Children’s Acute and Ongoing Needs Service celebrate NHS 70th birthday with Alice in Wonderland tea party

The Children’s Acute and Ongoing Needs Service (CAONS) celebrated the 70th birthday of the NHS with an Alice in Wonderland tea party in Heywood.

The event, at Callaghan House, raised £1,000 for the Jolly Josh charity and saw tables, chairs and gazebos decorated in a Wonderland theme, accompanied by an afternoon tea of sandwiches, jam and cream scones, sweet treats including an NHS-themed cake, with unlimited tea, coffee and juice.

The afternoon tea was attended by NHS staff, patients and their families and the local community.

Mayor of Rochdale, Mohammed Zaman, joined in before giving a short speech to thank the work of the children’s service and praise Carole Kelly for her achievements with Jolly Josh.

After the afternoon tea, children were provided with an interactive theatre experience and participated in workshops such as wonderland potion making with the White Rabbit and Mad Hatter from Just Imagine North West.

Face painting, a raffle, tombola, sweet cones and flower sales also took place.

 

 

Organised by Paediatric Nurse Practitioner Janine Parry, the afternoon tea was served by CAONS staff members along with characters from the classic Lewis Carroll novel.

Part of Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, the CAONS service provides a range of community-based health services for children up to 19 years, with acute, ongoing, complex or additional needs across the Rochdale borough.

Jolly Josh was started by the family of 15-month-old Josh Kelly, from Wardle, whose mum, Carole, began the group as “a coping mechanism and distraction” after discovering there were no groups for young disabled children.

At the age of six months, Josh had experienced ‘extensive brain damage’ and his development regressed.

After his condition deteriorated, Josh was taken to Derian House children’s hospice, where he died on 27 August 2017.

 

 

The event was supported by The Bearded Baristas (Heywood), Craft Cottage (Milnrow), the Fruit Factory (Rochdale) Flowers by Jayne Caroline (Heywood), Newbank Garden Centre (Bury), Reds Cakes and Bakes (Audenshaw) Sarah Layton Jewellers (Whalley), Handmade by Shell, Choices Service solutions (Manchester), Slattery’s Patissier and Chocolatier.