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Barnardo’s Celebrates

The UK’s leading children’s charity is marking the centenary of the death of
Dr Thomas Barnardo by celebrating with a series of events during 2005.

Throughout the year they have an exciting calendar of national and regional events and initiatives including
• celebrity appearances
• parties at our projects
• a children's concert and a pop concert at the Royal Albert Hall
(9th June and 4th November)
• a concert at St. Paul's Cathedral (18th October)
• a fun day followed by music concert at Harewood House (25th June)
• a Mega Fundraising Tour from university students across the UK

A report 'Then and Now' will be released in the New Year looking at the issues that affected children in 1905 compared to the issues children face today. The report covers sexual exploitation, poverty, health and wellbeing, as well as substance and alcohol misuse.

The year's activities will be accompanied by the 'Better Start in Life' fundraising appeal to help children who have been the victims of sexual exploitation. The Appeal aims to raise £1 million to fund 16 vital community based services across the UK.

Barnardo's is a pioneer in this field of childcare, investing in more community services than any other children's charity. The 16 UK-wide services based within local communities provide children and young people aged between 10 and 18 with a safe place to go for practical help, advice and emotional support and help in changing their lifestyle.

For more information about Barnardo's visit their website at
www.barnardos.org.uk


The Effects of Cannabis on Young People

University of Luton Senior Research Fellow Margaret Melrose has been awarded a grant of £120,000 to investigate the effects of cannabis on youngsters.

The award, made by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), was won against stiff competition.

Margaret explained: “ The research aims to help us understand how heavy use of cannabis in adolescence might affect the educational and career choices young people make and how it influences their friendship networks.”

Margaret Melrose and colleague Professor David Barrett have also just published a new book about work with children and young people involved in prostitution – Anchors in Floating Lives. It is the latest piece of respected work coming from staff based at the University’s Vauxhall Centre for the Study of Crime.

Centre director John Pitts said: “In the past two years, Centre staff have attracted over half a million pounds in research grants. Current areas of research at the Centre include child and youth criminal victimisation in Lincolnshire, young people and alcohol use and a comparison of responses to young people in need and in trouble in both Finland and the UK.

For further information about the University’s Vauxhall Centre for the study of Crime contact john.pitts4@btopenworld.com or visit the University’s website www.luton.ac.uk


Off to Work, Daughters

It started as a one-day initiative in 1994 but now it’s been given a whole week of its own. Take Our Daughters to Work Week runs from March 7th to 11th 2005. The idea came from Girlguiding UK and has proved highly successful.

If your daughter has ever wondered just what you do at work all day, then now’s the chance for her to find out.

Girlguiding UK project co-ordinator Suzannah Povey says: “Many girls are unaware of the wide scope of jobs available to them, moving more towards traditionally caring female roles such as nursing, secretarial work and teaching. While women have continuously made a success of these roles, they should also be seen to be making a success in other industry sectors.

“The aim of the Week is to show girls the whole career picture available to them, both traditionally male and female roles so that they can make informed decisions about the jobs they would like to pursue.”

Companies interested in registering to take part in Take Our Daughters to Work 2005 should email Suzannah at suzannahp@girlguiding.org.uk or visit the web page at www.girlguiding.org.uk/daughters


Hello Baby!

Enhance the Christmas gift EXPERIENCE!

Research shows that the memories we truly treasure are those that are a little ‘out of the ordinary’. They might make us laugh, be extra useful, OR GIVE US SOMETHING TO DO – Newly launched company babyexperiences.co.uk have just the gift to give new mums and mums to be - an experience they’ll never forget.

If you’re looking for something different from another outfit or toy, then babyexperiences.co.uk has the answer. This new inspirational gift-experience web site offers new parents the opportunity to take part in activities and courses to enhance the bonding experience with their baby.

Specially designed for mums and their babies from newborn up to 18 months, the activities and gifts in the ‘Baby Experiences’ collection are designed to entertain, stimulate and explore the senses, gain social skills and confidence, and most of all be fun for both mother and baby.

‘Baby Experiences’ is the brainchild of Director AND New Mum, Jenny Davis. Jenny said, “When you’re a new mum you want to bond with your baby more than anything but yet can lack ideas and creativity due to all the sleepless nights and practical issues. Even getting out of the door to have fun and meeting other new parents can be difficult. This new gift idea will be a fantastic present for new mums or parents to be – and will make your gift be the one they remember…forever”.

Dawn, mum to Mia, 9 months, received a ‘Baby Experiences’ voucher from her close friend, Jenny, and said, “We received lots of lovely presents when Mia was born. But one we’ll always remember is the ‘Baby Experiences’ voucher. There were loads of activities to choose from. In the end we opted for a baby gym experience. Mia just loved it and it meant I spent more quality time with her, but also had the opportunity to get out and about and meet other new parents. It’s now a regular part of our weekly activities together.”

The ‘Baby Experiences’ company offers a range of diverse activities such as, music or sign language classes; a weekend of underwater swimming lessons designed to build water confidence with your baby, or the chance to capture a unique moment in time with a canvas print or a casting of those tiny, precious hands and feet.

Or, perfect for busy new mums to give as presents this Christmas, ‘Baby Experiences’ are offering personalised photo calendars of your little one. These personalised calendars let you share individual photographs in a unique way. Including different photographs of your baby representing each month of the year, this will make a great gift for family and friends.

Whatever activity you choose, they’re sure of a special memory that will stay with them for years to come, and every experience bought as a gift for someone else comes presented in a beautiful voucher pack.

Visit www.babyexperiences.co.uk to see the world of activities, courses, or experiences available.


