Balloon artist takes to the streets for 2.6 Challenge to help Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice

Justine is taking part in the 2.6 Challenge, walking 2.6 miles a day for 10 days, wearing a different balloon costume each day.

She said: “My first costume, a dog, which I wore on Sunday, took me 10 hours to make and used over 300 balloons. I was out again on Monday as Mr Tickle.

“I’ve also been creating balloon sculptures outside my house to support key workers and to spread a little bit of joy at this difficult time.”

Justine is leaving her home in Angmering at 10.15am every day and today will be braving the rain in a ride-in ostrich costume.

She has worked closely with Chestnut Tree House in the past, providing balloon sculptures to brighten the rooms, attending their events to do balloon twisting for the children and their families, and decorating the summer and Christmas parties.

Justine said: “I love this place, it’s so special and I feel it every time I visit. The staff are amazing, the children are beautiful and the families are an inspiration. This is why I’ve chosen to help them by raising essential funds by walking 2.6 miles a day for 10 days, in a different balloon costume every day.

“Like most other charities, due to the Covid-19 crisis, Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice have had to cancel all their fundraising events, close their retail shops and stop one-to-one fundraising as well.

“This has had a devastating impact on their funding. It costs £400,000 a month to run the hospice and at the moment they are losing 70 per cent of their fundraising income. We need to help them now before they run out of money.”

Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jj-balloon-art-s-2-6-challenge to make a donation.

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.