Happy Henry

TEAM HENRY: Fundraising and the Charities That Carry Us

Fundraising Jun 11, 2026

Behind every video of me smashing a physio goal is an army of people we call TEAM HENRY, and this post is about them.

Why we fundraise

Here's the maths nobody tells you about raising a child with cerebral palsy. Specialist paediatric neurology physiotherapists cost £90–£120 an hour. My intensive courses run for a week at a time, several times a year. My electric chair cost £3,700. Chair side-supports: £732. And I outgrow equipment the way other kids outgrow shoes (6cm in 7 months, at my record).

Mummy and Daddy both work and fund my weekly sessions themselves, but the intensives and the big equipment would be out of reach without help. Our fundraising is run through the charity Just4Children, which means every penny is properly managed (and Gift Aid adds 25% on top 💚).

How we raise it

  • Raffles: organised by my amazing Aunty Jo and Aunty Jen, with prizes donated by dozens of local businesses. One recent raffle added £1,220 to my fund.
  • Race nights: one night raised £394.92, which covers a full day with a specialist intensive physiotherapist. Local businesses sponsor the races for a tenner and get their logo on a 4-metre screen 😂.
  • Sponsored rides and walks: I've ridden my trike in the Rotary Club of Howden Charity Bike Ride (six laps, 3.85km, defeated by a blister), done the school Rudolf Run for Dove House Hospice (told Mummy 10 laps, did more, teacher said I "just wouldn't stop"), and taken on a Mini Triathlon with the Brownlee Foundation and Hymers College. Next up is the Humber Bridge, 2.2km each way.
  • My Uncle Paul runs 10Ks in my honour, and I repay him by shouting encouragement at the top of my considerable voice and giving high fives to every single runner 🖐️.
  • Cash tins and kind strangers: local shops host collection tins, and the staff at our local Triangle BP service station once sent us £38.24 in coins, which made my week.

It all started back in 2021, before this blog even existed, when our wonderful friends Paul and Jo Robinson held a special fundraiser just for me. Paul is better known as The Laughing Gardener (author, plantsman and all-round legend), and he even featured me in one of his books 📚. They raised enough to buy my very first walking frame, the beginning of everything, and we will be grateful to the Robinson family forever 💚.

Me and Paul Robinson, The Laughing Gardener, dressed as matching gnomes
Me and Paul Robinson, The Laughing Gardener, dressed as matching gnomes

I do my bit too: I give it my all when it's my turn to work hard. That's the deal 🥰.

The charities that carry us

Fundraising covers therapy, but we'd be lost without the charities who've stepped in again and again:

  • Just4Children hosts and manages my whole campaign fund (https://just4children.org/happyhenry/).
  • HOPE for Epilepsy supplies my Sleep-Safe anti-suffocation pillows: life-saving kit, delivered super fast, every time I outgrow one 💜.
  • Hull & District Cerebral Palsy Society funded my chair supports, lends families their accessible caravan, and has treated us to Bridlington breaks that became some of our favourite family memories.
  • REMAP Hull & East Yorkshire custom-builds what money can't buy: my treadmill support bar, the lunch-tray attachment for my school walking frame. Bespoke solutions, made by volunteer engineers, free.
  • Newlife funded my mobility scooter and Whizz Kidz my all-terrain pushchair (and an amazing bath-bomb-making day with LUSH).
  • The Rotary Club of Howden helped fund my £3,700 electric chair, and every year they put on the charity bike ride I love taking part in.
  • Barrie Wells Trust Box4Kids gave me a VIP box at an arena show, and Speed of Sight put me behind the wheel of an actual car 🏁.
  • Unique Friends have gifted us theatre and pantomime trips, and we always cheer on Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Dove House Hospice, two causes close to our hearts that I've fundraised for too.

Thank you

A special thank you to the dozens of local businesses who donate raffle prizes and sponsor our race nights, from karting tracks and ice cream parlours to garden centres, accountants and our local football club. We couldn't do any of it without you 🙌.

To everyone who's ever bought a raffle ticket, sponsored a lap, dropped coins in a tin, donated a prize, or just shared a post: you are the reason I can do what the doctors said I couldn't. We will never stop being grateful, and I promise to keep working super hard and to keep showing you exactly what your support achieves 🎉

If you'd like to join TEAM HENRY, you can donate any time at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/happyhenry 💚💜

Tags

Henry