Six-year-old Max from Haywards Heath raises more than £1,000 for children’s hospital

A six-year-old boy from Haywards Heath has helped raise £1,470 for Great Ormond Street Hospital with a charity tombola.
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Max Cottingham wanted to thank the children’s hospital for saving the life of his younger brother Rory after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour at just three months old.

His original goal was to raise £100 from family and friends, but the tombola ended up selling far more tickets than he expected and received donations for prizes from dozens of Sussex companies.

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Word about the tombola spread thanks to the family’s Facebook group, The Cottinghams GOSH Fundraiser, said Max’s mother Kelly, 33.

Max Cottingham's tombola idea helped raise £1,470 for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.Max Cottingham's tombola idea helped raise £1,470 for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
Max Cottingham's tombola idea helped raise £1,470 for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

Kelly, who lives with Max and Rory (now two years old) and her husband James, said the family got in touch with companies via email and Facebook messages.

“We had Kindles donated, we had day passes donated and vouchers,” she said, adding that the more prizes the family got the more people wanted to enter the tombola.

Kelly said individuals were also able to donate prizes through an Amazon wishlist that she set up.

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“It was too much for Max to do himself,” Kelly added, but she said the family held the tombola on Facebook Live and Max helped with the preparation and folded all the raffle tickets.

Rory Cottingham.Rory Cottingham.
Rory Cottingham.

Once they had raised the money they emailed Great Ormond Street Hospital and gave them the funds via a donation page.

Kelly said she was overwhelmed by the generosity of Sussex residents.

She was also surprised by the amount that the tombola raised and said she was proud of Max for coming up with the idea.

“He just said ‘let’s do a tombola like they do at school’.”

The tombola helped raise £1,470 for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.The tombola helped raise £1,470 for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
The tombola helped raise £1,470 for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.
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Kelly said Rory’s hospital visits have been hard for Max because he has to stay with family and friends when they travel up to London.

“It’s so far away we normally have to stay one or two nights,” she said.

Kelly is grateful to Great Ormond Street Hospital for saving Rory’s life and said that two years after the tumour was discovered GOSH is still paying for the family to sleep in London on their visits.

Rory was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in 2019 and was ‘blue-lighted’ in an ambulance to Great Ormond Street Hospital where he spent two weeks to have the tumour removed.

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“They were incredible to not only Rory but also us as his parents and brother,” said Kelly.

“They saved his life and we will be forever thankful.”

The businesses that donated prizes for the tombola included: MusicBus with Maggie, Urban Sanctuary, Orange Square, Flinders, Bay Tree, Anna Swan Candles, Jay’s Little Beauties, Slake, Somers Vintage Tea Rooms, Washbrooks Farm, Fun Pots, Hantastic, CRLane Vinyls, Primal Grazing, Keely’s Tropic, Marples Cakery, The Sweet Hut UK, The Salon Room, Picklesticks, Washingtons Fish and Chips, Kirsts Krafts, Crazy Crayons, Butterfly Gardens, Cooking MamaC, Scents with Love, Beautiful by Kayleigh, Becci’s, To The Beat Dance Camp, Paradise Park, Sussex Cookie Company and Auroras Bath Bombs.