Tag: Sunflowers4Emil

The Big Sunflower Project 2021

thebigsunflowerproject
This time last year, I called time on the The Big Sunflower Project with a heavy heart. My little awareness project had got huge and the demand for seeds, applying for funding and distributing seeds all by myself, was at times overwhelming. However, as 2021 got underway, people began to contact me to say they still wanted to take part in the project and they were happy to buy their own seeds or plant seeds they had harvested. I could not have been more happy.

Sunflower and butterfly.
2021 was the eleventh year of The Big Sunflower Project. Participants old and new joined the project and some truly beautiful photos were shared on social media to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy.

Sunflowers grown in Chester.

If you took part in the project this year, thank you so very much, I hope you enjoyed growing your sunflowers as much I enjoyed looking at your photos and being part of the project community of sunflower growers. To date participants have joined the project from across the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the USA, Costa Rica, Argentina, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Croatia, Hungary, Sweden, Austria, Lithuania, Greece, Poland and in a first for the project this year, the Middle East.

Sunflowers growing in Lubeck.

Raising awareness

The aim of The Big Sunflower Project is to raise awareness of the rare neuromuscular conditions known as centronuclear and myotubular myopathy. One of the ways the project does this is by sharing photos, another by sharing participants stories on the project website and on social media. If you have grown sunflowers with the project this year and would be willing to share your story to help raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy, please get in touch. You can read stories from past projects below.

If you grew sunflowers this summer but have not shared any photos it is not too late and these can still be shared on the project social media channels.

If you would like to learn about centronuclear and myotubular myopathy, you can read about the conditions below.

The Big Sunflower Project 2022

Could you grow a sunflower to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy? Taking part  is easy.

1. Buy a packet of sunflower seeds.
2. Plant a seed in a sunny spot, water regularly and watch it grow.
3. Take a photo of your sunflower and share it on social media using #TheBigSunflowerProject.

If you have never grown a sunflower before but would like to give it a go, you can learn how below.

Sunflowers growing in Bawu.

Toni
December 2021

Further information

Want to learn more about The Big Sunflower Project? Further information about the project can be found on the project website and on the social media pages.

Sunflowers growing in Chester.

The Big Sunflower Project 2020 (end of year report)

thebigsunflowerproject

2020 was the tenth year of The Big Sunflower Project with people taking part in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Greece, the USA, Australia and the Philippines.

sussed-6

As always schools and nurseries received seeds. Other recipients included home educating families, children learning from home due to coronavirus, schools that remained open to the children of key workers, NHS hospitals and medical centres, brownies, a horticultural society, a charity that supports people recovering from homelessness and addiction, an allotment project for children and adults with additional support needs, a charity which works with people who have learning disabilities and a residential home for older people with dementia. This year seeds and small plants were also given away in our local neighbourhood to spread a little happiness during a time in which happiness has been in short supply.

meine-ernte-1

Project map

This year 251 places were plotted on the project map which can be seen below – click a sunflower to learn more about the people growing sunflowers in that location.

In the news

The project received some lovely publicity over the last twelve months which can be read below and we are incredibly grateful to those who have taken the time to write about what we do.

We are also grateful to all the Clinical Commissioning Groups that promoted the project to their staff and on social media at the beginning of the year.

nish-2

The Blakemore Foundation

In August, we were delighted to learn that we were to receive a £100 donation from the Blakemore Foundation, a charitable trust established by the Blakemore family to support good causes across A.F. Blakemore’s trading area (including the SPAR trading area.) Funding such as this is crucial to the work of The Information Point and The Big Sunflower Project, so we are hugely grateful to the Blakemore Foundation for their support.

marie-4

Photos

Over 750 photos were received from 69 participants this year. Every photo received was posted on social media to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy and these can be viewed below.

stockport-home-educators-11

All photos received are shared on our website and social media pages and are really important to us, as they help raise awareness of the project and of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy. They also help evidence the impact of our work.

If you grew sunflowers this summer but have not yet sent photos it is not too late and we would still love to see these. Photos can be sent by email or shared on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using #TheBigSunflowerProject.

emily-1

Harvesting sunflower seeds

After a sunflower has flowered, its seeds can be harvested for planting again the following year. A single seed planted in the spring can produce many seeds in the autumn and these can be extracted from the seed head once a sunflower has dried out. Want to try saving your own seeds? You can learn how here on the project website.

jen-and-holger-10

Share your story

Each year we ask people who have taken part in The Big Sunflower Project to share their story. The stories help us to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy and again help when we apply for funding. You can read stories from previous projects below.

