Horsham mum organises online event to raise funds for little boy battling cancer

The event is being organised by Jacqui Walton who runs Baby Sensory - early learning development classes for babies - in Horsham, Dorking and Storrington.

It is to raise money for four-year-old Rupert Murphy who has so far undergone eight rounds of chemotherapy.

Little Rupert and his mum Alice joined Jacqui’s classes in 2016. “Little did she know then that in November 2019 Rupert would be diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and would be fighting for his life at just four years of age,” said Jacqui.

She said Rupert’s friends had been organising a multitude of different fundraising events to raise money for further treatment for Rupert. “Their efforts inspired me and I decided to get involved,” said Jacqui.

She has now organised, with several other businesses who have taken to running classes online during the current lockdown, a ‘Family Festival of Fun for Ru.’

People are being asked to make a donation to attend the virtual event which will feature baby sensory classes, toddler classes, ‘reading fairy’ classes, ‘little notes’ classes and a first aid workshop. Some of the themes include wild west, jungle theme, magic garden and musical dinosaur.

“We have managed to get class leaders involved from Horsham, Crawley, Salisbury, Arun and even Bedfordshire too,” said Jacqui.

“Everyone has joined together to make a difference for Rupert and his family.”

See https://m.facebook.com/events/664645601000822?ref=bookmarks&notif_t=page_event_wall_post

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.