer our assistance to every bereaved Forces child, a number we believe to be well over 1,000. We hope you’ll join us on our mission to do just that in 2016.

Nikki Scott - Founder

Stuart Robinson - CEO

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

CONTENTS News ............................ 4 Scotty’s Xmas Party.... 8 LEJOG for SCOTTY’s....... 11 Scotty’s Ball............... 12 New Year, New you?..... 13

Xmas Party - 8

How scotty’s helps..... 14 Focus on seashore...... 16

Focus on Seashore -16

fundraising................ 18 Volunteering.............. 20 Corporate support..... 21 Rock solid race........... 22 Shop............................. 23

Charity challenges - 18

Stripes is produced in-house by the Scotty Team. You can contact Scotty’s about the magazine or the charity’s work here: 08000 928571 / hello@scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk facebook.com/scottyslittlesoldiers @corporalscotty

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

NEWS #Find our heroes children Despite supporting hundreds of bereaved Forces’ children across the UK we know there are hundreds more who are yet to find out about the great benefits and activities on offer from Scotty’s Little Soldiers.

We need your help to #FindOurHeroesChildren.

Please spread the word in any way you can. Perhaps you know a family who might benefit?

Maybe you could display a Scotty’s car sticker in your window or even share some of our social media posts with your friends.

We’re working closely with welfare teams from all our Armed Forces but unfortunately there are many young people who have already lost a serving parent and have since lost their connections with the MOD. Visit www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/support for more information about the benefits on offer to bereaved Forces’ children and take a look at the articles on pages 14 & 15.

Families of the fallen donation Following the decision by the Trustees of

Families of the Fallen to close down the charity during 2015, Scotty’s Little Soldiers has been

the grateful recipient of a large donation made

by FOTF.

FOTF Chairman, Martyn Lewis CBE, said “We are proud of what our grants have achieved

over the last four years, and would like to thank

all those who generously donated to our cause.

In closing down we are allocating our remaining funds to Scotty’s Little Soldiers, which does

similar work with the added bonus of running

holiday homes for the families of lost soldiers.”

Scotty’s Little Soldiers would like to thank

the Trustees of Families of the Fallen for their

amazing work to date and for placing their trust in Scotty’s to continue where they left off.

Cambridgeshire awareness roadshow Throughout December Scotty’s has been running a road show throughout Cambridgeshire to raise further awareness of the charity. Funding for the campaign has been provided by the

Cambridgeshire Armed Forces Covenant board and the roadshow has visited various locations in Peterborough, Ely, Wisbech, Cambridge, March, Soham, St Neots, Chatteris and Whittlesey.

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Xmas presents delivery

New Grant for 2016 As part of the charity’s ‘Strides’ programme a

selection of development grants are available to our Scotty Members.

Scotty’s special delivery We treat all our Scotty Members to a very special gift at Christmas because we believe they deserve to be spolit.

Each year we change format of our Christmas gifts and this year is no exception!

At the time of going to press we’re unable to reveal this years theme as we don’t want to spoil the surprise but we would like to thank everyone who donated to our Christmas Present Appeal.

Quick donate: To donate £5 quickly just text

CARE13 £5

For 2016 we’re adding a special ‘Super Grant’

to the line up. This is a one-off grant available

to all Scotty Members to help cover the cost of a particularly special opportunity, for example an overseas school trip or travel costs to take part in a sporting major competition.

If these opportunities are presented to our

Members we believe we should be there for

them to help with some of the costs involved.

The Super Grant joins the already popular

Scotty’s Allowance, Higher Education Grant and Scotty’s Driving School.

More details about the support on offer can be

found at www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/support

to 70070

Scotty’s Ball

3/10/16

SAVE THE DATE The 2016 Official Scotty’s Ball will take place on 3rd October

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

NEW Under Armour Sportswear Range We’re pleased to annouced the launch of the next phase of our Under Armour Sportswear range!

Joining our already popular UA running vests is a technical t-shirt (image below) and a UA Armour fleece hoody. All three products are high quality and perfect for those physical fundraising challenges!

Not only does 100% of the profits made from the sale of any Scotty merchandise go directly back to Scotty’s Little Soldiers, items like these also help promote awareness of the charity during your fundraising events.

