27/11/2007 - DISAPPOINTING RESULT FOR WISHING WELL HOUSE - Wishing Well House misses out on lottery funding competition

Congratulations to Sandside Lodge Special School!

Unfortunately, Wishing Well House heard today that they had not achieved enough phone votes for the televised competition last night to win the £40k Lottery Funding to buy music equipment for their arts project to help children with autism. Sandside Lodge Special School has been successful in their bid for £80k for a school playground. Trustee Regina Coulon said: "Obviously, we are hugely disappointed, especially as everyone worked so hard and so many friends and colleagues were so supportive. We would like to especially thank our new patron, singer Laura Critchley who contacted all her fans to tell them about the charity. Despite the disappointing result for us, we will continue to work hard to fund-raise in order to provide musical instruments and hire music therapsists that can help children with autism communicate and in hopefully in some cases... start to speak."

She added: "In the longer term we still have a dream to open an arts based school in NW England that will provide one to one tuition for children with autism. We desperately need permanent premises and we still need to reach that first milestone of £150k in order to get the school open. However, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Sandside Lodge Special School and wish them every success with their new playground project and we would also like to thank everyone who supported us yesterday, we can't achieve this without you all".

26/11/2007 - TODAY IS THE DAY PHONE 08702 433 401 NOW - We have only have until midnight tonight for phone votes!

This is it, today is the day! You only have until midnight tonight to make a wish!

WE ONLY HAVE HOURS LEFT TODAY (MONDAY 26TH NOVEMBER) TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THE LIVES OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM.
Will you give 10p or up to £1 to help Wishing Well House win £40,000 of Lottery funding? Please say 'Yes' as this could enable this charity to buy musical instruments, hire music therapists and purchase sensory equipment to help more children with autism communicate through music?

THE NUMBER TO CALL IS 08702 433 402

Showbizworks.com supports Wishing Well House, a small start up registered charity which aims to open a full time arts based school in providing one to one education for children with autism. The school is currently operating lessons every Sunday by a team of dedicated and committed volunteers, however they have inadequate resources and equipment. One Mother whose child attends the classes says: "This is the only time we have as a family for social interaction with our son, and for our son to interact with other children and I have noticed that he is now trying to speak for the first time in his life, so these classes are invaluable."

Tonight, Wishing Well House will go head to head with another charity on ITV's People's Millions (operated by The Big Lottery) at 6pm to win £40,000 of Lottery funding. The charity with the most phone votes will win the money. This the last hurdle....we have made it down to the last two from 1000 applications! But only one charity can win.

We are asking you to make two wishes today (Monday), in fact please do it now on Monday 26th January. When you vote, you are making a wish for the success of Wishing Well House and also take the time to have one personal wish for yourself or a loved one (hey one good turn deserves another). Anyone, anywhere in the country can vote up to ten times from the same number and calls from land lines cost just 10p each. Please take 1 minute out of your busy Monday to help children with autism. Then pass this email on to 10 of your friends or suppliers who you think will help to support this worthy cause.

The number to call is 08702 433 402.

Please watch Granada Reports tonight or log on to www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/peoplesmillions

Wishing Well House will know by Tuesday lunchtime if they have been successful in their bid. Please log on to www.wishingwellhouse.co.uk on Tuesday evening to see if the charity has been awarded the money.
Thank you so much........we know how busy Mondays are, but a 10p call (or even better, ten calls at 10p) will make a real difference.

Once you have voted and wished, please ask the ten most likely people you know that would help in your address book and ask for their support. Send us an e-mail to let us know if you have supported and definitely let us know when your wishes come true. We will be adding to the roll of honour on the website as the day progresses. Lucien, Jared, Niall, Harry and Troy the current children at the Sunday school along with their Mum's and Dad's, thank you for your time and wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Thank you too from Showbizworks.com and the Trustees of Wishing Well House.

22/11/2007 - LAURA CRITCHLEY PATRON OF WISHING WELL HOUSE - Laura is appointed patron of Wishing Well House supporting children with autism

Wishing Well House, which aims to open an arts based school providing one to one education for children with autism in NorthWest England, is delighted to announce that singer Laura Critchley has agreed to become a patron of the charity.

Laura from Liverpool, is attracting considerable interest from those in the music industry having just released her first album ‘Sometimes I' which is being heavily promoted with national television advertisements. Her debut single ‘What Do We Do?' is on the BBC Radio 2 playlist with Terry Wogan describing the album and Laura as "excellent" and recommending her as someone to watch out for.

Wishing Well House has been shortlisted for lottery funding and in order to win their bid, which would provide £40k to purchase musical instruments, sensory equipment and hire music therapists, the charity has to go head to head in competition with a Cumbrian school on Granada Reports at 6pm on Monday 26th November. The charity with the most phone votes will be awarded the money. The phone number to call will be published on www.wishingwellhouse.co.uk after 9am on Monday 26th November and everyone, no matter where they are based in the country, can vote up to ten times. Alternatively you can telephone Wishing Well House charity on 0845 638 1808 and they will give the number out over the phone on the day of the broadcast.

On agreeing to become a patron Laura said: "This is a cause which I wholeheartedly support and understand as my Mum's best friends' son is autistic. I think the focus on music as a means to encourage communication is fantastic, as many children with autism are pitch perfect and music, song and movement can help to encourage social interaction and speech. We just need to raise awareness as much as possible in order to get the school open and the music classes are one step further to a full time school, so I hope everyone will vote for Wishing Well House on Monday 26th November."

