Last week, Birmingham-based charity, Help Harry Help Others, marked what would have been Harry Moseley’s 24th birthday, with a 24-hour dance challenge undertaken by his mum, Georgie.
Georgie Moseley, who registered her son’s campaign, 'Help Harry Help Others' as a charity in 2012, was joined by over 100 people from local community and dance groups throughout her non-stop, monumental dance challenge. From Bollywood inspired performances, Street dancing, Zumba moves and even Burlesque routines, dance groups including Dance Fusion from Coleshill, Sparkles Dance from Kingshurst and Bee Well with Lisa from Shirley joined Georgie over the course of the 24-hours, along with children from local schools including Shirestone Academy.
Harry Moseley captured the hearts of the nation when he raised over £750,000 for cancer research in the last two years of his life, before sadly passing away on 8th October 2011, aged just 11 years old. The dance challenge took place at the Drop-in Cancer Centre in Stechford, which opened its doors in 2015 and now helps 1200 adults and children affected by any type of cancer.
It offers over 20 services, including emotional, practical and financial support, and receives no Government or NHS funding. Throughout the 24-hour challenge, Georgie completed over 73,000 steps and raised over £6400 for the charity’s new Hero365 Appeal.
The appeal is calling out for 365 people to raise £850 over 365 days, meaning each person will raise enough to fund one day's running of the centre. The amount raised by Georgie’s dance-a-thon will fund the centre and its services for eight days.
From £4 a day to enable one adult or child to have materials for arts and crafts therapy, £60 a day for a breast care consultation, bra fitting advice and free post-surgery bra, to £253 a day to provide one person with the minimum set of eight qualified therapy counselling support - these are just a few of the regular services provided by the charity and their associated running costs. Georgie Moseley said “While Harry can’t be here physically to celebrate his birthday, it is of course important that as his mum I marked it in my own way.
“The dance challenge idea was the perfect way to have some fun and raise much needed funds for the centre. It goes without saying that it was incredibly tough, and I think I’ll be recuperating for a while, but it kept me going knowing that the money raised will be covering the running of the centre and providing a lifeline to many local families.
“Harry’s memory and legacy lives on through the charity and I’m sure he was having a good laugh looking down on me.”