The new range is available online from January at www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/ webshop.

UA Vests available now

Scotty challenges for 2016

UA T-shirt coming in Jan

5 scotty lodges!

So far you’ve helped us raise enough funds to buy five of our own amazing Scotty Lodges.

Available exclusively to the children of our fallen heroes and their families for use.

We also provide breaks at Center Parcs, Alton Towers Resort and Legoland Resort.

As we approach the New Year this is a time when plenty of us set ourselves goals and resolutions for the forthcoming year.

To help you we’ve created the Scotty Challenges. A series of different fundraising events all in support of Scotty’s Little Soldiers.

Check out our latest challenge events by visiting scottychallenges.co.uk and give our Scotty Challenges Facebook page a like too!

Did you know?

It costs Scotty’s 11.1p to raise every £1 of fundraising.

Meaning 88.9p in every £1 is spent on supporting the kids.

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

DS3 joins the team

Calteq to the rescue A massive thank you goes out to Calteq,a communications company based in Royston who have installed a new state of the art phone and internet system at Scotty HQ - all completely free of charge!

All call costs and internet charges are also being picked up by Calteq.

Scotty’s CEO Stuart Robinson said “Corporate support covering the charity’s core costs are so important to us here at Scotty’s. It means not only can we provide a better service to our fundraisers and Members but it also allows us to spend more of our hard raised funds directly on the children.” www.calteq.co.uk

Thanks also to Duff Morgan for providing us with a brand spanking new Citroen DS3!

Nikki is pictured here receiving the keys from the team at Duff Morgan King’s Lynn.

Nikki commented “We’re extremely grateful to Duff Morgan, this is another example of something which really helps us to provide a better charity to our Scotty Members without adding the usual cost associated with leasing a vehicle.”

Duff Morgan will also be servicing the DS3 free of charged for the charity.

If you’re fundraising for Scotty’s you can save a whopping 40% on your training supplements from our friends at USN by entering the code SCOTTY40 at the checkout

Get the latest Scotty News - first!

There are lots of ways to make sure you keep up to date with all the latest Scotty news, make sure you’re following the charity on your favourite social media!

facebook.com/scottyslittlesoldiers @CorporalScotty scottyslittlesoldiers

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk Write to Scotty at: Scotty’s Little Soldiers Unit 21 Bergen Way, King’s Lynn Norfolk PE30 2JG

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

scotty’s Christmas Party 2015 Our 3rd annual Scotty’s Xmas Party took on a Safari theme this year and where better to hold a safari party than the world famous London Zoo! Over 150 of our brave Scotty Members joined us this year for the Scotty’s Xmas Party. For us it’s the highlight of the year, an opportunity for everyone at Scotty’s to see first hand the smiles on the children’s faces as they benefit from the charity’s support.

We ensure there are no barriers to prevent the children from coming along. We cover the cost of transport and their accomodation in the fantastic Metropole Hotel (thank you Hilton Group for the support!). We even had families fly down from Scotland to be with us!”

This isn’t your average party, we want to make sure the children have the best day out ever because they deserve it.

The team are already busy planning next year’s event which will be even bigger and better.

There are plenty of activities to take part in during the course of the party including arts and crafts, remote control car races, build a bear, Santa’s Grotto, a bush tucker trial, face painting and so much more.

Scotty’s CEO Stuart Robinson added “we’re all about providing the children with opportunities to smile again. Sometimes that means providing emotional support or development grants but sometimes it’s just a good old fashioned children’s party!”

The children were entertained by a number of amazing performers and also enjoyed full access to the zoo at the end of the party.

Nikki Scott, Scotty’s Founder said “we want this to be an extra special day for the children. It’s amazing to see them create some truely special bonds.

“The cost of running the Scotty’s Christmas Party is covered by the amazing fundraising and donations from the general public, without whom the event would not happen. So thank you all so much.” - Nikki

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Scotty’s Xmas Party

Just some of the amazing activities our Scotty Member’s enjoyed at this year’s Christmas Party. Topping this next year will be tough!

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Cycling fan? Got a bucket list?

