Tuesday 29 September 2015

Brave Keven faces his ultimate fear to raise money for his disabled daughter at Wildwood

  

Brave Keven faces his ultimate fear to raise money for his disabled daughter at Wildwood

Keven Gabriel faces his fears at Wildwood

Wildwood Trust, the British wildlife park and conservation charity came to the rescue this week to help a terror-stricken father face his ultimate fear in order to raise money for his disabled daughter.

Keven Gabriel , from Ramsgate, got in touch with the wildlife park in a bid to boost his fundraising efforts to help his 13 year old daughter Eleanor, who suffers from muscular dystrophy. After watching Eleanor battle bravely with the condition her whole life, Keven decided to match her courage and face his biggest fear; a crippling phobia of bees.

Keven, who believes that his phobia (called apiphobia) stems from being stung as a young child, has lived with an acute fear of the flying insects for as long as he can remember. His fear has stopped him from enjoying his love of nature and is a major challenge to Keven whenever he needs to be outdoors; be it in his personal or professional life.

But inspired by his brave daughter Eleanor; Keven decided to face the ultimate challenge and contacted Wildwood to see if they could help.  Hearing about his quest to raise money for Eleanor’s care, the Wildwood team leapt at the chance to help and invited Keven to come along and become a beekeeper for a day. Under the watchful eye of the park’s own resident beekeeper, John Holmes, Keven faced his fears by opening the hives to carry out a range of checks amongst tens of thousands of resident bees.  Keven said “Eleanor has been so brave throughout her life and has faced so many challenges, what I did today was terrifying but it does not compare to Eleanor’s bravery.”

At just 13 years old, Eleanor is completely wheelchair bound due to muscular dystrophy; a hereditary condition which causes progressive weakening and wasting of the muscles.  Both of her hips have become dislocated and she in constant pain. Her only option for exercise and pain relief is hydrotherapy but the current lack of accessible failicities mean that the family desperately needs to build their own hydrotherapy pool to allow Eleanor the minimum of 4 sessions a week that her doctors recommend. The pool would also benefit Eleanor’s mum, Zara who also has muscular dystrophy and her brother Daniel who is autistic.

Keven’s day at Wildwood raised an amazing £500 towards the pool; making bringing the total raised so far to £2,500 with a further £2,000 needed to complete the project. Wildwood’s Trusts & Foundations Manager, Jo Sage said “We were delighted to help Keven and are thrilled at the money that has been raised. We have recently been working to educate people about bees, so by helping Keven we hope we can show people not to fear, but to admire our wonderful bees.”

Keven is still raising funds to complete the project, if you would like to donate to help Eleanor you can donate at: www.gofundme.com/EllesAngels

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CONTACT
Wildwood Trust: +44(0)1227 712 111

Fiona Paterson – fiona@wildwoodtrust.org

Wildwood Trust, Herne Common, Herne Bay, Nr Canterbury, Kent CT6 7L

Registered Charity No. 1093702

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EDITOR'S NOTES​
Wildwood Trust opened in 1999 as a centre of excellence for the conservation of British wildlife, and was established as a registered charity in 2002. Wildwood is Kent's best British wildlife park. Home to over 200 native animals, past and present and set in 40 acres of beautiful ancient woodland, see wolves, bison, deer, owls, foxes, red squirrels, wild boar, lynx, wild horses, badgers and beavers plus many more. As one of the leading British animal conservation charities in the UK Wildwood Trust is dedicated to saving Britain's most threatened wildlife. Wildwood Trust have taken part  in many ground-breaking conservation programmes to date, which include, saving the water vole, using wild horses to help restore Kent's most precious nature reserves, bringing the extinct European beaver back to Britain and returning the hazel dormouse & red squirrel to areas where they have been made extinct.

 

Fiona Paterson
Wildwood Trust

Email: fiona@wildwoodtrust.org – Tel:  01227 712111

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Wednesday 2 September 2015

Bee Weekender events at Wildwood

 
 
   
 
 
Bee Weekender at Wildwood
 
Bee Weekender at Wildwood
Buzz on down to Wildwood for our brilliant bee-themed weekend with loads of free events and activities.
 
 

Wildwood Bee Weekender:

 

Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th Sept 10am - 4pm

Bee events

Buzz along to Wildwood this weekend for loads of brilliant bee-themed activities.

 

Wildwood is actively working to promote public awareness of the plight of our bees and to inspire people to help them thrive.

 

Our brilliant bee-weekender, which has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, is full of fun activities for the whole family. Learn all about the fascinating world of bees and beekeeping and discover how you can help bees, even if you don't have a garden.

 
Amazing FREE-BEE events
 
  • Kids' craft sessions (11.30am and 2pm)
  • Make your own Bee Hotel
  • Honey Tasting
  • Bee-friendly gardening advice
  • Free flower seeds
  • Visit our beehives
  • Learn about bumblebees
  • Meet our bee experts
  • Bee-friendly plants for sale
 
Bee weekender
Wildwood Bee Weekender - Sat 5th & Sun 6th September. 10am - 4pm
 

No need to book, just come along and get involved

 
 
   
From the Wildwood Team Tel: 01227 712 111
Wildwood Trust  
Herne Common, Herne Bay www.wildwoodtrust.org
Kent CT6 7LQ  
Registered charity no. 1093702  
 
Please note that Wildwood membership or entry fees apply to enter the park. Events are subject to weather conditions. Giveaway items are subject to availability and are on a first-come-first-served basis.

Unsubscribe
from all Wildwood Trust email communications

Bee Weekender events at Wildwood

 
 
   
 
 
Bee Weekender at Wildwood
 
Bee Weekender at Wildwood
Buzz on down to Wildwood for our brilliant bee-themed weekend with loads of free events and activities.
 
 

Wildwood Bee Weekender:

 

Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th Sept 10am - 4pm

Bee events

Buzz along to Wildwood this weekend for loads of brilliant bee-themed activities.

 

Wildwood is actively working to promote public awareness of the plight of our bees and to inspire people to help them thrive.

 

Our brilliant bee-weekender, which has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, is full of fun activities for the whole family. Learn all about the fascinating world of bees and beekeeping and discover how you can help bees, even if you don't have a garden.

 
Amazing FREE-BEE events
 
  • Kids' craft sessions (11.30am and 2pm)
  • Make your own Bee Hotel
  • Honey Tasting
  • Bee-friendly gardening advice
  • Free flower seeds
  • Visit our beehives
  • Learn about bumblebees
  • Meet our bee experts
  • Bee-friendly plants for sale
 
Bee weekender
Wildwood Bee Weekender - Sat 5th & Sun 6th September. 10am - 4pm
 

No need to book, just come along and get involved

 
 
   
From the Wildwood Team Tel: 01227 712 111
Wildwood Trust  
Herne Common, Herne Bay www.wildwoodtrust.org
Kent CT6 7LQ  
Registered charity no. 1093702  
 
Please note that Wildwood membership or entry fees apply to enter the park. Events are subject to weather conditions. Giveaway items are subject to availability and are on a first-come-first-served basis.

Unsubscribe
from all Wildwood Trust email communications