Staff and students of Cirencester College have helped raise £475 decorating Christmas baubles to raise money for the Brain Tumour Research charity.
The workshops were championed by Karen Bell, Faculty Head of Higher Needs and Adult Education at the College. Karen combined her love of art with the charity’s current ‘Wear a Christmas Hat’ campaign to raise money for the charity, which is very close to her heart following her granddaughter Myah’s brain tumour diagnosis in 2015.
Throughout December Karen has decorated baubles with friends from Plummer’s Livery Yard and over 40 staff members from the College and is close to raising a total of £2740 for the charity from her fundraising efforts over the years.
Karen said “I always try and raise money every year for Brain Tumour Research. Having almost lost my granddaughter I consider my family so lucky to still have her, and just want to try and help contribute to more good news stories like hers. Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, but virtually none of the national spend on cancer research gets allocated to this devastating disease.
Last year I ran a wellbeing painting session for my team here at the College, after a difficult year of lockdowns. It was very well received so I decided to do it again, with a Christmas theme of Bauble making. The week I chose coincided with ‘Wear a Christmas Hat Day’, so I decided to extend the offer to the whole college and also use the sessions to raise money and awareness. I used some of my friends as guinea pigs and then spent two weeks doing many afterwork bauble sessions for staff here. Everyone has been brilliant, it was great fun, was good for staff wellbeing as well as raising money for such a deserving cause.”
If you would like to find out more about Karen’s fundraising email chloe.suter@cirencester.ac.uk
