Our irrepressible Junior Ambassador Harmonie-Rose has been at the heart of further fundraising activity for us recently
Harmonie is a member of Baskervilles School of Gymnastics in Bath and was one of over 800 gymnasts taking part in their annual competition, where the club’s five centres compete against each other.
Each gymnast completed a floor routine and vault in front of a judge and a large and enthusiastic audience. It’s the biggest competition the club has hosted to date, with 52 categories according to age and experience split across eight sessions.
Throughout the weekend, the club also ran a series of raffles, raising an impressive £3,202.89 for their nominated charities, Meningitis Now and RUHX, the official charity of the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust. Both charities are close to the Baskervilles community.
Charities the biggest winners
Gymnasts placing first to third on floor and vault received a medal, with the overall first to sixth places receiving a combination of medals and ribbons. All gymnasts also received a participation medal for their hard work and performance on the day.
But the biggest winners were the charities Baskervilles chose to support and here at Meningitis Now we’re certainly grateful to them and of course Harmonie-Rose and her family for their generous donation.
Our Fundraising Officer Claire Ellis said: “As always, we’re really grateful to Harmonie and her family and everyone at Baskervilles for their support with this event. Not only has this raised valuable funds for those fighting back from meningitis, it has also created vital awareness among those potentially at risk from it – thank you.”
Proud of gymnasts
Competition organiser Vicky Baskerville added: “I was so proud of all of the gymnasts who competed this weekend. We were very impressed with the standard of gymnastics on show.
“Baskervilles would like to thank our coaching and judging team who put on a seamless event. We can’t wait until next year.”
Nine-year-old Harmonie first came to our attention in September 2014, when we received a call confirming that a 10-month-old baby had been rushed to Royal United Hospital in Bath with suspected meningitis. A diagnosis was quickly confirmed and it was one that ultimately led to her losing her arms and legs to the disease.
Our founder Steve Dayman rushed to visit Harmonie in the hospital, offering help and support to the family as they dealt with what is every parent’s worst nightmare. “The resilience of the family shone through even at this early stage of their experience,” Steve said. “And within what seems like no time at all, the family was helping the charity in one of its biggest battles – the fight to secure the introduction of a vaccine for MenB, the strain that, ironically, almost took Harmonie's life.”
Feature extensively in campaigns
Helping to secure this lifesaving vaccine marked the start of a journey that would see Harmonie feature extensively across our campaign and awareness activities, including a starring role in the charity’s video to support World Meningitis Day 2018, where she helped viewers to learn the signs and symptoms of the disease.
In recognition of all this we made her our first ever Junior Ambassador in 2020.
Since then, the Bath youngster has proved time and again just how much she can achieve, including winning a Pride of Britain Child of Courage award, and singing with superstar Ed Sheeran.
And last year she became the world’s youngest person to wear microprocessor knees