If you have grown sunflowers with the project this year and would be willing to write your story too, please get in touch.

tinsley-70

This year the project celebrated its 10th anniversary – it has been a very different year to the one anticipated but we hope if you took part, you enjoyed growing your sunflowers and that they brought a little sunshine into the lives of those who grew the sunflowers and those who saw the photos.

Further information

Further information about the project can be found on here on the project website and on the project social media pages.

The Big Sunflower Project 2020 (mid year report)

thebigsunflowerproject

2020 is the tenth year of The Big Sunflower Project and a milestone event for the little project, which originally was only meant to last for one year.

Sunflowers growing in wellington boots.

Obviously, no one expected the coronavirus situation and in March seed distribution was suspended.  We tentatively re-started in April and during late April and early May, were able to get some final batches of seeds safely in the post. Recipients included children currently home from school, schools that remained open to the children of key workers, a charity that supports people recovering from homelessness and addiction, a specialist worker for the Early Help and Prevention Service, an allotment project for children and adults with additional support needs, Enable Scotland (a charity which works with people who have learning disabilities), a residential home for older people with dementia and a hospital caring for a child with myotubular myopathy.

Sunflowers growing at Westminster Primary school in Ellesmere Port.

Our intention at the beginning of the year had been to distribute 300 packets of seeds and we now know of over 290 people participating in the UK, on the Isle of Man, France, Greece, Germany, Sweden,  Australia and the Philippines, so we are feeling a tiny bit proud of ourselves for getting so close to our target at this difficult time. 238 places are currently plotted on the project map which can be viewed below. Click anywhere on the map to open it up and click a sunflower to learn about the people growing sunflowers in a particular location.  If you are growing sunflowers but cannot see yourself on the map, please ask to be added. As always, we wholeheartedly welcome anyone who grows sunflowers to take part in the project, even if they did not obtain their sunflower seeds from us.

In addition to posting seeds out, seeing as we had been thrown a curve ball, we decided to do a few things differently this year too.

Earlier in the year the project received a large donation of vegetable seeds. During the first three months of the year, these were sent together with sunflower seeds, to anyone who applied to the project and advised they had an allotment or stated they wanted seeds for a gardening club but from late April onwards, we began to give away our sunflower and vegetable seeds locally and we planted dwarf sunflowers, peas, cucumbers and runner beans and gave small plants away too.

Box containing free plants.

Secondly, we decided to send seeds to schools we knew were still open for the children of key workers.  We thought being a small person with all this chaos going on right now, together with not being able to be with your friends and watching your parents go off to work each day must be quite a scary time, so decided to send a few surprise packages to schools, in the hope it would bring some cheer, make the children feel a bit special and give them something to look forward to – hopefully staff and parents would get some enjoyment from seeing the sunflowers too. It has been very lovely to hear from some of the schools and other recipients that the seeds and plants have been well received

Jen and Holger planting sunflower seeds.

ZNM-Zusammenstark! e.v. 

This year the project is once again being joined by ZNM-Zusammenstark! e.v.  growing sunflowers in memory of Emil, who was diagnosed with myotubular myopathy and sadly passed away in 2016.  Founded in 2015, ZNM-Zusammenstark! e.v. is a German association for those affected by centronuclear and  myotubular myopathy. Visit their website to read what they have to say about being part of The Big Sunflower Project.

Jade bear at Tinsley Meadows Primary school watering his sunflowers.

In the news

The project has received some lovely publicity this year which can be read below and we are incredibly grateful to those who have taken the time to write about what we do.

Sunflowers growing at Spitalfields Crypt.

Resources

If you are  using your sunflower seeds for educational purposes, fundraising events or would like to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy at the place where you are growing your sunflowers, you can download flyers from the resources area of the website. You will also find resources for teaching children and to start conversations about equality and diversity.

Make a donation

The Big Sunflower Project is an initiative of The Information Point for Centronuclear and Myotubular Myopathy. The aim of the project is to raise awareness of the rare neuromuscular conditions known as centronuclear and myotubular myopathy, by sending seeds to people who have never heard of the conditions and requesting photos in return, which are shared in the Information Point newsletter and on the project social media pages, again raising awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy. There is no charge for project seeds or the cost of postage, the project does however, welcome donations to ensure the future of the project and to enable seeds to be sent to as many people as possible each year. If you have donated for your seeds, thank you. If you would like to donate, you can learn more about how to do this below.