Laura is currently supporting Deacon Blue and her single went into the Top 10 of the pre-release download chart. In the past year alone she has sung vocals on three tracks for Robbie Williams' new album and performed at events for the Duchess of York, Princess Beatrice and Gordon Ramsay. For more information visit Laura Critchley

11/11/2007 - WISHING WELL HOUSE CHARITY NEEDS YOUR VOTE - Showbizworks.com's nominated charity Wishing Well House is down to the last eight for Lottery Funding for Arts Project

Showbizworks.com is delighted to announce that our nominated charity Wishing Well House, which plans to open an arts based school in NorthWest England providing one to one education for children with autism, has made it through to the final eight in the regional People's Millions TV contest for Big Lottery Fund good cause money.

Wishing Well House has applied for £40,000 of funding for its Arts Project. If successful, the money will be used to purchase a range of sensory equipment and musical instruments as well as fund music therapists and recruit and train volunteers to help teach autistic children communication and social skills through music and movement. Wishing Well House has successfully launched movement and dance classes for children with autism which take place every Sunday at 2.15pm at the Whittaker School of Dance and Drama on Hornby Road, in Blackpool. The school donates the room free of charge to the charity until a viable, permanent residence for Wishing Well House has been found.

On Monday 26th November 2007, the Wishing Well House Arts Project will be showcased on Granada Tonight going head to head competing with a Cumbrian based school which is bidding for funding to create a playground for local children with special needs. The successful bid will be the project that receives the most phone votes.

Regina Coulon, a trustee of Wishing Well House explained: "Statistics show that one in a hundred children has autism, so with 1.7m children in the NorthWest under 19 years of age, there are potentially 17,000 children who could benefit from our project. Many experts in the field of autism claim that up to 90% of autistic children are pitch perfect and often have music related talent that remains undiscovered. Usually, children with autism have very limited verbal communication and music and singing can be used as a channel to help develop speech, to manage emotions and to improve social skills."

She added: "As the parent of an autistic son, I know first hand that many parents of autistic children never hear their children call them ‘Mummy' or ‘Daddy' or say ‘I love you' and we want to use music as a way of developing speech and social interaction. If we are going to help children throughout the NorthWest, we really need as many people as possible to vote on the day any time between 9am until 12 midnight when the lines close."

ITV has stated that the phone number will only be released at 9am on the 26th November and it can be obtained by either purchasing The Mirror newspaper, where it will be published or by logging on to this website Showbizworks.com or Big Lottery Fund or Wishing Well House Alternatively, you can telephone Showbizworks.com on 0845 638 1808 and we will tell you the number to call to register your vote.
Votes will only be valid for Wishing Well House from 9am until 12 midnight on Monday 26th November 2007. ITV and the Big Lottery Fund will use a low cost non-premium rate telephone number and do not make a profit from the voting telephone numbers.

27/09/2007 - THE EVENT SHOW SEARCHES FOR NEW TALENT - Free slot on LIVEstage for corporate entertainers to promote to event organisers

In an unprecedented move The Event Show, which takes place at Olympia in London on the 23rd and 24th January 2008, has announced a competition offering free space to one company to launch what must be an innovative or revolutionary product or service for the event industry.

The Event Show is generally regarded as the industry's leading exhibition for indoor and outdoor event organisers, attracting the big hitters from companies including the BBC Worldwide, Live Nation, major financial institutions and councils from all over the country. Market research has shown that 73% of visitors attend The Event Show to be inspired by new ideas. So organisers are keen to remain at the cutting edge and this promotion is focusing on unearthing some exciting new ideas, products or services that will benefit the event industry and that will be seen for the first time at the Show.

Michelle Tayton, manager of The Event Show said: "We are keen to maintain our reputation as the provider of inspirational ideas to event organisers, constantly introducing new exhibitors with products that haven't been seen elsewhere. We appreciate that launching a new product is a costly exercise and we would like to provide the springboard for one company to access key buyers in the industry, to sell face to face and to showcase their product or service to the media for the first time at The Event Show. Over 40% of our visitors spend more than £100,000 on events annually and our chosen winner will be given space in the Innovation Zone. We anticipate that this amazing offer will attract some fantastic and previously unseen ideas from all over the world."

Companies should email information regarding their product or service to michelle.tayton@oceanmedia.co.uk or post to Michelle Tayton, Ocean Media Group Ltd, Bank House, 23 Warwick Road, Coventry CV1 2EW. The winning company will be notified by December 7th 2007. Space at the exhibition will be provided free of charge but promotional literature, displays, staff, travel and accommodation must be provided by the winning company.

Almost half the visitors to The Event Show are looking for live entertainment for events. So, continuing its focus on providing visitors with new ideas, The Event Show is also offering one free twenty minute performance slot on each of the two days of the exhibition to ground-breaking entertainers on its LIVEstage, which showcases artistes suitable for the corporate hospitality industry. Again, the focus is on artistes that offer something different, or new and emerging performers for indoor or outdoor events. Artistes should send information to info@showbizworks.com the company managing the LIVEstage with full information about their act, experience and confirmation that they hold full public liability insurance.

To register to attend The Event Show log on to www.eventshow.co.uk For information about exhibiting or sponsorship opportunities contact Sarah Brownlee on 02476 571109.