CHARITY
CHRISTMAS SPIRIT FOR KIDS
Thousands of vulnerable children in London woke up to presents last Christmas morning, thanks to the generosity of members of the public and the assistance of Met staff. The Met’s annual Christmas Tree
Appeal saw 17,000 presents donated to children who otherwise may not have had a gift at Christmas. More than £70,000 was raised to buy toys for children who are from low-income
JAY’S WAY TO HELP OFFICERS
Ten-year-old Jay has been a huge fan of the police since he was five years old. His dad is a Leicestershire PC and his mum used to work within the prison service. Jay says that his favourite thing about policing is “literally everything”, but especially “how police officers do so much to help people all of the time, and all the different ways that they do that.” A keen fundraiser, Jay raised more than £5,000 through online auctions and raffles last year for the charity Care Of Police Survivors (COPS), in memory of former Chief Constable Simon Cole. Jay had already started the online auctions when the tragic news of Simon’s death was announced. Affected by the sad news himself, Jay decided to do something positive in Simon’s memory and reached out to his family. Jay and Simon shared a love of rugby, especially the Leicester Tigers, so the families aimed to get as many signed rugby balls and shirts , alongside other sporting items, to add to Jay’s already- impressive online auctions. A plethora of items were donated,
families, in foster care, residential care homes, refuges, or hospitals. Staff from the Met and partners, including local authorities and schools, delivered the toys to children throughout December. Met Christmas Tree Appeal lead, Rebecca Pritchard, said: “On behalf of the Met, I want to thank from the bottom of my heart everyone who donated. You have made a child’s Christmas.”
The appeal is launched each year with the release of a poster, which is always designed by a primary school pupil. This year’s overall winner was seven-year-old Angelique Bass, a pupil at St Barnabas’ Church of England School in Pimlico. Shortly before Christmas, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley personally thanked Angelique and the two runners-up, Daniel Stonebridge, aged 10, and Michel Campana-Roman, aged nine, at New Scotland Yard.
including cricket bats, footballs, F1 gloves, F1 technical drawings, and football and rugby shirts, all of which were signed. The auctions of these items raised thousands of pounds for the charity in Simon’s name. This year marks the 20th
anniversary of COPS. To mark this milestone, Jay plans to undertake a physical task to raise money for the charity, and is planning 20 walks for the 20 years. Most of the walks will be in and around Leicestershire with his parents, his older brother, younger sister, and his autism assistance dog, which is in training.
The 20th walk will be the big one – a trek from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle, which is roughly 20 miles. As well as raising money for COPS, this will be in tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who Jay nicknamed the ‘Big Big Boss’. Jay was very upset when Her Late Majesty passed away, and wore his tunic on the day of her funeral as a mark of respect. He now wants to walk her last journey in memory of her and raise money for those who need it.
Jay said: “It’s important to me to make smiles and hopefully make a small difference.”
Jay’s mum Hayley adds: “We are just very proud of how devoted he is to his fundraising. We have been very lucky to meet some survivors and see the amazing work COPS do. It’s brilliant to see the joy he brings to everyone”.
You can keep up to date with Jay’s fundraising efforts on his Twitter page, @ShortArmOfLaw and donate to Jay’s endeavours here:
www.justgiving.com/ page/accjay-20-walks-for-20th- anniversary
53 | POLICE | FEBRUARY 2023
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