Promise Dreams
Ground Floor, The Production Centre,
Boundard Ind Est, Stafford Road
Wolverhampton. WV10 7EL
Tel: 01902 212 451 info@promisedreams.co.uk Registered Charity No. 1086020
The Beacon Walk of the Black Country has raised £103,000 for charity, after 3,500 listeners signed up to walk ten miles from Himley Hall to the Wolverhampton Racecourse.
Thousands of listeners turned out at Himley to start the Walk - the Beacon presenters welcomed everyone and kicked the event off with a countdown on stage with Promise Dreams patrons Beverley Knight, Suzi Perry, Don Goodman and Steve Bull. The parade of walkers completed their 10 mile challenge at the Racecourse and were presented with a medal.
The majority of the money will be going to Promise Dreams, a local children's charity dedicated to fulfilling the dreams of seriously ill and terminally ill children and their families. Ten percent of the funds will also be going to the Dudley and Wolverhampton Mayoral charities.
Matt Ramsbottom, managing director at Beacon added, ‘It was such an amazing day- we were thrilled with the turnout and how well it went. All the walkers did so well- they were all in good spirits and the weather held out for us.
Seeing how everyone has made such a huge effort on the day –not only with their fancy dress outfits but their fundraising efforts - brought tears to many eyes. A special mention also needs to go out to the marshals and sponsors without whom we couldn't have pulled off such a fantastic event!’
Beverley Bird from Promise Dreams said, 'We are so grateful & thankful to all the people of the Black Country who turned up in their thousands with such pride and commitment to making this event such a success. The money raised by everyone will make a real difference to Promise Dreams and to all the children currently waiting for their dreams to come true.
With this money, we will be able to double the amount of dreams we fulfil - whether the child would like a holiday, a toy, medical treatment or equipment, or even the chance to meet their favourite celebrity, Promise Dreams is dedicated and committed to help.’
The Beacon Walk of the Black Country was supported by the University of Wolverhampton as well as Banks’s and Dudley Motors who also sponsored the event.
Welcome to the official site of Wolverhampton based Promise Dreams. A registered children's charity, dedicated to fulfilling the dreams of seriously ill and terminally ill children and their families. Our charity is all about Raising Smiles.
Please use the links at the top of the page to view the contents of this site, and please visit the sites of our very kind Corporate Sponsors, on the left of your screen.
Many of you may remember hearing about a little boy called Lewis who wanted to meet Robbie Williams when we asked for help to make this happen. Lewis has an inoperable brain tumour and is gradually losing his sight. As I'm sure you can imagine trying to get to Robbie is about as tough as it gets but finally, having chased every lead possible to get to the man himself we finally made contact with someone who had Robbie's dad's telephone number and we saw a glimmer of hope. I rang Lewis' mum just to see how he was and check that this would still be his dream - and what a good job I did!! Lewis had, having not seen Robbie much on the television, switched his allegiance to a different celebrity so there was a quick dream change required. Jeremy Clarkson was now top of Lewis' list and so we set about making this dream happen for him. Thanks to our lovely patron Suzi Perry we had the telephone number for the Top Gear production team and following a conversation with a member of their team I was writing a letter for the attention of Jeremy himself. Thankfully Lewis' tumour remained relatively stable and his mum was confident that he would be well enough to travel in order to make his dream come true.
A couple of weeks later I received a phone call from the production team to say that they would very much like it if Lewis could make it down to Dunsfold Airfield to see an episode of Top Gear being filmed, have a lap with the Stig and meet Jeremy and the other presenters. An excited phone call was then made to Lewis' mum and possible dates were put in the diary.
Things were taking shape quickly for a very special experience and having discovered that Lewis' would actually be our 500th dream it would be something of a milestone for the charity too. Unfortunately things had to be quickly put on hold after Richard Hammond's unfortunate accident but a new date was soon set with Lewis and his family making the journey from Blackpool to Dunsfold.
As you can see Lewis did get to meet Jeremy, and the other presenters, having already been zoomed round the famous Top Gear track by the Stig. We are so pleased to have been able to make this dream a reality for Lewis and hugely appreciate the help of everyone involved.