‘GIVING WELLY’

HUNTER MAKES 50TH BIRTHDAY A CHARITABLE INITIATIVE

Outdoor brand Hunter, maker of the iconic Hunter Welllington Boot, celebrates its 50th Birthday in 2004-2005 with the launch of Giving Welly, an ingenious charity initiative designed to raise funds for a consortium of charities.

To mark its 50th Birthday, Hunter is producing a limited edition range of seven special, coloured Giving Welly boots. Eight charities have been selected by Hunter to be partners and beneficiaries of monies raised over the next 12 months. Each Giving Welly charity has been allocated a special 50th birthday Giving Welly colour that reflects their Cause (with the exception of the Countryside Foundation for Education, which has been allocated children’s wellies in all seven colours ):

Breast Cancer Haven Pink

The British Horse Society Black

British Lung Foundation Red

Countryside Foundation for Education All Children’s boots in all colours

The Game Conservancy Navy Blue

Marie Curie Cancer Care Yellow

Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity Baby Blue

The Woodland Trust Aubergine

Mark Sater, Hunter’s Chairman, says “Instead of a predictable champagne party we wanted to do something different, memorable and fun. Giving Welly will raise funds for a group of charities which represent a range of causes that we believe ‘matter’ to Hunter’s customers. So the idea is to have some fun and raise money whilst reinforcing some of the great qualities that have kept the Green Welly 50 years young!”

The Giving Welly boots will be available for one year only (until August 2005) and will be produced in adult sizes 6-12 (RRP £55), boys/girls sizes 3-5 (RRP £43) and child sizes 12-2 (RRP £35).

Hunter will make a charity donation of between £1.75 and £20 for each pair of special Giving Welly boots sold, depending on where they are purchased. The Countryside Foundation for Education will benefit from every pair of children’s wellies sold. (see website for further financial details)

Giving Welly boots stockists include Harrods fantastic 5th floor Shop in Shop area, selected Kurt Geiger stores (adult), from Russell and Bromley (children’s), other leading outdoor and footwear retailers, and at many country fairs over the summer.

As Hunter’s Golden Jubilee year progresses, the ‘Giving Welly’ team will be in touch as more news and stories unfold.

For further information please visit www.giving-welly.co.uk or call 020 7603 5522.


SHOCKING STATISTICS REVEAL BRITISH PARENTS STILL UNAWARE OF INTERNET DANGERS TO CHILDREN

59% of British parents do not agree with the statement, ‘The Internet is dangerous for children’
64% of British parents admit that they allow their child to use the internet at home always, often or sometimes unattended

56% of the parents surveyed felt it was ‘safe enough for their child to use the internet at home unattended’
63% of British parents say they have not installed parental control software on their home PCs

A survey of over 1,200 British parents carried out for leading electrical retailer, Comet and NCH, the children’s charity, has revealed that there is still a huge mountain to climb when it comes to educating British parents about the dangers of the internet. The research coincides with the launch of a month of intensive internet safety awareness activity by Comet including a nationwide programme of free in-store seminars. Comet is the only retailer to pre-load its IT Works computers with a 14 day fully functional trial subscription to CyberPatrol, the market-leading parental control software.

Shocking statistics

The survey shows that a massive 59% of British parents do not agree with the simple statement, ‘The Internet is dangerous for children’. Only 31% of the sample agreed with the statement and a further 9% strongly agreed.

It was found, however, that parents with younger children were more likely to agree than those with older children - 49% of respondents with children aged four to six felt the internet was dangerous for children compared to 39% of those with children aged 13 to 15.

Furthermore, almost two thirds of the parents questioned (64%) admit that they allow their child to use the internet at home always, often or sometimes unattended. More than half (56%) of the parents surveyed felt it was ‘safe enough for their child to use the internet at home unattended.’ Three per cent of the parents questioned went as far as to say they felt it was ‘entirely safe’ for their child to use the internet unattended at home.

Lack of supervision

Only 17% of British parents questioned said that their child never uses the internet at home unattended. The percentage of children using the internet unattended increases with the child’s age - around 17% of children aged nine or under always or often use the internet unsupervised, compared to 35% of those aged 10 to 12 and nearly two thirds of children aged 13 to 15.

John Carr, Internet Adviser for NCH, comments: “The results of this survey show that we still have a long way to go to reach parents and convince them of the dangers of the internet. On the other hand, a very healthy 77% say they think that internet safety software should be pre-installed on every new computer sold to families so clearly, at another level, parents are looking for solutions.”

Just over one third of British parents (35%) said they have internet safety software on their home PC but actual sales of safety products suggest that parents may simply be confused about whether or not such software is in fact on their children’s machines.

Of the remaining two thirds (63%) who have not installed internet safety software, the most common reason parents gave (38%) for not having installed it was because their child ‘knows how to be safe on the internet.’ Many other reasons were cited for not installing the software including

‘it doesn’t really work’ (8%), ‘I can’t afford it’ (6%), ‘my child would be able to disable it’ (6%) and ‘I wasn’t aware it existed (6%). One quarter (25%) of the parents surveyed said that they trusted their child not to do anything dangerous on the internet.

These statistics contrast sharply with the number of people who could identify the greatest risks to children using the internet. Almost all (94%) of the parents questioned said that they knew pedophiles could have direct contact with children through chatrooms or other online services. Nine out of 10 parents surveyed also said that children could easily be exposed to pornography through websites and email.

Comet’s commitment to internet safety

Comet is the only retailer to pre-load its computers with CyberPatrol, the market-leading parental control software.


 


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