Abs Kids Charity News

GMTV - Wednesday 1st September 2010
So I will be appearing on GMTV at 6.30 am, 7.20 am and 8.45am discussing my experiences of bullying, what I am doing to beat it and what I want to see in the future. I did have a sofa slot planned in on The Lorraine Kelly part of GMTV but unfortunately that has been cancelled last minute. Unfortunately for me an adult will be filling my place rather than a young person. Very disappointed! Tune in to find about the campaign I am currently working on and what I have recently been up to. Hope you can see the clip and let me know you thoughts and views.
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Fingers crossed everyone, I may be appearing on GMTV on Wednesday 1st September to discuss my experiences of bullying and the work I am doing at the minute. I'll also be talking about what it means to some children to go back to school when they are being bullied. If you've got any thoughts or views then why not email me on the 'Ask a question' page. I'll let you know more as soon as I find out more.

Abs-Kids Charity Fundraiser Evening - 4th June 2010
On Friday 4th June I held a charity fundraising evening for Abs-Kids. The idea of the evening was to invite as many people as possible and at the same time raise as much money as possible for Abs-Kids. To raise money we had 2 raffles, donation cards, scratchcards and buckets for loose change as well as previously selling tickets for the event. Throughout the evening there was presentation running showing all of my achievements and the celebrities that I had met. The evening went extremely well and I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended the evening, everyone who donated money to Abs-Kids and also to the organisations that donated prizes to the raffle. Overall we raised £800!! Thank you again!

The Lord Lieutenants Young Person Of The Year Award - 25th March 2010
On Thursday 25th March 2010 I attended an awards ceremony at County hall, Leicestershire for the Lord Lietenant's Young Person Of The Year Awards 2010. I had been shortlisted to the final three for the bravery catergory for the anti bullying work I have been doing and Abs-Kids. Unfortunately I didn't win my catergory but I finished as a runner up and I am very proud that Abs-Kids got recognition for all of the work that it does. It is also another achievement for myself and Abs-Kids.
For more information and photos from the evening please see the 'image gallery'.

Young Achiever's Awards 2010 - 5th February
On Friday 5th February I made my way to London to collect a Young Achievers Award. I was nominated for the Young Community Achievers Awards for all of the Anti Bullying work I have been doing. The awards were held at Amnesty International and ran from 3pm-8pm. During the afternoon we all took part in some workshops after getting to know each other. The workshops involved discussing our hopes and ambitions for the next 10 years and setting realistic targets. Secondly we went into a workshop that focused on our speaking when we were presented with our awards. We did different exercises that tested our speaking ability such as the loudness and clearness of our voices. Then came the awards, each catergory was read out including those who had been shortlisted, runners up and the winners. We each gave a speech talking about our projects and the work that we were doing and the winners spoke about how the prize would help them to develop their current projects further. Overall, it was a great day not only winning but I also got the opportunity to meet some great people who are all volunteering and helping others in some way.

Talk Talk Digital Hero Awards 2009 - 30th October
On Friday 30th October I found out that Abs-Kids wasn't fortunate enough to get through to the final of the Talk Talk Digital Hero Awards. I feel really disappointed that I didn't get through to the next round with £5000. The money would have helped Abs-Kids so much. The thing that makes it even more upsetting is that we were also unfortunate with the Bank Of Scotland Awards back in June. Right now I'm just waiting for that big break where funding is available to Abs-Kids and we can make all of the changes that we want to. I know I keep on saying it but funding is a huge thing for Abs-Kids and soon we won't be able to make any changes because we just won't have the money. So please if you want to or know of anybody that could help to sponsor, donate or fund Abs-Kids then please tell them and show them about the site or send me an email.
Thank You.

Sponsored Skydive - 28th June

On Sunday 28th June Abs, Alison, Sam, Daniel, Ian & Luis all took to the skies and completed a 13,000ft skydive. After being delayed due to the weather we were all unsure as to weather we would be able to do the skydive. However, after a tense wait we were all given the go ahead and told that we could jump! After our briefing it was time for us to put on our jumpsuits and head for the plane. It took around 10-15 minutes to get up to 13,000ft and all equipment and harnesses were checked and altered for the final time. We left the plane at around 120 mph and free-fell for what was meant to be 30 seconds but felt like 5! Once the parachute was open we all glided down to ground and landed safely. Overall I can say that it was an overwhelming experience.
We are currently collecting the money in and I will be sure to let everyone know how much we have raised when we find out. All of the money that has been raised will be used to help the running costs of the site and updates that will benefit the users of the site.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took part in the skydive, all supporters who came to watch and all those who sponsored each of us skydivers. Thank You.