Then we’re guessing the Land’s End to John O’Groats cycling challenge is probably on it! Stop putting it off and commit to taking on this truly amazing challenge in support of Scotty’s Little Soldiers.

Kicking off on the 11th September 2016 this challenge is fully supported and run by the highly regarded Discover Adventure. All accommodation and meals are included as you make your way up the British Isles covering approximately 1,000 miles over 13 days.

Registration is just £200 which is great value for this type of event and the minimum fundraising target is an industry low of £2,500.

For more information visit the LEJOG for Scotty’s webpage here.

Fundraisers taking on a previous cycling challenge in support of Scotty’s.

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

#Scottysball

We celebrated our 5th Scotty’s Ball in October & raised £32k!

Our annual official Scotty’s Ball is always a party to remember. As much as a celebration of all the hard work by everyone involved in the charity as it is a fundraising event.

This year’s Ball once again took place at Whittlebury Hall in Northamptonshire and raised a staggering £32,000 on the night.

Here are a selection of photos taken by Andrew Moore Photography on the night.

Stay tuned for more details on the 2016 Scotty’s Ball and keep the 3rd October free in your diaries!

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

New Year, New You? Help us to raise over £30k for the children of our fallen heroes.

We’ve teamed up with Rock Solid Race to create two massive Scotty Teams at their obstacle course runs in 2016.

We’re looking for 50 runners at each event to help us raise a combined total of £30k in sponsorship!

There are 5k, 10k and 15k distance options so something for everyone and registration is just £35.

We’re asking fundraisers to raise a minimum of £300 in sponsorship for Scotty’s and we will even throw in a FREE Under Armour technical t-shirt.

We picked Rock Solid because it’s one of the best run events we’ve come across to date with excellent facilities including hot showers something of a rarity at this type of mud run!

Whether this is your first mud challenge or you’re a seasoned pro, the Rock Solid Race offers something for everyone.

For more information and to sign up please visit scottychallenges.co.uk

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

How scotty’s helps...

Here’s just a selection of the benefits and activities provided by Scotty’s LITTLE Soldiers to our Scotty Members...

Smiles • Gift and Vouchers at difficult times of the year (for example a family meal voucher at Remembrance).

• Holiday breaks at our Scotty Lodges, Centre Parcs, Legoland Resort or Alton Towers Resort.

• Scotty’s Xmas Party.

• Special experiences or events • Brithday gifts • Extra special Christmas presents

Support • Dealing with the more emotional side of bereavement we work with Winson’s Wish to provide counselling for all Scotty families.

• Discussion forum, a private page for our families to chat, share experiences or ask for advice.

Strides • The Scotty Allowance - a small grant available to every Member, every year, to help with the cost of school trips, sports clubs, music lessons and other similar activities.

• Scotty’s Driving School - when our Members turn 17 they can apply for a grant to cover the cost of their first 10 driving lessons.

• The Higher Education Grant - for Members about to leave the charity as young adults and head off to University there is a £1,000 grant available to help with tuition fees, accomodation etc.

• Work Experience - Helping our Members find the best work experience opportunities.

If you know a child who could benefit from the activities provided by Scotty’s Little Soldiers please call 08000 928571 or email Nikki directly at nikki@scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk.

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Scotty Members We call the brave young individual’s who join Scotty’s our ‘Scotty Members’. It’s the club they’re proud to be a Member of but no one really wants to join.

Who can become a Scotty Member?

Scotty’s Little Soldiers has been set up to provide support to children who have lost a parent serving in the British Armed Forces of the Crown.

The charity supports it’s Members from 0 up to 19 year’s old.

As long as the child’s parent was a serving member of the Armed Forces at the time of their death they can benefit from the activities on offer. Army, Navy or RAF are all included as are Regulars and Reserves (TA).

Their parent’s death may have been on tour, an illness or an accident and their parent’s marital status is irrelevant - at Scotty’s we’re supporting the children of our fallen heroes, irrespective of their personal circumstances.

There’s no means testing at Scotty’s, every child is treated in exactly the same way and has access to exactly the same benefits and activities.

We know there are so many more children around the UK who could be benefiting from the charity’s support. Please spread the word and help us to Help their Chlidren Smile.

You can read more about becoming a Scotty Member at www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/ support

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

focus on:

The original Scotty Lodge!

