Nina Hamelink Wins Harry's Fair Play Award

Congratulations to Nina who won The Harry Mills Fair Play Award at Spinfield School.

Marks and Spencer Marlow Raise £954 for Harry

Marks & Spencer Simply Foods in Marlow have raised £784 in total for Harry’s fund at the Meningitis Research Foundation. A sponsored walk raised £262, sponsorship raised £180 in and the remainder was raised in store. Additionally M&S have added a further £170.

The M&S team are pictured on the sponsored walk in June - pictured from left to right Cameron, Jill, Wanda, Doug, Clowie and Yvonne.

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Funds Raised in Harry's Memory

 
TOTAL FUNDS RAISED

The total funds raised in memory of Harry are as follows (all on-line and off-line donations) :

Meningitis Trust £4,691
Meningitis Research Foundation £100,371.00
Youth Sports Trust £14,402
Child Bereavement £3,750
Oxford Transplant Foundation £4,500
Bisham Church £1,000

TOTAL   £128,714.00

Many thanks from the Mills family for all your efforts. This is a fantastic sum of money that is still growing. A wonderful tribute to Harry's memory. 

Please visit the Meningitis Research Foundation for for an update on Meningitis B Vaccines research and Harry's story.

Harry’s Lunch Weds 22nd Sept 2010

We're delighted to be running Harry's lunch for the third year on Wednesday 22nd September 2010. It will be held once again at St Katherines in Parmoor and the chosen charity this year is the Child Bereavement Trust.

The menu will be a choice of Salmon with Pesto Crust, Chicken Provencale or the vegetarian option of Aubergine and Mozzarella Bake/ Towers. This will be served with seasonal vegetables and minted potatoes. This will be followed by a dessert of Chocolate Brownie with Cream or Meringue Hedgehogs with Fruit Couli. Tea and Coffee will then be served.

Please could you advise us of your choice when booking your ticket.

We do hope you can come along and bring your friends. It would be lovely to see you all again this year for this fun and sociable occasion and also to raise valuable funds for charity. As you know we do like a theme and this year is no different. It is to be Harvest time with the addition of hedgehogs!

Tickets remain at the same price of £25.00.

For tickets or more information please contact Judi 01628 483962 hithemills@clara.co.uk or Wendi on 01628 475150 wendiparcell@sabrehost.net.

Thanking you for your continued support.

Wendi and Judi

Marlow Merlins Rugby Awards Evening: 7th May 2010

An annual event, the Merlins Awards Evening is an opportunity for the parents & boys to get together over a curry and celebrate achievements both on and off the pitch.

The Harry Mills award was presented by Ali Buckle, Head Coach & Judi Mills and recognised ‘enthusiasm, passion and commitment’ to rugby and Marlow RFC in particular. This year’s winner was Leighton Jones who despite not having anyone playing for the Merlins, faithfully coaches every week, a smile on his face, through wind, rain and snow, thereby demonstrating Harry’s values.

Ali went on to say "Leighton Jones is Fixtures Secretary and a senior player at the club and asked the Merlins whether we needed any coaching help at the start of last season. He has two girls and a very young son, none of whom play rugby, so he comes down to help out purely because he loves the club, the game and the age group. He makes training fun, and the boys have really benefitted from his unique coaching style this season. A worthy winner of our most special award, which this year took the form of a nice "Harry" engraved tankard."

Marlow Merlins U15s Easter Rugby Tour & Dorset Tournament

Over Easter, Marlow Merlins toured in France, playing Montigny-le-Bretonneux u15s. Hard fought, the boys played well but eventually lost to the stronger French side.

John Watson (Marlow Merlins) presented the winners with a pair of ‘Harry’s socks’ and said that the team would be remembering Harry with a minute’s silence during their game on 25^th April.The French players were touched by Harry’s story and wanted to wear the socks at their next match, Thierry Lucidarme (Montigny-le-Brettoneux) sent the attached photos of his team wearing ‘Harry’s socks’ during a match the following weekend.

Harry’s socks were also presented to Dorset (see email below)..

“Just to let you know that that the Merlin's remembered Harry today. We travelled to North Dorset, we told them of Harry and what he meant to us and gave their captain a pair of "HM" socks. We then had 30 seconds of clapping and a noisy 3 cheers for Harry. We came second in the rugby but made some great friends and hopefully they will visit us next season.” The teams are pictured observing a minutes silence for Harry.

