Moving Forwards into 2020

jollyjoshrochdale
Dec 31, 2019
3 min read

Updated: Aug 27, 2020

Moving forward into a New Year is always difficult for us, the further time passes, the more we feel that people expect us to have ‘moved on’ from our grief. This will never be the case, we have come to terms with the fact that we carry this weight of emotional and physical pain, forever. No amount of ‘New Year, New Start’ catchphrases will enable us to overcome being bereaved parents. There’s also an overwhelming sense of heartache that is inflicted in knowing that our life with Joshua, in the physical sense, will forever be stuck in 2016-17 and each New Year brings a sense of fear knowing that we cannot create memories with him. Instead our memories churn in a cycle, repeatedly, year on year, reminiscing the 15 months that we were blessed to have Joshua present.

Comments such as “Well, at least you have your charity now” and “Maybe it was meant to be this way so that you could open Jolly Josh,” are no doubt said without malice but are naïve! I dream of my life before experiencing #childloss, I yearn for Joshua with all my heart and I wish nothing more than for this heartache to be a nightmare which we can wake from. Instead it’s a nightmare in which we have to learn to live in. One which my coping mechanism was to not only focus on being Mummy to Sophie and now Oliver, but to make changes, positive changes for families like ours, to ‘plug the gaps’ in the system. Most people are fortunate to not even realise that such gaps exist, nor to realise the reality of life with a child with #complexmedicalneeds, but I am aware of the challenges and perhaps rather than be angry at the world all of the time, I felt that I could channel some of my grief into making positive changes. And here we are…

2020 is set to be the most incredible year for Joly Josh! We dared to dream big and our dreams are set to come true this coming year, Jolly Josh will have its very own place to call home! We are in the mist of developing a fully inclusive, accessible build, excitingly our venue will include a #ChangingPlace and #hydrotherapypool, our grand plans are becoming a reality!

It is with sincere gratitude that we thank Dan, Director at Kerf, and Pete, Director at PGC, for believing in our vision and providing the support to enable this huge development for our charity.

In addition, we’d also like to thank everyone who has helped/pledged to help us as we embark on this venture. You are all #keytooursuccess

We ask for your continued support in fundraising which is now key to our success in order for us to develop the build and to provide further support to those with disabilities and profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), their families and carers.

It is with pride that we can share the news that our build has begun, these photographs show the work in progress, our place to call home is taking shape! If you’d like to donate to support the build of our venue please find details here https://www.jollyjosh.co.uk/donate-fundraise or email fundraising@JollyJosh.co.uk You can be Key to Our Success!

Thank you so much

Happy New Year, wishing you all the best for 2020!

Carole x