Lapland Trust celebrates £20k boost in funds

The Northern Ireland Children to Lapland Trust held their annual Walk to Scotland event aboard the Stena Line ferry earlier this month.

The novel fundraiser saw 130 participants generate sponsorship by walking a designated circuit around the ship as it sailed from Belfast to Scotland.

Northern Ireland Children to Lapland Trust have been running their annual ‘Fantasy Flight’ since 2006.

The trip takes terminally ill, long-term ill and deserving children on a trip to see Santa in his homeland.

This year’s flight will take place on December 17, with 230 children, plus doctors, nurses, parents and carers booked to go along.

Expressing his delight at the “huge success” of the Walk to Scotland event was NICLT chairman, Jack Rodgers. “This is the second year we’ve held the Walk to Scotland and it was a great success; we’ll definitely be bringing it back bigger and better for next year,” he said.

The fundraiser included an on-board lunch and cabaret show, with entertainment from May McFettridge, former broadcaster Gerry Kelly, James Huish, Phillippa O’Hara, Fiddler Adam and magician Rodd Hogg.

“Everyone really enjoyed the day as it offered something a wee bit different to your usual charity walk,” Jack added,

“There’s still money coming in and a lot of people donated online through JustGiving, so the final total will be well over £20,000 once it’s all counted up.”

The group are now also running additional ‘Days to Remember’ throughout the year.

“Sometimes we have kids who for whatever reason aren’t well enough to go on the December trip, so we started the ‘Days to Remember’,” Jack added. “We took 40 kids on a trip to EuroDisney in June.”

Meanwhile, the Trust is getting back on its feet after a website hack in September resulted in the loss of several year’s worth of photographs and other media. “We want to thank James Dickey from DarkStream Studios, who worked very hard to restore the website for us,” Jack said.