Camille's Appeal was formed in 2009 with the aim of improving rehabilitation for childhood brain tumour patients. At the time, I don't think anybody would have realised how successful we would be in achieving that. By working with other charities and Addenbrooke's hospital we have helped to set up a pioneering rehabilitation service, Brainbow, which brings together different areas of therapy to work as a single team and has achieved amazing results. Initially, we agreed to fund this for 3 years, so that the concept could be tried and refined. Addenbrooke's then asked us to extend the funding for another 2 years so that they could work towards integrating the Brainbow service into mainstream NHS activities and so that they could continue to respond to the considerable interest in other parts of the UK about setting up similar services. Thanks to the hard work of all of you, we are happy to announce that we have sufficient money in the bank to pay for this service extension plus essential equipment for Brainbow.

However, the changing circumstances of some of the key officers of the charity and trustees mean that they can now no longer devote the time to Camille's Appeal that is needed for us to function effectively. As a small charity, it is extremely difficult to replace these people. The trustees looked at all of the options for the future and, after much thought, decided that an orderly closure of our charity was the only viable option and was preferable to us struggling to continue and failing.

The charity ceased to operate from the end of August this year. That gave fund-raisers time to pay in any money that they had raised through activities that had already been planned. It also gave our trustees time to talk to the Brainbow partners and decide how we could best use our available funds to ensure that this service has all of the people and equipment that it needs over the planned 2 year period. As well as the funds we are giving to Brainbow as we close, you can raise money for Brainbow any time after then and donate it via Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust.

Although we have closed, let's recognise the achievements. Your efforts have helped us to meet and greatly exceed our hopes and to make a real difference to the lives of many children - and that enhanced quality of life will go with them into adulthood.

Wes Carter , chairman of the trustees 

28/9/16