Marlow Mini Rugby Tournament 28th March 2010

The Marlow Mini Rugby Tournament played host to over 2000 young rugby players and supporters. Since Harry died, a special trophy has been awarded in his memory to the winning u12s side.
London Irish were the victors. A strong team, this is the second time an U12 side from their club has won the Harry Mills Memorial Cup. England & Wasps player joined us for the presentation along with Rhys Durkin from London Irish who himself had meningitis as a baby and has come along to the presentation of Harry’s Cup every March since 2008.

Steve King: Great North Run & Marlow 5

Steve King joined 54,000 runners for September 2009’s Great North Run in Newcastle and 2,000 entrants for the Marlow 5, running for the Meningitis Research Foundation. He completed the both races in excellent times and raised a total of £1650.

Guy Lambert: Marlow 5 - 9th May 2010

15 year old Guy Lambert ran the Marlow 5, a 5mile road race around Marlow. He achieved an impressive time of 40mins 33secs and raised £50 for the Meningitis Trust. He intends to run it again next year when his mother Jane runs for the first time – is he worried? Nah!

John Hampden Grammar School - Harry’s Rose Garden

John Hampden established a permanent memorial to Harry and Year 8 pupil, Benny May (who died in an accident May 10^th 2007) in the form of a rose garden. Located in the main quad with a simple stone plaque, the garden is an oasis of tranquillity amongst the hustle and bustle of everyday school life.

Vicky and Michael Hit Their £500 Target

Vicky Tippell (on the right with Jenny - Harry's sister) and friend Michael 'Spiderman' Greene have hit their £500 target running the Bath Half Marathon. To date £680 have been raised for the Meningitis Research Foundation. You can still donate at their Justgiving site.

They can be seen on the attached photo looking remarkably cool and relaxed after all the exertion.

Jess & James Run 4 Harry - The Great North Run

Under clear blue skies and a warm autumnal sun, Jessica Denton and her uncle James Hughes took on the challenge of the Great North Run raising £1350 for the Youth Sport Trust & Meningitis Research Foundation. Having trained for several months, they were delighted with their finishing times of 2 hours 25 minutes coming 28958th out of a total 54,000 runners. As they went over the finishing line, the Red Arrows began their breathtaking aerial display – an apt salute to a fantastic effort!

Jessica has been so bitten by the running bug that she is now considering attempting the London Marathon….watch this space!

Harry’s Lunch Raises £2,500

The theme of this year’s Harry’s Lunch was ‘butterflies’ to tie in with the Harry’s Garden event at Butterfly World. Around 100 people attended the lunch, held at St. Katharine’s, Parmoor, and helped raise just under £2500 for the Meningitis Research Foundation which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary. The event was organised by Wendi Parcell, Florence MacGregor, Sue Robertson & Judi.

In addition to a fantastic array of butterfly themed raffle prizes donated by local businesses, individuals and internet companies there was also a silent auction featuring a number of unique items such as original artwork, a bespoke butterfly cushion and a signed copy of Heston Blumenthal’s The Big Fat Duck Cookbook.

Fern Alder, the award winning garden designer spoke about how she created Harry’s Garden, and about how the sunflowers and sweetpeas grown by guests at last year’s event were used. Guests were able to see how the garden progressed from little more than a building site to the finished result from a display of photographs, brochures and news articles. Upon leaving, they were presented with Butterfly World discount vouchers and a packet of Mr Fothergill’s Butterfly World seed collection.



Click here for press coverage

Harry's Garden is in Bloom

Harry's Garden and the Butterfly World site has now become the most amazing display of wild flowers. It is described as another world and a wonderful display of colour with tens of thousands of plants. See attached links for updates....

Daily Mail - A blaze of blooms to send your spirits floating like a butterfly

Harry's Garden July

Rory Kempson Awarded Harry's Cup

Congratulations to Rory kempson who was awarded Harry's Cup at the Marlow Rugby Club Marlow Merlins Team. This is the team Harry played for and the award was made at the end of season presentation on Friday 19th June. A great evening for the boys and Mums and Dads as Ali Buckle conducted proceedings (in the way only he can) and reminded us all of a great season. Richard and Judi presented the cup to Rory.

This is a lovely way for Harry to be remembered by his mates from his rugby team.