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THANK YOU!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
To everyone
who participated in the Belfast Marathon
To Lauren McCaughey and friends who proudly carried our Banner from the City Hall to Ormeau Park
Please return all sponsor money
as soon as possible so that we can finalise our total.
Collections / Promotional Stands
Thank
you to everyone who helped with our collections / stands in:
Sainsburys
Forestside
(Feb) raising £500.00
ASDA Strabane (May)
£321.83
Bloomfield Shopping Centre
Bangor (May) £551.10
As well as raising much needed funds this is a great way to raise awareness of
allergies and our charity. Many people in all of these venues sought information and advice from us and
appreciated knowing that we are available to help them.
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| Valerie Patterson won the giant Teddy raffled on our stand in Bloomfield |
Our next collection is in
Islandbawn Stores, Antrim
Mon
28 June 9am-4pm
Volunteers
needed!
Sat 3 July
Sainsburys Coleraine (Collection)
10am-7pm
Sat 10 July
Tesco Knocknagoney (Collection)
10am-9pm
Fri 6 Aug
High Street Mall, Portadown (Collection & Stand) 10am-8pm
Can you spare an hour or two to help your charity?
Piriton
Syrup
Thank you to everyone who contacted
Glaxo Smith Kline expressing support for this product to be manufactured in sachet form. The company have
advised they are giving this consideration and we are hopeful of a positive outcome. We’ll keep you
informed.
Children’s Workshop Saturday
5 June Bangor
There are still a number of
places available for children within the P2-P7 age group. If you would like your child to attend please
contact us by Wednesday 2 June as low numbers may necessitate the workshop being cancelled.
School
Transport for allergic children
In our last
Newsletter I referred to contact with Patricia Mellon, the designated Director of ESAIT (Education & Schools Authority
Implementation Team) the replacement body for the five education boards. This was due to take place earlier
in the year but in my recent contact with Patricia she advised there will be a public statement in June regarding the progress
of this changeover. Unfortunately this will delay any progress with the issues raised regarding provision
for severely allergic children travelling on school transport.
In the meantime you can contact the Transport Officer in your Education and Library Board area whose
role it is to deal with all of your transport queries. If you require any help or assistance in these matters,
please contact us.
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
You will have received information about our AGM and I hope many of you will come along to participate
and meet our directors.
EATING OUT
Helen,
one of our members, recently advised us about very positive experiences at Pizza Express, Victoria Square, and Dublin Road,
Belfast. Helen commented “after informing them of my young daughter’s nut allergy they really
pulled out all the stops to look after her, they ensured all equipment was cleaned before using and used fresh ingredients
and couldn’t have been better! They really made her feel special, I recommend it!!”
Maureen (Co-ordinator) who has multiple allergies
recently celebrated her husband’s birthday with a meal in Corrs Corner Hotel, Glengormley. As most
hotels do not serve baked potatoes Maureen rang ahead to ensure the chef ordered these in for her and agreed a vegetable that
she could eat, which he cooked separately. With other members of the family also having allergies including
egg, food colouring etc, the chef cooked chicken separately, hand chipped potatoes which were fried separately and allowed
suitable ice cream to be brought in and stored in their freezer until ready for use. “It was such
a joy to be able to eat out safely and the food was beautiful” Maureen commented.
If you have had good experiences either eating out, at the cinema, staying in
a hotel etc or have discovered an allergen free product that would help others, please let us know.
Nut
Free Birthday Cakes
Barbara one of our members, recently
informed us about a company called Just Love Food who produce children’s nut free birthday cakes that can be purchased
in Sainsburys for £8.99 (see link on our website).
I contacted the owner Mike Woods to express our thanks that someone had the foresight to do this and asked
if we could have some samples for our next children’s workshop and Halloween party. I also enquired
if he would consider making nut & egg free birthday cakes.
To my surprise he generously responded by offering to send us £90 to purchase cakes as the postage
would be quite expensive and cakes do not always travel well. He also advised that he has tried making
a cake that was free from various allergens including egg and will continue to develop this. I forwarded
a copy of our cook book to him as it contains a number of tasty recipes for cakes etc that may be helpful.
Young person of
the Year award 2009
Louise and Edel Connolly
joint winners of our award have received another accolade, this time the Aramark Healthcare Innovation Advocacy Award.
These awards endeavour to recognise and merit innovation in the provision of Healthcare in Ireland.
The girls were nominated by their parents, as they have continued
to raise awareness of allergies at every opportunity including their website www.beallergyaware.com. The category Edel and Louise were
nominated for was the Advocacy Award.
The
Awards ceremony took place on the 23 April in the Guinness Storehouse. They received a certificate along
with a glass trophy and were also given contact with a PR company who are helping them create further awareness through the
media.
Product Alert: Neills Flour—UPDATE
In our last issue, I referred to the possibility that Neills
flour may contain Casein (milk protein) due to contamination from other products using the same production line.
In my recent contact with Neills, they advised that while the levels of Casein have been reduced they will continue to work on this and give a further update for our next Newsletter.
Advice for community groups and other organisations including an allergic child on an outing —
LEAFLET
At this
time of year many youth groups, summer schemes and other organisations arrange day trips, etc for children. Where
they are including an allergic child we have compiled the above named leaflet. If you know of anyone /organisation
who would benefit from a copy of this, please let us know.
TOMBOLA
As you are aware we are holding collections and stands throughout Northern Ireland and in Dublin.
Our cookbooks have been selling well on the stands but in order to increase funds we are planning further raffles and
a tombola. Would you have any new or unused items that would be suitable for either of these? eg Large teddy bear / animal or toy,
smaller items such as toys, candles, toiletries, girls / adults jewellery / jewellery box, perfume / aftershave, books, household
items or ladies / girls bags, etc. Please contact us to arrange collection (if possible) or drop in to
the Support Centre, between 9am-1pm, Mon-Fri.
FOCUS ON ..... EGG ALLERGY
If you or your child have been diagnosed with Egg allergy you may find the following information helpful:
Hens egg
allergy is quite common in children under 5. Egg allergy is often associated with eczema, and may make
it worse, and is a risk factor for the development of asthma when older.
Symptoms
Infants many refuse the
egg containing food, develop redness around the mouth and then vomit. Generally, symptoms that may occur
in some individuals include:
Itching, redness, urticaria (skin rash with small pale or red swellings), swollen face, cough, wheeze,
anaphylaxis
Food
Egg may be found in a wide range of foods, including:
Cake, pastries, desserts, meat products, salad
dressings, glazes, pasta, battered/bread-crumbed foods, ice-cream, chocolates, sweets
This list is not exhaustive and food labels
must be read carefully every time you shop.
(Other names for egg and egg derivatives can be found in the New Member Information
Pack which you recently received.)
The Allergy N I cookbook “Parties, Picnics & Packed Lunches” has many delicious egg
free recipes including scones, cakes, biscuits etc. Price £5 (£6.50 inc p&p) available
from our Support Centre. See our website for other retailers.
Medication
/ Vaccines
Egg
lecithin may be present occasionally in medications—check with your chemist.
MMR / Flu / Yellow Fever Vaccines may not
be suitable for people with egg allergy—check with your GP or Allergy Specialist
Please see enclosed Egg Allergy Fact Sheet for further
information .............
(Information provided by British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology www.bsaci.org)
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