ARTISTIC youngsters at a Denbigh school are helping a lettings agency to raise money for a children’s hospice.
Pupils from Ysgol Twm o’r Nant have designed their own dream homes as part competition to create new To Let Boards for Elwy Lettings in Vale Street.
For every one of the winning boards that is put up, Elwy Lettings is pledging to give £20 to the Ty Gobaith children’s hospice charity that needs to raise £1.4 million a year just to keep its doors open.
Managing director Angela Jones was spurred into action following a visit to Tŷ Gobaith in the Conwy Valley which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
As a result, she has organised the competition involving Ysgol Twm o’r Nant, Ysgol Dewi Sant, in Rhyl, and Ysgol Sant Elfod in Abergele.
The winning design will be used on boards across Conwy, Denbighshire and Flintshire where Elwy Lettings operates.
Angela has embarked on a round of visits to the three schools involved to help brief the young artists on the sort of eye-catching designs she’s looking for.
And stopping off at Ysgol Twm o’r Nant she met and spoke to the children from Year Six involved in the competition.
Ysgol Twm o’r Nant pupil, Owen Williams, 11, said: “I made a red and blue mansion. I chose red because I support Wales and Liverpool in football, and I chose blue because I like it as a colour. I designed my dream house. It has goal posts outside, and inside it has a big TV.
“I got to learn about Ty Gobaith and how they help children just like me.”
Fellow pupil Flur Davies, 11, said: “The house I drew is big and white with lots of trees outside. I enjoyed making it. It has a big garden.
“It’s helping to raise money for Ty Gobaith who help children.”
Managing director Angela Jones said: “I love seeing children being creative, and they’ve all done a great job. It’s going to be almost impossible to select winners.
“Ann Jones, the local AM, and Tracey Jones from Rhyl Strikers are going to help me pick the winners.
“We’re looking for something colourful with a lot of detail – something happy, and welcoming that reflects the company.
“The new boards will go up after we open the new office in Rhyl. Everything is starting to come together with that. We’ve installed a telephone line, and we’ve got furniture, and we’ll have the window displays going in soon.
“I think it’s great that the children have got to lean about Ty Gobaith and all of the wonderful work that they do there. Eluned from Ty Gobaith has been down to the schools to talk to the children about what they do, and they’ve all really taken it on board.
“They know that Ty Gobaith is helping children just like them. An illness can happen to anyone, so it makes you realise how lucky you are.
“People often view hospices as sad places, but Tŷ Gobaith is a happy place for children to go. It’s a beautiful place in beautiful surroundings where children can do things that they enjoy, just like any other children.”
Tŷ Gobaith’s fundraising officer, Eluned Yaxley, said: “This is an amazing project and for us it’s a huge privilege to be working alongside Elwy Lettings.
“We need over £1.4 million for Tŷ Gobaith alone annually and we depend upon voluntary donated income.
“The services that we have are vital. We care for life-threatened and life-limited babies, children and young people, young adults through to the age of 25, and support for their families.
“In addition to that, they can have care within the hospice or within the family home and we provide trauma support as well. We are there to provide a service for any family that needs our care.
“We also do a lot of outreach work in the community. We offer bereavement and counselling and trauma support to the wider community here in North Wales and beyond from Tŷ Gobaith to all the areas we cover.
“We work closely with local emergency services, coroner’s offices and we get called upon to provide community outreach care for any family that needs us who is bereaved of a child in traumatic circumstances or a child who is bereaved of any family member through any traumatic circumstance.
“We help children and families meet death with dignity, give them the dignity through death and we’re there then as the crutch at the other end as well, as a shoulder for them to lean on once the inevitable has happened.
“The service continues for as long as any family member wants it. We care for some families, especially in Hope House, because we’ve been open there for nearly 20 years, but we care for bereaved families for 15-20 years down the line.
“We’re celebrating our tenth birthday this year and it’s thanks to the support of some wonderful friends such as Elwy Lettings that we have been able to stay open for the last 10 years and we’re extremely grateful, not just to Elwy Lettings, but to everybody for supporting us for the last 10 years.”
Year Six Teacher, at Ysgol Twm o’r Nant, Dafydd Elgan Davies, said: “It’s a chance for the children to support a great cause. We do a lot to support good causes at the school and believe that it’s an important part of the children’s education.
“The children have been very creative and designed their own dream houses.”