Our friends

This year project seeds have been donated by Thompson and Morgan and Tamar Organics. Seeds were also donated by Mike Rogers, Linda Fowler and Flower Power Lymo who grew sunflowers during the 2019 project and saved their seeds.

We are also grateful to everyone who has donated to The Big Sunflower Project since 2011, enabling us to celebrate our 10th anniversary.  You can read about these people below.

Looking forward to seeing everyone’s sunflower photos over the summer. Until then  stay safe everyone.

Sunflowers planted in Birkenhead.

Further information

Further information about the project can be found on The Big Sunflower Project website and on social media, where photos can be shared using #TheBigSunflowerProject. Use #centronuclear, #centronuclearmyopathy, #myotubular and #myotubularmyopathy to help raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy too.

The Big Sunflower Project 2019 (end of year report)

thebigsunflowerproject

2019 was the ninth year of The Big Sunflower Project. This year seeds were sent across the UK and to The Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, Lithuania and Germany and sunflowers were also grown in Canada, the USA and Argentina. For the third time the project was joined by people growing sunflowers in memory of Emil, who was diagnosed with myotubular myopathy and sadly passed away in 2016.  And for the first time sunflowers were grown in Australia, for George who has myotubular myopathy.

Sunflower growing season is now over in the UK but if you are in a part of the world about to get its summer, please consider buying a packet of seeds and growing a sunflower to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy, we would love to continue receiving sunflower photos over the winter months.

Sunflowers grown in Harpenden.

The Big Sunflower Project is only possible because of the kindness of the  organisations who support our work with donations, discounts, funding and publicity. Sunflower seeds for The Big Sunflower Project 2019 were provided by Kings Seeds, who provided 300 packets of seeds at a large discount.

Seeds were also donated by people who harvested seeds from sunflowers they grew during the 2018 project – thank you Katrin, Mike and the University of Leicester Social Impact team. In addition the project received a £200 donation from Cheshire West Voluntary Action, a £150 donation from Sanctuary Housing and a donation of stamps from project participant Sue.

The Big Sunflower Project was also recently featured in the Liverpool Echo and we are grateful to Semble and the Liverpool Echo for making this happen.  You can read the article below.

donna-7

Project map

This year 300 places were plotted on the project map which can be seen below – click a sunflower to learn more about the people growing sunflowers in that location.

Photos

Over 700 photos were received from 81 participants this year. Every photo received was posted on social media to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy. Photos from the 2019 project can be found below.

toni-66

Stories

Thank you to every one who shared their story with the project this year.  The new stories can be found below.

Participant stories are incredibly important as they show the reach and impact of the project. If you would like to share your story too, please get in touch.

timelapse-5

Harvesting sunflower seeds

Don’t forget that if you have grown a sunflower this year you can save the seeds for growing next year or you can donate these to the project for others to grow. You can learn how to harvest your sunflower seeds below.

donna-11

Make a donation

There is no charge for project seeds or the cost of postage, the project does however, welcome donations to ensure the future of the project and to enable seeds to be sent to as many people as possible each year. If you have donated for your seeds, thank you – if you like to donate you can learn more about how to do this below.

The Big Sunflower Project 2020

Preparations are already underway for The Big Sunflower project 2020. This is a milestone year for the project as it will be the tenth year we have grown sunflowers to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy.  You can read below how the project began.

100 packets of seeds have already been donated by Thompson and Morgan and  seeds will shortly be arriving from Tamar Organics and Grow Seed.  Harvested seeds from 2019 project participants are also promised.

We have also been able to obtain discounted postage stamps for 2020.  Stamps are a major expense for the project and if we were say to send seeds to 300 people during the year, at current prices (83p for a large second class stamp) this would cost £249.00. Stamps for the 2020 project have been purchased with a discount of between 8 – 12% so is a massive saving which we will now be able to use elsewhere – thank you to Mike Abram for all his hard work sorting this for the project.

Next year we will once again be joined by our friends Zusammenstark, growing sunflowers for Emil. You can learn more about their involvement on their website below.

julia-1

Further information

Further information about the project can be found on here on the project website and on the project social media pages.

