Wear Something Yellow Days

If I remember rightly, the first Wear Something Yellow Day came about when Kirsten’s High School - St Joseph's in Wrexham - wanted to raise money for a memorial bench for her. My memory isn’t the best, but I think they suggested a non-uniform day and we put forward the idea of wearing something yellow. They commissioned a friend of ours, Simon O’Rourke - who happens to be a well renowned chainsaw sculptor - to design and create the bench, and he did a beautiful job. It is situated in a quiet corner of the school playing field, between two silver birch trees, and offers pupils a space for contemplation and conversation.

The bench curves slightly, as if to gently encourage those seated on it to chat, and features carvings of some of Kirsten’s doodles and drawings, as well as a Bible verse on the seat edge. On the first anniversary of Kirsten’s death (in November 2022), we were invited by the school to a short dedication ceremony, where the bench was first unveiled.

Since then, we’ve held onto the Wear Something Yellow Day idea, and in June last year we put it out on social media, inviting schools and community groups to take part on a day that suited them. Kirsten’s old primary school - Victoria CP School in Wrexham - were more than happy to oblige, and raised an amazing £536! This year, we got our act together a little earlier, promoting Wear Something Yellow Days from April onwards. This time, three local schools took up the challenge - St Joseph’s and Victoria CP School both got onboard again, together with St Giles Primary, who have also been long time supporters of ours. Between them, they raised an impressive £893, which equates to 44 Boxes of Sunshine (and some change).

Obviously we’re very grateful to the staff, parents and children of these three schools for getting involved and raising vital funds for us, but our hope is that Wear Something Yellow Days will eventually spread beyond our home town of Wrexham, into different parts of the UK. We happen to think it’s a great idea, because it’s easy! Many schools hold non-uniform days over the spring/summer period anyway, so often the infrastructure to communicate that the day is happening, and to collect the donations, is already in place. But if schools need help with what to communicate to pupils and parents, or to set up a page for online donations, then we’re more than happy to be of assistance. We can even supply presentation slides to use in classrooms or assemblies. Let us know if your school or community group or even your workplace want to get involved, by emailing hello@boxesofsunshine.co.uk