BABY Sensory and Toddler Sense in Dumbarton last weekend played their part in an ambitious challenge to raise a whopping £500,000 in the 2018 Tommy's Sensathon

St Michael's Church Hall, in Cardross Road, was the venue for the fantastic event where babies and toddlers are sponsored to complete up to six challenges at a Showtime extravaganza during. For many children this will be their first ever sponsored event, so pretty special in its own right.

At 10am babies 0-13 months took on the challenge then in the afternoon it was the turn of the one year-olds to four year-old to take centre stage.

Sensathon proved to be a fun and happy experience for all involved. But there’s an important reason behind it too.

Every year, 1 in 4 women lose a baby during pregnancy or birth. Baby Sensory and Toddler Sense are committed to supporting Tommy’s in reducing this unacceptable statistic that devastates families up and down the country. So every mum, dad and child taking part will be helping babies who aren't as lucky. And every pound raised, will help to save babies’ lives.

Organiser Jodie Woods said: "The money raised from Sensathon could enable 26,500 couples to attend a Tommy’s Research Centre and help them realise their dream of having a baby.

"We held three events over the weekend, one at St Kessog's in Balloch on Friday, St Michael's on Saturday and Helensburgh Sailing Club on Monday. Between the three so far wqe have raised just under £2000, but have a lot of sponsorship still to come in, so we are confident of reaching our target of £2500.

"This will be terrific as the event is only held every two years and the last time we ran it we raised just £435. I would like to thank everyone who took part and helped raise such a fantastic sum of money."

The six challenges that babies took on were - to perform the ‘Showtime’ sign with my Mummy or Daddy; to shake their shaker three times during this activity; to track the moving objects with their eyes; to pop or blow five bubbles; to stay on their tummy for the duration of the song (younger babies) or to move towards the textured materials before the end of the song; and to clap, point and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ with the ‘stars’.

The five challenges that toddlers took on were to sign "Showtime" with Tod; to track the moving objects with their eyes; to pop 10 bubbles with Tod; to jump up on their feet and show off their dancing moves; and to clap, point and sing "Happy Birthday" with Tod and the 'stars.

Everyone who took part in Sensathon was encouraged to wear a fancy dress costume,

Jodie added: "Taking part in Sensathon and raising money is a huge achievement for a little one and so deserves some recognition. So Tommy's have promised to send each fundraising baby and toddler a little memento of their first fundraising challenge."

If you would like to contact the Sensathon team, please email them at sensory@tommys.org

If you are not already part of Baby Sensory or Toddler Sense classes and would still like to be involved, you can contact Tommy's at sensory@tommys.org.

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