Our very first Lodge opened in 2011 at the Seashore Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth and despite opening 4 more Lodges since it’s still one of the favourites with our Scotty Members!

Overlooking the Great Yarmouth Race Course, the Seashore Scotty Lodge is located in a nice quiet part of the holiday park but still just a short distance to all the activities and facilites on offer.

The park itself features all the attractions you would expect at a modern Haven site including splash pools, kids clubs and entertainment, climbing walls, crazy golf and so much more.

It’s also just a short walk to the beach and the park has it’s own miniture train to take the families into town where many more attractions await them.

For those families looking for a quieter time the Lodge is located in a small development away from the main thoroughfare, allowing the

Seashore

children to play safely outside.

All our Scotty Lodges are brand new, top of the range homes with everything a family could need on a trip away. They are available exclusively to Scotty Members and their families.

Nikki at the opening of the very first Scotty Lodge

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Great Yarmouth...

A selection of photos from the Haven Seashore Holiday Park and the Great Yarmouth Scotty Lodge.

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Here is a selection of our 2016 Scotty Challenges so far, for the latest events visit scottychallenges.co.uk or give Scotty Challenges a follow on Facebook.

ROCK SOLID RACE - Obstacle Mud Run 5, 10 or 15k options.

19th March 2016 - Exeter 29th October 2016 - Milton Keynes

LEJOG 2016 - Cycling Challenge 11th September 13 days Approx 1,000 miles

Color Vibe 5k - Fun Run Royal Windor 27/3/16 Bristol 9/7/16 Edinburgh 17/7/16 London 24/7/16

Spartan race - OCR

Sprints, Supers & Beasts Edinburgh / London / Midlands / Windsor Manchester / Peterborough - details TBC

London Tri - Triathlon London 7th August 2016 Remember you can raise money for Scotty’s at any event not just the ones we have places for.

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

fundraise for the children of our fallen heroes

At Scotty’s we have made a promise to our brave young Members that we will be here to support them throughout their childhood.

In some cases that will be for the next 18 years & in order to keep that promise we need your help to continue to raise funds and awareness for the charity. Here’s the low down on how to fundraise for Scotty’s...

If you’re thinking about organising your own fundraising event here are some useful tips on how to do it.

1. Pick an activity - many of our most successful fundraisers start out with something simple, for example maybe a cake sale at work or a fancy dress party.

2. Register your event - pop along to the Scotty’s website and register your fundraising by answering a few questions on the fundraise page.

3. Read through your fundraising pack - We’ll email you a fundraising pack with even more tips and advice together with your unique Scotty’s Event code.

4. Raise funds - the easiest way to raise sponsorship is to use an online giving site, that way the money is sent directly to Scotty’s by the website you use. You can also make card payments via our website, over the phone , send us a cheque or pay your funds raised directly into the charity’s bank account. Check your fundraising pack for more information.

5. Enjoy your fundraising - remember to enjoy your fundraising!

Can we help? You’re welcome to ask any questions you might have. You can call us on 0800 092 8571 or email events@scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk Register your fundraising at www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk click on ‘fundraise’ at the top of the home page.

fundraising t-shirts

Fundraising T-Shirts are available to buy from our webshop for £15 each.

If you’ve registered your fundraising activity with us you can purchase one over the phone at the special price of £10 or online using the code in your fundraising pack.

Fundraising challenge for Scotty’s? Get 40% off your training supplements at USN by entering the code SCOTTY40

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

we need your help:

Volunteer for scotty’s We’re looking for volunteers to join us in our mission of supporting the children of our fallen heroes.

We know you all lead busy lives so we’ve created different types of Scotty Volunteers to make it easier for you to offer your support.

Fancy raising money for Scotty’s by taking part in a fundraising challenge or organising a one-off collection? You sound like one of our amazing fundraisers! Check out the previous page for fundraising ideas.

If you’d like to put your name down as a volunteer but know you don’t have the time to organise lots of events yourself maybe you’d like to become a Reserve Volunteer? We’ll add your name to our database and when something in your area comes up we’ll give you a bell.

If you have a bit more time to spare and would like to be a little more proactive in organising charity collections then you sound like a Regular Volunteer to us!