Seed distribution for The Big Sunflower Project will begin again in early 2020. An announcement will be made on social media advising when seed applications are once again being accepted.

The Big Sunflower Project 2019 (mid year report)

thebigsunflowerproject

2019 is the ninth year of The Big Sunflower Project. This year seeds have been sent across the UK and to The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Lithuania and Germany. For the third time the project is being joined by people growing sunflowers in memory of Emil, who was diagnosed with myotubular myopathy and sadly passed away in 2016.  And for the first time sunflowers have been grown in Australia for George who has myotubular myopathy, meaning the project has received some beautiful sunflower photos this year already.

Sunflower grown in Australia.

About The Big Sunflower Project

The Big Sunflower Project is an initiative of The Information Point for Centronuclear and Myotubular Myopathy. The aim of the project is to raise awareness of the rare neuromuscular conditions known as centronuclear and myotubular myopathy, by sending seeds to people who have never heard of the conditions and requesting photos in return, which are shared in the Information Point newsletter and on the project social media pages, again raising awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy.

Planting sunflower seeds.

How the project is funded

The Big Sunflower Project is only possible because of the kindness of those who support our work with donations, discounts and funding. Sunflower seeds for The Big Sunflower Project 2019 have been provided by Kings Seeds, who provided 300 packets of seeds at a large discount. Seeds have also be donated by people who grew sunflowers during the 2018 project and harvested the seeds – thank you Katrin, Mike and the University of Leicester Social Impact team. In addition the project has received a £200 donation from Chester West Voluntary Action.

Project map

283 places are currently plotted on the project map which can be viewed below. Click anywhere on the map to open it up and click a sunflower to learn about the people growing sunflowers in a particular location.  If you are growing sunflowers but cannot see yourself on the map, please ask to be added.

Resources

Information about how to grow sunflowers can be found on the project website.

And if you are  using your sunflower seeds for educational purposes, fundraising events or would like to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy at the place where you are growing your sunflowers, you can download flyers from the resources area of the website. You will also find resources for teaching children and to start conversations about equality and diversity.

Newly planted sunflowers,

Make a donation

There is no charge for project seeds or the cost of postage, the project does however, welcome donations to ensure the future of the project and to enable seeds to be sent to as many people as possible each year. If you have donated for your seeds, thank you. If you would like to donate, you can learn more about how to do this below.

Sunflowers being planted in Germany.

Further information

Further information about the project can be found on The Big Sunflower Project website and on social media, where photos can be shared using #TheBigSunflowerProject. Use #centronuclear, #centronuclearmyopathy, #myotubular and #myotubularmyopathy to help raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy too.

 

A year in the life: 19 December 2018

thebigsunflowerproject

Earlier this year, I decided to write about my sunflower growing year. The UK had a fabulous hot summer, my sunflowers grew amazingly well, there was much to write about and many photos to share … I love it when a plan comes together.

To end my ‘year in the life’ posts I thought I would write a short review of the year and highlight a few of my favourite things from 2018 (soon you won’t be able to get away from reviews of the year, so I’m getting mine in first). If you haven’t seen it already, please also take a look at the project end of year report.

2018 was the eighth year of the project. The seeds that were sent to participants were purchased from Thompson and Morgan, at a large discounted price, with money donated to the project in 2017. Seed donations were also received from Mark Davies Seeds, Just Seed, The Real Seed Collection and L G Seeds.  Support such as this is crucial to the survival of the project and I really cannot say thank you enough to everyone for their generosity, which has enabled the project to continue as long as it has.

The aim of The Big Sunflower Project is to raise awareness of the rare neuromuscular conditions known as centronuclear and myotubular myopathy, so I was over the moon to have people once again growing sunflowers in memory of Emil, who was diagnosed with myotubular myopathy and passed away in 2016.  You can read more about Emil here on the project website.

Emil's birthday invite.

This year the project also welcomed the family and friends of Marius in Austria. An email arrived in early April requesting seeds, explaining that Marius was born in August 2017 and diagnosed with myotubular myopathy. The family wanted to grow sunflowers in the hope that Marius would see them when he  hopefully came home from hospital.

Marius and sunflowers.

Seeds from Austria.

They went on to grow sunflowers, take photos and save their sunflower seeds, which will now be distributed to participants in The Big Sunflower Project 2019. You can view photos of the sunflowers that were grown in Austria on the project Flickr page.

