Greek Cypriot Irena Kyriacou, a qualified Early Years Practitioner and Director of Happy Tots Babysitting Service, hosted a Winter Wonderland charity event on Sunday 4th December 2016 to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

There were many stalls on the day including Santa’s Grotto, Lucky Dip, Face Painting, Jarbola, decorate your Christmas bauble, as well as Eleni from Elianna Event Decor, Maria from Bambino Couture, Skevi Nicodemou from Pure Therapy, Eleni Georgiou from Asterakia, Mary Antoniou from Cafe 2 U selling the best hot drinks and sandwiches and many more people who contributed on the day.

A luxury raffle took place with main prize a signed Arsenal Football from the current team.

The event was a huge success with amazing £4219.00 raised for a charity close to Irena’s heart.

As a child, 27-year-old Irena was referred to Great Ormond Street Hospital after developing epilepsy at the age of seven.

“When I grew out of my epilepsy and was discharged from the hospital, it left a lasting impression on me and I knew I wanted to give back what I had as a child. I started supporting the hospital by giving monthly donations but knew I wanted to do something more, not only for GOSH but for other charities,” she said.

Irena continued, “In 2009 I was sent to Romania with my nursery to support the Shoe Box appeal were I visited many orphanages in horrific conditions. What I saw there was so upsetting. When I delivered the children their Christmas presents, the looks on their faces were priceless. Knowing everything I did made them smile made me want to do so much more and so I decided I would organise yearly fundraisers for various different charities such as Little&Large and Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice. I also give monthly donations to Build Africa, Cancer Research and Great Ormond Street Hospital.”

Finally, Irena thanked everyone who has supported her in all fundraising events particularly the most recent Winter Wonderland.

“Without my family and friends this day would have not been possible and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. A massive thank you to them and everyone who helped and took the time to come and support the event.

“I will continue every year to do different events to raise money for such worthy causes,” she concluded.