Prebendal charity event raises hundreds

Year Eight students at the Prebendal fundraiser

A sports event and family fundraiser was hosted on June 23 on the Prebendal playing fields in Chichester to raise funds for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).

Year Eight pupils at The Prebendal School host a fundraiser for a different charity every term, after showcasing presentations about which charity pupils would like to support and then putting it to a vote.

The summer term charity event was organised by Phoenix Ashworth, who suggested JDRF - which funds research to find a cure for Type One diabetes - as this term’s supported charity.

Caroline Spiby from CarolineÂ’s Dairy, who supplied unique bubblegum ice cream in the JDRF blue during the event

The Year Eight student, whose nine year old sister Indigo has the disease, contacted JDRF for more information about the charity’s work. After being sent a JDRF PowerPoint, Phoenix adapted the presentation to give to his class by adding more simple terms drawing on his experiences dealing with Indigo.

After the school year voted and JDRF was named the winner, Phoenix began to plan the sport fundraising event, which coincided with the end of Prebendal’s Fruit Week and the Prebendal dads’ T20 cricket match. Phoenix and his school friends dressed up as fruit during the week, and sold fruit bags from Nature’s Way during the fundraiser.

Lucy, Phoenix’s mum, said: “I just think the class enjoyed it so much - doing the strawberries and cream, water balloons, cakes, sweet game, hobby horsing and then cricket. The school community is strong and it was great to use the playing field. Phoenix was nervous whether people would come. He spoke with Pre prep, made posters around the school and manage to rally up his class mates to support the event. It’s important to celebrate Year Eight achievements in terms of juggling common entrance exams, scholarships and then thinking of others in their charity work.”

£630.23 was raised on the day.

Phoenix also contacted retailers for support for the event. Strawberries were contributed by Hall Hunter Partnership, and Chichester’s Game Set and Match provided tombola prizes, as did Chichester Racquets & Fitness Club.