This year the NeuroMuscular Centre in Cheshire also participated and were enthusiastic supporters on social media. Based in Cheshire, the charity supports people across the UK and sometimes further afield, providing physiotherapy, training and employment to people with muscular dystrophy. I was delighted to have them take part and to be able to share their story on the project website.

Sunflower

In July, I attended the Myotubular Trust and Zusammen Stark! family conference in London for people affected by centronuclear and myotubular myopathy. You can read about the conference below.

It was amazing to hear about the incredible advances in research into centronuclear and myotubular myopathy but also really quite lovely to walk into the venue and see balloon sunflowers everywhere. Thank you Myotubular Trust and Zusammen Stark! It was a truly thoughtful thing to do and my little heart wanted to burst at the sight of them.

Balloon sunflower

Balloon sunflowers

Balloon sunflowers.

Finally, this year, I was so happy to have my old school, Oldfield Primary School in Chester, take part in the project.  The school is just a hop, skip and a jump from my childhood home. It is also where I went as a brownie and girl guide and this year my old guide leader, now a Governor at another primary school in Cheshire, also participated in the project with her school. It was particularly special to have both schools involved and to see how well their sunflowers grew.

Sunflower grown by pupil at Oldfield primary school.
Sunflowers grown at Westminster Primary School, Ellesmere Port.

So, just a few of my favourite things from The Big Sunflower Project 2018 but thank you to everyone who took part in the project this year.

Seed distribution for the 2019 project will begin in early 2019 and I look forward to growing sunflowers again with anyone who wants to join me then.

The Big Sunflower Project 2018 (end of year report)

thebigsunflowerproject

2018 was the eighth year of The Big Sunflower Project. Seeds were sent to places across the UK and people also took part in Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, Croatia, the USA, New Zealand and Costa Rica. For the second time the project was also joined by many people growing sunflowers in memory of Emil, who was diagnosed with myotubular myopathy and sadly passed away in 2016. 

Sunflower growing season is now over in the UK but if you have sunflowers waiting to bloom, you can still share your photos. And if you are in a part of the world about to get its summer, please consider buying a packet of seeds and growing a sunflower to raise awareness of centronuclear and myotubular myopathy, it would be lovely to continue receiving sunflower photos over the winter months.

Sunflowers

The Big Sunflower Project is only possible because of the kindness of the organisations who support our work with donations, discounts and funding. Sunflower seeds for The Big Sunflower Project 2018 were provided by the following organisations

Growing sunflowers in Shetland.

Grassroots Giving

The aim of The Big Sunflower Project is to raise awareness of the rare neuromuscular conditions known as centronuclear and myotubular myopathy. The project raises awareness by sending seeds to people who have never heard of the conditions and requesting photos and stories in return, which are posted online, again raising awareness of the conditions.

The Big Sunflower Project recently took part in the Skipton Building Society Grassroots Giving initiative to try and win funds to help with our work. Over 740 applications were received from community groups, clubs and organisations across the UK and we were over the moon to be shortlisted to be one of the groups to win £500.

In order to fairly allocate the 165 pots of money that were up for grabs, the Skipton Building Society asked the public to say who they wanted to receive the funding. 50,000 votes were cast for the shortlisted groups and sadly we did not win. However, if you voted, thank you very much.

The Big Sunflower Project is a non profit group run on a voluntary basis, so funding such as this is crucial to what we do. However we will continue to seek out funding opportunities over the coming months.

Watering sunflowers.

Project map

This year 324 places were plotted on the project map which can be seen below – click a sunflower to learn more about the people growing sunflowers in that location.

​Photos

Over 800 photos were received from 114 participants this year. Photos from the 2018 project can be found below.

Sunflower

Stories

The project website now has a large collection of stories from past participants – if you would like to share your story too, please get in touch.

Sunflower

Make a donation

There is no charge for project seeds or the cost of postage, the project does however, welcome donations to ensure the future of the project and to enable seeds to be sent to as many people as possible each year. If you have donated for your seeds, thank you – if you like to donate you can learn more about how to do this below.

Sunflower

Harvesting sunflower seeds

Don’t forget that if you have grown a sunflower this year you can save the seeds for growing next year or you can donate these to the project for others to grow.  You can learn how to harvest sunflower seeds below.

Sunflower

Further information

Further information about the project can be found on here on the project website and on the project social media pages.