A young girl from Oldham has successfully completed a five-mile scooter ride this week to raise money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
Freya McKechnie wanted to do something to thank “the place that took Millie’s tubes away”.
After her “special new friend” Millie was transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool shortly after being born to receive life-saving treatment, the five-year-old from Delph in Saddleworth decided she wanted to say thank you in her own special way.
So she set out on a mission to ride her scooter for five miles – one mile for every year of her age.
With a little help from her mum Jenny – who is the best friend of Millie’s mum – Freya first put out an appeal for donations to her charity scooter ride on social media, with a beautifully hand-written poster reading: “I am raising money for Alder Hey who looked after my friend Millie. I’m going to ride my scooter for five miles on 22nd December.
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“Please, please can you give me some money.”
“Miracle baby” Millie – who was born at North Manchester Hospital – is now nine weeks old and is spending Christmas at home with her family in Middleton.
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Her mother Jenni Burrows-Maynard relived the unfolding drama after her baby’s birth, explaining: “Millie was struggling to breathe. I then haemorrhaged and lost over a litre of blood [so] she was taken to ICU and was intubated, but despite [staff] doing all they could, they didn’t have the facilities to help Millie and she had had limited oxygen for a prolonged period, which could impact on her neurological functionality.
“Her only option was ECMO – extracorpóreal membrane oxygenation – also known as extracorporeal life support (ECLS).
“It is an extracorporeal technique of providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to persons whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of gas exchange or perfusion to sustain life.
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“Eight hours hours after Millie was born she was transported to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool and was on ECMO for six days. Once she was weaned off ECMO and stable she was then transferred Royal Oldham Hospital where she spent three weeks in their neonatal intensive care unit and then their nursery.
“She was discharged initially with a feeding tube, but now she is a healthy and chatty baby.”
Freya’s mum Jenny McKechnie added: “Freya’s not daft, she knew something was wrong and she’s followed all my texts and calls with Millie’s mum.
“When she found out people had been raising money on Millie behalf, she wanted to do the same.”
After being inspired to help, Freya admitted she’d “quite like to raise one hundred million pennies” for hospital staff, but her mum said they would be “eternally grateful” to anyone who is able to donate “a couple of quid”.
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Jenny set up a PayPal account to securely accept donations, as well as taking personal contributions from people they knew.
Her friends and family also chipped in by holding raffles and fundraisers.
And so this past Tuesday, Freya set off on her scooter from her home in Delph to Uppermill, riding past her school and then back home again – a distance of around five miles – and has managed to raise a whopping £800 and counting for the worthy cause.
Millie’s mother said: “Freya is an amazing little girl and a wonderful friend to Millie already – what she is doing is wonderful.”
This is just brilliant.
If you would like to donate to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital via Freya’s fundraiser, you can do so here.
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PrettyLittleThing founder marries model in star-studded £20m wedding
Daisy Jackson
The founder of Manchester fashion brand PrettyLittleThing, Umar Kamani, has married his model love in a lavish four-day wedding celebration.
The entrepreneur married Nada Adelle in the south of France in a glittering event reportedly costing £20m.
Among the guests were a-listers like Naomi Campbell, Anthony Joshua, and Rio Ferdinand, with performances from Mariah Carey and Ronan Keating.
Umar, originally from Manchester, also invited fellow Mancs like all three Thomas brothers Ryan, Scott and Adam, and fellow entrepreneur Steven Bartlett.
The stunning wedding took place three years after the happy couple announced their engagement (he proposed with a diamond ring worth £1.45m).
Umar, 36, co-founded online fashion giant PrettyLittleThing with his brother Adam. His bride Nada, 31, is a model.
And while he’s famed for creating affordable fashion, this wedding leaned the other way – Nada wore an haute couture Dior gown designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri, which took 540 hours to make.
The PrettyLittleThing founder’s wedding kicked off with a poolside welcome party where all guests dressed in white.
Then came a black tie wedding celebration, where Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sang The Prayer as Nada walked down the aisle.
The reception that followed took place inside a huge ballroom, where Mariah Carey sang several of her biggest hits to delighted guests.
On the third day of the wedding, it was time for the traditional Indian wedding celebration, Nada this time dressed in a sparkling gown in contrast to her more simple Dior dress.
And guests were treated to a barbecue on Sunday before heading home from France.
Mariah Carey performing at the Kamani wedding. Credit: Instagram, Lucy MecklenburghScott Thomas shared a glimpse into the lavish black tie wedding reception of PrettyLittleThing founder Umar KamaniAndrea Bocelli performing at the Kamani wedding. Credit: Instagram, Ryan ThomasAdam Kamani’s sweet message to his brother and PrettyLittleThing co-founder Umar on his wedding day
Many of the celebrity guests have been sharing snaps from the big day(s), including Scott Thomas, who wrote: “There is nothing quite like a Kamani Wedding. Congratulations @umarkamani @nadakamani. Memories for a lifetime…”
Umar’s brother and PrettyLittleThing co-founder Adam also shared a sweet message from the wedding, writing: “Walking down the aisle to see you at the end of it stood there so handsome and strong before you got married. A feeling i can’t describe. I really am so proud of you. Love you so much @umarkamani.”
Naomi Campbell posted: “My chosen family ! Would not want to be anywhere else than with you on this day , TO WITNESS THIS BEAUTIFUL UNION OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE MR&MRSKAMANI WE LOVE YOU !!”
The supermodel icon also described it as a ‘divine weekend of love’.
The player celebrations from Stockport County’s League Two trophy presentation are glorious
Danny Jones
If you’re a Stockport County fan, you’ve had a very good year as the Hatters have just been crowned League Two champions and will be back in the English third tier next season – safe to say they’ve been making most of the trophy celebrations.
Players and staff very much included.
Edgeley was filled with flares and even people climbing on rooftops when they officially secured promotion back to League One for the first time in 12 years – the second time they’ve managed to go up in three seasons – and there was a great attendance in Stockport town centre for the bus parade.
But it was last week’s trophy presentation back at the stadium that produced some of the most memorable scenes, with County topping off a season of impressive and often high-scoring performances on the pitch with plenty more pageantry. Cue the music.
— Stockport (C)ounty (@StockportCounty) May 3, 2024
No one ever takes those pitch invasion ‘warnings’ seriously – not even the players.
We still haven’t stopped laughing at Kyle Knoyle.
From bringing Isaac Olaofe’s ‘Tanto’s on fire!’ chant to life to hammering home puns on names like Fraser Horsfall, no matter how obvious, these are the kind of deeply unserious celebrations we expect from a trophy presentation.
County fan or not, you’ve got to admit it looks like a good party.
It’s moments like these that players, fans and staff work hard all season for; to prat around like muppets in front of their adoring supporters. They even got assistant coach, Clint Hill, in the mix and, as it turns out, he proved to be one of the biggest ring-leaders.
We sincerely hope the Hatters keep trickling out more of these party scenes as we know there’s plenty more that fans would love to watch back.
We’re still yet to see captain Paddy Madden, who won Player of the Month for April, and the gaffer himself, Dave Challinor, who has comfortably secured his legacy as one of the club’s all-time greats.
Challinor and the club have made no secret of seriously eyeing up the Championship and who knows what else at County’s momentum continues to build, especially with a huge stadium redevelopment kicking off soon.
What do you reckon, Hatters – do you reckon a third promotion could be on the cards?