A charity which supports children’s hospital services is marking its 40th anniversary this year with a new fundraising campaign. Health Reporter SIOBHAN RYAN looks at how Rockinghorse will be marking its birthday.

Life begins at 40, as the saying goes, and that is certainly true for the Rockinghorse Appeal.

Since it started in 1968, the charity has been raising hundreds of thousands of pounds not just for the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton but for hospital services across the county.

Whether it is a specialist piece of equipment or just a cuddly toy, the charity has been there to help.

Now it is using its 40th anniversary for a new campaign aimed at supporting the specialist Trevor Mann baby unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

The charity is on the hunt for 40 supporters who will help raise £40,000 between them by committing themselves to raise £1,000 each.

Ideally, each person taking part will also be turning 40 this year but the charity is keen to hear from anyone interested in signing up.

The money will be used to help refurbish the unit with child and parentfriendly pictures and to provide additional medical equipment including monitors, incubators and ventilators as part of the plans to expand the unit so it can help more ill babies.

The charity will also continue with its work to support the new multi-million-pound Royal Alex, which opened a year ago, as well as extend its reach elsewhere in the county.

It is on the hunt for people interested in either taking part in a series of planned fundraising challenges or who simply want to do their own thing to help.

Recently arrived chief executive Gavin Fisher said: “I think Rockinghorse has achieved great things in recent years, not least the contribution to the new Royal Alex and you cannot help but be impressed by that.

“But with that complete, there is an opportunity now to go further and help children throughout Sussex. I really want to focus our attention on ensuring a child’s visit to hospital is not a bit frightening.

“Even as adults it’s a daunting prospect but we recognise that however big and clinical a hospital is, it is a necessary means to an end.

“We will continue our relationship with the Alex to make sure any child who requires a hospital stay can be sure of the very best possible care in a warm, welcoming and homely environment.

“The Royal Alex is now the main referral hospital for children throughout Sussex, Surrey and Kent and so we want to be able to help children across the region.

“For example, at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath we’re helping with the redevelopment of Chalkhill, a unit for children with mental health problems.”

Another way people can help is to become a volunteer for the charity. Christine Wicks, 51, of Derek Avenue, Hove, has only recently joined. She works one day a week and is currently busy contacting businesses, shops and bars who might be interested in displaying one of the charity’s collection boxes.

She said: “I work in property management and have organisational abilities and I wanted to put them to good use. “I was interested in supporting a charity and when I saw the work Rockinghorse did I decided it was the one for me.

“They have been very welcoming and are flexible in terms of the hours I can do. There is also a lot of variety so I won’t be doing the same thing every week.”

Volunteers carry out a range of jobs for the charity, including picking up collection tins from locations around the country, helping out and organising fundraising events and providing some extra support in the finance department.

Aisling Brombley, from Hove, knows better than most the importance of giving the Trevor Mann the support it needs to expand.

Her son Luke, now two, was born at 33 weeks at the Royal Sussex, but there was no cot available for him and he had to be transferred to St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey so he could get the ventilation he needed to help him breathe.

Aisling, 36, who also has a three-year-old daughter Niamh, said: “Luke arrived really quickly on one of the unit’s busiest days of the year.

“Having to be moved was very tough and very stressful. He was at St Peter’s for a week before he was able to come off the ventilator and go back to Brighton, where he stayed for another four weeks. It was a difficult time for us all but he came through it and now he is just a normal little boy. You would not know he was premature.

“It is absolutely vital that the service expands. Having to be transferred was a process I would not wish on anyone.

“The staff at the Trevor Mann were very caring and very supportive and did a wonderful job. I support the Rockinghorse campaign all the way.”

Paula Gee, 38, from Scaynes Hill Road, Lindfield, said her son Noah wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for the unit. She and her husband David, 38, a gardener, have come close to losing Noah, now 22 months, several times since his birth.

Noah was born at 26 weeks, weighing just 2lb 2oz. His lungs had not developed properly, his stomach was distended and he developed a serious infection.

The youngster spent six weeks at the unit before being transferred to the Royal Alex, where he stayed for three months.

Paula said: “He has some brain damage and still needs to be tube fed. He is slow developmentally but he is fine in himself and we are so happy to have him with us.

“The expertise, support and care shown by staff at the unit and at the Royal Alex was wonderful and I count some of them as close friends. Rockinghorse does an important job for them and I would urge anyone to do what they can to help.”

Fundraiser dates

June 26: Bungee on the Beach, Hove Lawns
September 13: Sky dive, Headcorn airfield
September 28: Dragonboat Challenge, Brighton Marina
October 8-19: China Trek
November 29: The Silk Ball, Hilton Brighton Metropole
For more details about fundraising opportunities or to talk to the Rockinghorse team, call 01273 730286 or visit www.rockinghorse.org.uk