17/08/2026
I know it's been years, and you've all been incredibly patient, but finally we have excellent news, an explanation and an apology.
There is a reason for the lengthy delay. I've thought long and hard about posting re this as it's personal to our family, particularly our youngest daughter, plus I didn't want to be making excuses as to why we stalled in our project.
However, it is a major part of our reality and one many families with disabled members experience.
Not long after our successful crowdfunding, our daughter, who has multiple genetic conditions, suddenly and unexpectedly began to deteriorate. It was a frantic, panicky time where every month there was a new hospitalisation always for different things. We were trying to juggle everything whilst dealing with our families very complex emotions.
Then catastrophe – after a quick but devastating bout of pneumonia, she stopped breathing and was blue lighted to the paediatric intensive care unit in Oxford. Thus began a 13 month hospital admission which changed all our lives forever.
Thankfully we finally came home just over a year ago, but it's been an uphill struggle as we got used to our new normal, whilst also trying to recover from complex trauma ourselves. She is very slowly improving thanks to an incredible dedicated team who help us with her round the clock care. Rather wonderfully she even made it back to school full time within just a few days of her return.
Once we were back home we were able to make a little progress on the brewery but it has been painfully slow. This has also led to financial strain as the little buffer we had in the bank dripped away on bills we had planned to be paying with a functioning brewery! We did consider doing another crowdfunder to help us through this last push, but considering that all you kind donators have seen little or nothing for your generosity, this felt unethical in the extreme! We won't of course say no to any more donations however, but we won't be doing new fundraising events quite yet, though please watch this space.
We are incredibly excited to say however that the major works are finally done, the brewery kit is in the room, though not yet installed and we are extremely near to being operational. It feels so close we can practically smell the malt and hops!
To end, I do want to apologise. We should have kept you in the loop. I'm sure many of you thought it was all over. We are beyond thrilled to say it really isn't
PS, if you want to donate, here's the link https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/the-count-me-in-collective
