BBC Children in Need Feed

Rob’s Helping Hands

2014-10-01T08:35:52+00:00

When an accident left fitness fanatic Rob Groves a paraplegic, he had to come to terms with a whole new way of life. Now he’s cycling from Edinburgh to London to raise money for BBC Children in Need – using just his hands!

Handcycling

Hero Rob will start his epic challenge at BBC Edinburgh in Midlothian on 9 November, and will hand-cycle for six days – sometimes overnight - to reach London.

The 414mile journey is the culmination of two years of intense training for 57-year-old Rob, who hopes to inspire others to challenge themselves with his fantastic feat. “Finishing this ride will definitely be the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” says Rob. “But it’s not about me, it’s about raising funds for BBC Children in Need and sending a positive message to anyone who’s lacking inspiration - to tell them they can achieve anything they put their minds to.”

All Heroes get nervous from time to time and Rob admits he feels a little apprehensive as he counts down to the intense physical challenge. But when raising just £5 means a 5-year-old boy in hospital and anxious about his treatment can giggle and laugh at a magical entertainer, nerves disappear.

And he has plenty of motivation to keep him going - not only does he have a support vehicle and a motor home of helpers travelling alongside him, but he also has the stories of the many less fortunate children he met during his recovery to spur him on.

“Since becoming a paraplegic, I have met so many children who were born with a disability,” he explains. “I met a 14-year-old girl recently while I was out raising awareness about spinal injuries and she said to me: ‘You don’t know how lucky you are - I’ve never walked.’”

Before the accident that changed his life eight years ago, our Hero Rob was a fitness instructor with his own health club and was passionate about keeping fit.

“Afterwards I ballooned to 17 and a half stone,” he recalls. “I went into a dark place and I wouldn’t go out, nor accept a wheelchair. I was desperate to get my mojo back and knew that something had to change.”

In need of inspiration, it was only when the qualified nutritionist was watching the 2012 Paralympics that he was finally encouraged to start training again – and he decided to give hand-cycling a try.

Rob heroically threw himself into training and slowly began to get back into shape.

“I have been training solidly for two years to get ready for this,” says true superhero Rob. “Five times each week and for three hours at a time, I lift weights and use a crank cycle to build up my strength and stamina. I also regularly go out and cycle to prepare myself for the challenges of the open road. I’m currently able to cover at least 14 miles an hour.”

Back on track and with his strength returning, Rob was quick to turn his attention to helping others through raising money – something he was no stranger to in the years before his accident. “I used to do a lot of fundraising and I was keen to take it up again,” he says.

Rob chose to raise money for BBC Children in Need after seeing how the projects we fund can truly make a difference. “A friend’s child recently died of leukemia and another friend’s baby died at birth from a brain haemorrhage,” Rob explains. “I know that BBC Children in Need helps both the family as well as those who suffer from these terrible illnesses.”

Rob’s six-day challenge will see him pass through BBC studios in Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Oxford before he arrives to a Hero’s welcome at BBC Broadcasting House in London. Pudsey himself will be there to congratulate the champion!

“At least I have experienced being an able-bodied person,” says Rob. “It’s that thought that spurs me on every day.”

Our Hero Rob is undertaking an epic challenge for BBC Children in Need. But no matter how big or small your idea, fundraising for us makes you a true Hero. Just £1 could prevent a child from going hungry at breakfast time for a week.

Sign up to the brand new BBC Children in Need Fundraising Hero Hub for exclusive news, fundraising tools and tips that will help get your heroic activities off to a flying start.

To keep updated on Rob’s progress check out his fundraising page.

Who You Help: Child Safety Week

2013-06-25T09:24:48+00:00

This week is Child Safety Week, run by the Child Accident Prevention Trust, with the aim of raising awareness of the accidents or incidents that seriously injure or kill children.

Melissa, who has been helped by the Child Brain Injury Trust

Keeping children safe is part of our vision and we aim to do this in a variety of ways through funding projects that are aligned with this vision. You can read more on our aims here. Raising awareness of how to keep children safe is incredibly important but sometimes accidents do happen and we fund projects across the UK which help children and their families cope in these situations.

One such project is The Child Brain Injury Trust (CBIT) in Edinburgh which runs a youth group to help teenagers with brain injuries to make friends, feel less isolated and develop the tools to cope with the changes injury has brought about in their lives. Our grant of £14,522 pays for the salary of a part-time youth worker there called Jim.

Melissa was supported by Jim after she was knocked down by a car in September 2009, aged 8. Melissa used to walk the 100 yards home from school by herself. One day her mum, Barbara, noticed she was late home and went out into the street to look for her. She spotted Melissa’s pink bag in the road and immediately knew something awful had happened.

Once in hospital, Melissa’s injuries were so severe that her family was told there was a two percent chance that she would make a full recovery. Amazingly, she did. She can now walk and talk and go to school.

Melissa with her family

But she has hidden disabilities that her classmates can’t see and this makes things difficult. The CBIT has worked with Melissa’s teachers to explain why she has social difficulties and might not comprehend things as quickly as her peers. The Trust also ran a Peer Awareness Session at her school. Now Melissa has joined the youth group and her parents have taken part in fundraising for CBIT.

We fund 12 projects like CBIT supporting children affected by brain and spinal cord injuries, but we also aim to keep children safe from an array of other circumstances such as abuse, neglect, domestic violence or self harm. Child safety can mean many different things and so we will be exploring several projects aiming to keep children safe every day this week.

An Olympic Dream!

2012-07-27T12:45:18+00:00

BBC Children in Need is thrilled and delighted to announce that children from one of the projects we fund will have an important role in tonight's London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony!

As you probably already know, film director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting etc) is the Artistic Director of the Opening Ceremony, and although most of his plans must stay top secret until 9pm tonight (Friday 27 July), we're allowed to give away a tiny hint...

Children from The Big Project singing 'Flower of Scotland'

Children from "The Big Project" in Broomhouse, Edinburgh, have recorded a video of them singing "Flower of Scotland" on the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle. The video, featuring 53 members of the group, will form part of a medley of four songs representing the Home Nations.

The Big Project is a scheme set up to increase the motivation, self-esteem and confidence of children and young people living in Broomhouse in Edinburgh, by providing activities and trips along with residential breaks and individual youth support.

BBC Children in Need has funded this project for several years - they're currently receiving a 3-year grant of just over £100,000, which is to pay for the salary and associated costs of a full-time Youth and Children's Worker."

It was a wonderful experience for all involved. Although it was all so unexpected and a bit of a whirlwind,　I don't think there could have been a better end result for our choir!" said Sascha Macleod, Project Manager at The Big Project. "Of course it wouldn't be happenning without your funding of [our Youth and Children's Worker] as she is an integral part of it all."

Here at BBC Children in Need, we're incredibly proud that one of the projects we support was chosen to participate in tonight's Olympic Opening Ceremony. We'll all be settling down at 9pm to watch the kids from The Big Project and the other 10,000 volunteers who've given up their free time to rehearse and participate in the big show.

We'd also like to wish all of the athletes, officials, volunteers and visitors to London a fantastic, fun-filled and successful Olympic Games. And (being a bit biased just for a moment)... COME ON, TEAM GB!