Here we are at the end of Love From Jamie’s second year. This year we have had a focus of getting the charity more into the public domain and raising our profile. With this in mind, we have had fewer larger fundraising events but smaller and longer running events or partnerships. Here is our 2024 roundup.
We were absolutely delighted when Love From Jamie was chosen to be Boogie Beat’s nominated charity for the whole of 2024. Boogie Beat runs nursery workshops and classes for babies and toddlers around Edinburgh, Mid and East Lothian; having around 150 children participating each week. From January right through to December this year 20p from the sale of every ticket bought for a Boogie Beat session has been donated to us at Love From Jamie, what an incredible gesture. We are thrilled to be able to share that this continual fundraiser has not only raised the profile of the charity amongst those attending but has also raised over £1200. A tremendous amount and a heartfelt ‘Thank You’ to everyone involved.
During Jamie’s Journey 2023, Love From Jamie received an incredible gift.
The 31st Pentland Scout Group donated a signed Scotland Rugby shirt to us in the hope we could find a way to use it to raise some funds. What better time to do just that than through the Six Nations Rugby Tournament, we raffled the rugby shirt. As the whistle blew for the start of the first match, the raffle began and ran all through February and March until the final whistle blew to end the last match in the series. Every £5 that someone donated earned them one entry into the raffle: the bigger the donation, the more entries into the raffle! The raffle raised a staggering £730! Well Done to our very worthy winner, Eleanor!
May saw our participation in our first official event of the year. Founder, Martin participated in the Marathon Festival again by running in the 10K event. The atmosphere and crowds were incredible and carried Martin seamlessly around the base of Arthur’s seat and Duddingston Nature Reserve in an hour.
He was extremely well supported and raised a whopping £739!
On the 15th of September a group of 7 
fundraisers walked the Edinburgh Kiltwalk Mighty Stride which was 20.5 miles long.
The group was made up of: Jamie’s wonderful mum, Fiona, Jamie’s Auntie Kirsty and Grandpa, Jim, Alex, Alanna, Leisel and Rosie. The group set off from Holyrood Park at 10am and headed up past Duddingston Loch and then down into town, to Brunstane and then onto NewCraighall. The route crossed the River Esk and followed it round at Stoneybank before turning away in towards Musselburgh. 8 miles in and the route turned off the High Street and out towards 
the Firth of Forth. As the group reached the Links by the sea, with the beautiful blue-sky backdrop, they also reached the 10-mile mark which was also the site of Pit Stop 2 where the group were able to stock up on water and snacks to sustain them! The route then followed along the promenade to Portobello (and into some darker and threatening looking clouds!)
where they were met by a fantastic group of cheerleaders, Jamie’s dad, Martin, his grandma, his Uncle Matt, and cousin Euan which was just the boost that was needed for that early afternoon slump, that and the jelly babies! The route followed to the end of the beach and then turned in 
away from the coast through Seafield and into Leith, which looked beautiful in the mid-afternoon sunshine with blue sky. After walking along Leith Links the route headed North along the Water of Leith, up past Bonnington and into Victoria Park for the final 4 and a half miles. This last section felt like a long slog for the group, walking in a straight line for a mile and a half along the Hawthornvale/Ferry Road Path. With two miles to go the route rounded through Craigleith towards the end point of Roseburn and Murrayfield Stadium. The day was long but the seven were a real support to each other and the Kilties along the way were a special 
encouragement too. A Huge well done to the whole group for finishing, 
particularly to Leisel and Rosie who smashed through the distance in an impressive 6 hours!! The whole group put in a fantastic effort and between the 7 of them raised over £3500!! Huge Congratulations to you all!
Some of our worthy finishers with their medals.