Finally we have Volunteer CoOrdinators. These positions are by invitation only following a successful stint as a Regular Volunteer.

There are lots of ways you can help such as attending cheque presentations in your area on behalf of the charity, organising collections at supermarkets, raising awareness of the charity in your region and supporting other Scotty fundraisers at their events.

Check out the Scotty’s website and click on Volunteer to find out more and to sign up!

Thank you!

Check the ‘volunteer’ section of the Scotty’s website for more information about volunteering for Scotty’s

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Corporate friends

As well as our amazing individual fundraisers we also rely heavily on our corporate friends.

Does your organisation have a charity of the year?

Many organisations allow members of their team to nominate a charity for them to support during the year. Could you nominate Scotty’s?

Or how about applying our Scotty Awareness stickers to your fleet?

There are so many ways businesses and other organisations can get involved and help support the children of our fallen heroes; • Financial donations.

• Pro-Bono services and equipment.

• Sponsorship of fundraising events such as the Scotty’s Ball.

• Sponsorship of charity events such as the Christmas Party.

• Help to raise awareness of the Scotty’s name and cause.

If you think your organisation may be able to help Scotty’s in any way, please get in touch by emailing hello@scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk or calling 01553 763000.

charity of the year

Many organisations allow staff members to nominate a charity for the business to support throughout the year.

Why not put Scotty’s forward for your business’s charity of the year?

If you need any information to help submit your nomination feel free to email us at hello@ scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk.

Scotty’s Corporate NEwsletter We’ve produced a very brief Corporate Newsletter which contains further details about how your organisation might be able to get involved and help support the children of our fallen heroes. To read the latest edition click here.

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

ARE YOU

ROCK SOLID?

JOIN US IN OUR CHALLENGE TO RAISE OVER £30K AT THIS YEAR’S ROCK SOLID

We’ve teamed up with the obstacle course event Rock Solid Race to try and raise over £30,000 at their two races during 2016.

The Rock Solid Race takes place in Exeter on the 19th March and in Milton Keynes on the 29th October. There are 5, 10 and 15k options so something for everyone.

In fact this makes a great first obstacle / mud run if you’ve never attempted anything like this before. The 15k option offers something a bit more challenging for those who aren’t new to the OCR world.

So if you’ve fancied trying a Tough Mudder or a Spartan Race and haven’t yet taken the plunge this could be the event for you! Registration is just £35 and the fundraising target is £300 of sponsorship. You’ll also receive a FREE Under Armour technical t-shirt as well.

Join TEAM SCOTTY today. Sign up here > ROCK SOLID FOR SCOTTY’S

Scotty fundraisers at the 2015 rock solid race at milton keynes

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

scotty’s little shop You can show your support for the children of our fallen heroes by wearing items from the Scotty’s Little Soldiers clothing range!

All the profits raised from the sale of our Scotty Gear contribute towards the running costs of the charity, meaning more of your amazing donations and fundraising is spent directly on supporting the children.

how to shop:

1. Our full range is available online at www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/webshop 2. We can also take orders over the phone - call the office on 01553 763000 Mon-Fri 0900-1700.

3. We also attend events up and down the country and often bring a small selection of Scotty Gear with us so keep an eye out for us at an event near you!

Shop in a Box Fundraising for Scotty’s and would like some items to sell at your event?

Try the Scotty’s Shop in a Box. It’s simple, just pick a box, give the office a call and we’ll organise to get it sent out to you. All we need is to take a pre authorisation of a valid credit/debit card for security (we won’t charge your card as long as all unsold items are returned).

We have 3 boxes to choose from each with a selection of items ranging from car stickers to keyrings. Box A includes items with a selling value of £100, Box B is £200 and Box C £300.

Call the office on 01553 763 000 or email events@scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk for more information.

Shop online at www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

keep warm this winter with a scotty hooded top

Available from the Scotty’s webshop www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/webshop

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Show your support by wearing a scotty’s t-shirt Check online for our latest styles and colours.

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

check out our full range of kids clothing online

Available from the Scotty’s webshop www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk/webshop

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk

Wristbands, badges & lots, lots more...

www.scottyslittlesoldiers.co.uk