Pupils from Wallace High School helped create a new world record last week when they joined thousands of children across the UK in a mass rendition of William Wordsworth’s famous daffodils poem “I wandered lonely as a cloud”.
The fundraising event, entitled “Words Worth Reading,” was organised by Marie Curie Cancer Care and The Wordsworth Trust as part of this month’s Marie Curie Cancer Care Daffodil Campaign 2004. It also marks the bi-centenary of the popular poem, written after Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy saw the famous “host of golden daffodils” on the shore of Ullswater. The Wordsworth Trust, based in Grasmere, Cumbria, provides a living memorial to the life and work of one of England’s greatest poets, and actively promotes the public enjoyment of poetry.
The sky was the limit for this world-first but Marie Curie Cancer Care wanted to attract at least 150,000 pupils for the event because this figure represents the number of lives claimed by cancer in the UK each year. The charity was delighted that this total was well and truly beaten with over a quarter of a million young people, from 1200 schools supporting the Charity, and as a result “Words Worth Reading” will enter the Guinness Book of Records.
Wallace pupils from Primary Six and Seven of the Prep Department, along with Forms One to Three of the Grammar, were asked to make a small donation to the charity and received a daffodil badge in return.
The generous Lisburn children donated a fantastic £406 and are eagerly awaiting the next edition of the Guiness Book of Records.
Organiser of the event, English teacher Miss Heather Gracey, commented, “The atmosphere during the reading was tremendously positive – this terrific event provided a rare opportunity to bring a range of year groups together for a very worthwhile cause.”
Yellow Pages, supporters of the Marie Curie Cancer Care Daffodil Campaign, will be providing £5,000 worth of prizes for the top fundraising schools in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Money raised through ‘Words Worth Reading’ will help fund Marie Curie Cancer Care’ high-quality nursing, which is provided totally free to give terminally ill patients the choice of dying at home supported by their families.
The money raised by Wallace in this innovative event supplements £1765 raised for Marie Curie earlier this year, when Wallace pupils planted a Field of Hope. This month’ Marie Curie Cancer Care Daffodil Campaign has memory as its theme and the charity is urging everyone to wear a daffodil and fundraise during March to help create treasured moments for cancer patients and their loved ones.
With the Charity’ daffodil emblem at the heart of the campaign, the public is being encouraged to dedicate their daffodil to a special memory. Every donation received in return for a daffodil will enable more Marie Curie Nurses to create positive memories for cancer patients and their families.
Last modified: February 24, 2016