Scottish Enterprise staff held a Halloween themed Bake-Off event on the 31st of October. Everyone was very keen to get involved;
who doesn’t like a sweet treat now and again? There were 20 different types of cakes baked by Fiona and her colleagues. As an incentive, there was Sugar Daddy’s vouchers up for grabs and a big ‘Well Done!’ to Beth from the Enquiries Team, who was voted overall winner by the staff. Purely from a donation box on the day, the event raised an incredible £400 for Love From Jamie! Thank you so much Scottish Enterprise for supporting our special cause.
Love From Jamie’s Trustee, Michael and his fantastic wife, Holly are always looking for ways to fundraise for and raise the profile of the charity. This year they took on the Super Nova 5K. This saw the couple run 5 kilometers cross the Forth Road Bridge at night! Michael and Holly decided to add extra spice to their fundraising efforts by completing the distance dressed in inflatable dinosaur suits! They raised a fantastic £368 for Love From Jamie. Thank you both for your continual support!
Jamie’s Journey returned for 2024. On the 15th of December Martin took on Edinburgh 7 hills in one day as a joint fundraiser for Love Form Jamie and South East Scotland Scouts, of which Martin is the Lead Volunteer. Martin was joined by his fellow scouting volunteer, Mike, who also committed to walking all 7 hills and they were supported along the way by several others as the legs went on.
Leg 1, the longest leg of
the day, saw the duo, joined by another Scout volunteer Graeme, start at Carlton Hill (hill 1), then heading up the Castle Esplanade (hill 2) from there the group headed west along Bread Street and Morrison Street to Corstorphine Road where they, and many other Elliot family members; including Jamie’s grandparents Maria and Alastair, walked up Corstorphine Hill (hill 3) following the path around Edinburgh Zoo to Clermiston Tower. Leg 2 was the shortest leg and the one with the fewest hills. It saw Martin and Mike head south down Kaimes Road towards Stenhouse Drive, Chesser Avenue and through Slateford. Heading up Craiglockhart Road North
the pair continued up to summit Craiglockhart Hill (hill 4). Leg 3 took about 90 minutes. Here Martin and Mike descended Craiglockhart Hill through the former Napier University Campus at Craighouse and heading to Braid Hill (hill 5) from through Greenbank and up Braid Hills Road. After this they walked along Lang Linn Path, crossed the 
Braid Burn and climbed Blackford Hill (hill 6). The final leg saw the guys descend Blackford Hill via the Observatory before heading North East through the town along Blackford Avenue, Mayfield Road, Salisbury Road and Holyrood Park Road up to their final climb; Arthur’s Seat (hill 7).
The weather was cool and windy at the top of all those hills but at least it was dry! In total the walk took the team 6 hours, a terrific achievement, I am sure you’ll agree.
The efforts by Martin and Mike (and Jamie’s Mr Monkey, wearing his special Santa hat!) were sincerely rewarded and at the time of writing, they have raised a terrific £1650 which will be split between Love From Jamie and South East Scotland Scouts.
Martin at the top of hill 7!
Raising our profile has been a priority for us this year. This can be done in lots of ways, through big events or word of mouth. Or perhaps it could be through a bumper sticker! In August, Hannah Chapman did just that as she raced at the British Touring Car Championships. Local racer Hannah was competing in the Mini-Cooper championship and this year she proudly drove around the circuit displaying our Love From Jamie Logo with Jamie helping her to a first victory!
If anyone else would like to promote our charity then please get in touch, we’d love to talk to you about it!
As Love From Jamie has reached its second birthday, we want to say a HUGE ‘Thank You!’ to all our supporters. People have been incredibly generous; financially yes, but also generous with their time. Schedules are hectic, lives are full and there are any number of charities you could support so to choose us is incredibly humbling. This year we have raised more than £9000- a fantastic total I am sure you will agree.
We are extremely proud to share that, thanks to the fundraising efforts of our wonderful supporters, Love From Jamie has been able to help its first few families who are finding things financially challenging after the loss of a child. The legacy of an incredible little boy lives on through these moments and acts of kindness and generosity.
With our love and warmest wishes for the coming year.