Bank Of Scotland / 4Children National Awards - 25th June

I was one of three finalists in the Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneur Awards for 2009 with a prize of £80,000 and 3 days mentoring from a successful entrepreneur. We began in the morning and gave a 15 minute presentation to a panel of 7 judges. This was followed by a 20 minute question and answer session. The board of trustees for the charity and I, were asked questions about what the charity did, how it did and the response that it had had. The awards ceremony eventually came around later in the evening. The evening dinner and ceremony was held at Christ Church, Spitalfields in London. Unfortunately I didn't win the award but getting to the stage of being a finalist has been a huge achievement in itself.
On the same day I was one of two finalists in the 4Children National Star Awards for Safeguarding Children. This award was a new edition. I also attended an interview in the morning whereby I was asked several questions about Abs-Kids, how it was created and the work that I did by a panel of 5 judges. Unfortunately I was unable to attend this awards ceremony as I was at the Bank Of Scotland Awards. So, my mum went along to recieve the award on my behalf should I have won the award ... and I did! I attended the ceremony later on and was greeted many people who wanted to congratulate me on winning and how well I had done.
I would like to thank everyone on the committee for the charity for all of their time and effort that has been put in

Sponsored Skydive - March 2009

As of Sunday 28th June Abs will be taking part in a sponsored Tandem Skydive. If you would like to donate money to the jump then please click on the 'Make Donation' button on the left hand side of your screen. You can also donate through www.justgiving.com/abbimorrall which is a site that has been set up especially for raising funds for the skydive. Abs and six others will be taking to the skies at heights of 10,000ft. The group are hoping to raise lots of money to carry on updating and improving the abs-kids website.

If you have any other fundraising ideas then please email Abs by clicking on the 'Ask a Question' button.

Wish them luck !

GMTV - 15th April 2009

I was invited on GMTV throughout the Easter holidays to talk about Abs-Kids and what I thought of the new government guidelines that are being introduced. I appeared on the live show at 6.30am and 8.30am. Overall the show went well and was successful in spreading the Abs-Kids message. However, it still isn't enough and I want to spread the message across the country to all of the young people that are suffering bullying. The show was seen by many people and the site has seen a successful response from it.

If you know of anyone who is suffering bullying then tell them about the Abs-Kids website and together we can prevent bullying across the country.

Abs-Kids becomes a Registered Charity - 10th April 2009

GOOD NEWS!!!!

ABS KIDS IS NOW A

REGISTERED CHARITY

On 5th February 2009, ABS KIDS ANTI BULLYING WEBSITE achieved charity status.

On becoming a Registered Charity I will now be able to undertake lots of fund raising activities and apply for grants which will help me to help even more people who are suffering the torment of bullying.

If you have any fundraising ideas, please e-mail me and let me know. The more ideas I have then the more money I can raise.

Any offers of help will be greatly appreciated, from raising money to printing and advertising.

I’m sure you will appreciate how much this Charity status means to me and how it will allow me to continue the anti-bullying work that I do.

Thanks to everyone who has visited the site, those who I have helped combat bullying and to all those who have left their kind messages of support.

Abs xx

3rd July 2008

I would like to thank the British Gas National Distribution Centre on Grove Park in Leicester for raising £1087.00. They raised this money by holding a Charity Golf Day at Whetstone Golf Club. This day along with many others was initiated by the Graham Davenport Memorial Trophy. 52 players took part in the pouring rain. This included staff, suppliers and also friends who travelled from Wales, Bristol and Southampton. The whole day was organised by Luis Farina and without his organisation the day wouldn't have gone ahead. To help increase funds, an auction was held on the day and some of the ladies at British Gas baked and sold cakes to staff and raised 80 alone. On top of this there were many forfeits on the golf day and so this also helped the total figure. I would like to thank all of those who participated and helped out on the day. Thank you to the ladies for their very kind cake sale. And finally a huge thank you to all members of British Gas involved and especially Luis Farina for organising and donating the money to Abs-Kids. This has been the largest amount donated and it is good to finally see some support and backing from a large and very well-known company. Thank You.

Young Enterprise Innovation Awards - 23rd June 2008

Abs was invited along to the Young Enterprise Innovation Awards County Final at the Walkers Stadium, Leicester. I was asked to be the key note speaker for the evening along with Rosemary Conely. The ideas that had been created were very unique and all had their own selling point. Overall all teams that took part did very well to get as far as what they did. I posted a half an hour speech to 500 people that attended. I was presented with a bouquet of flowers and had a wonderful evening. Well Done to the winning team who are now a part of the Regional Finals and also all of the other colleges that took part. Thank you to all that attended and also to Lyn Wilson who arranged the evening, you did a great job and thank you for inviting me. Thanks again, :)

This Morning on ITV - 16th March 2008

Abs appeared on the This Morning Show on ITV to discuss bullying with Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton. The show went out live at around 6 'o' clock in the morning. This gave the abs-kids website a great opportunity to talk more about the site and how it can help people. I had the opportunity to help people over the phone and via email on the show. The show turned out to be very successful and we recieved hundreds if not thousands of emails from well wishers and people looking for help and advice and thousands of hits.

Registered Charity No: 1127918