Jingle all the way to Christmas

We have launched our Big Christmas Raffle by teaching a special version of Jingle Bells to shoppers at our Loughborough store.

Hospice staff wanted to take some Christmas sparkle to the community to coincide with our festive raffle, so we taught the popular seasonal tune in Makaton – which uses signs and symbols and is used widely in the hospice to help staff, children and young people to communicate.

At just £1, tickets are now available for the raffle which raises funds for us. And the winner of the Big Christmas Raffle will certainly glow with Christmas cheer as the top prize is £5,000. Other cash prizes of £250, £100 and £50 are up for grabs. The draw will take place on Friday 14 December, and tickets can be purchased until Friday 7 December. 

Julie Macauley, family liaison at Rainbows, led the session at the Cattle Market shop. She said: “At Rainbows we like to include all of our children and young people in everything we do so quite often, we use Makaton sign language to help them communicate. We thought it would be nice to take Makaton to the community to give people the opportunity to know what it is like to use not just their voices to celebrate Christmas, but also their hands. To see so many people joining in and learning to say Happy Christmas means so much to everyone at Rainbows and we wish everyone luck with the Big Christmas Raffle.”

Last year, the Big Christmas Raffle raised £15,000 for us. Buying a book of tickets could help to fund two days’ worth of oxygen for a child here at Rainbows and two books of raffle tickets worth £20 could help to fund a music therapy.

To buy tickets, contact Gill on 01509 638056, email [email protected], or visit rainbows.co.uk/bigchristmasraffle. Tickets can also be bought in our Rainbows shops.