21 April 2020

From running marathons around the garden to cycle in the garage, we've had all sorts of fundraisers for the Bristol City Centre Hospitals Appeal.

Six-year-old Edwin decided to 'brave the shave' and cut off all his hair, raising a more than £2,000. Here, mum Louise tells us all about Edwin and why he decided to take on a challenge for Above & Beyond.

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Edwin lives together with me and my husband, his older sister and my mum. Before the schools closed we took the decision to enable my mum to isolate herself at her home as she is classed as extremely vulnerable.

Edwin wanted to know why he wasn’t allowed to be in her part of the house anymore or hug her.

We explained that there was a virus in the world that anyone can catch but that affects some people very badly, sometimes meaning that they can’t breathe very well and that to protect Nanny we needed to keep away from her completely for a while. 

When Edwin’s school closed he asked what people needed to make them better when they got the virus and why lots of people were dying.  We told him that really poorly people needed a ventilator to breathe for them until they are better and some countries don’t have enough for the number of people getting poorly. He asked me how much a ventilator was and said he was going to raise money for the NHS to buy one so people could be saved.

We explained that ventilators are a lot of money and he said “I’m still doing it, I’m going to shave all my hair off”. I suggested he try and raise £500 and he’s said he was going to raise £1000. I spoke to a couple of people I know who work for our local NHS to see if there was a COVID-19 fundraising group, but at the time there wasn’t, and I was signposted to ‘Above & Beyond’. The rest, as they say, is history...

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In total Edwin raised £2,145. To sponsor Edwin click here.

Find out more about planning an event to raise money for the Bristol City Centre Hospitals Appeal.