Brownies on the Isle of Man have been taking part in a world record to make the longest loom band for charity.

The 22 brownies from Castletown took part in Skye Hall’s ‘Loom to the Moon’ fund-raising campaign, part of the Blue Skye Thinking charity, which was set up to raise money and awareness for Brain Tumour Research.

Five year old Skye Hall, from Oxford, died in August last year from complications of his treatment for an aggressive brain tumour but wanted to raise money to “help doctors make other children better”.

Before Skye died, he launched a ‘Loom to the Moon’ fundraising campaign to break the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest loom band. This idea was inspired by his favourite past time whilst sitting in the Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber (which mimicked a space ship) for hours each week, looming.

The group of 22 from the Isle of Man have been helping the charity and worked together to make a loom band which measures just over 40 metres. They also sent a ?15 donation.

Stephanie Harper, is the Brownie Leader, she said: “I read about the campaign on Facebook and thought it was a lovely idea and also something my Brownies would enjoy taking part in so we held a looming event. Each girl made their own loom and he challenge was to see how far across the hall we could stretch them when they were all linked together. The end result was three times the length of the hall! All the girls who took part in this challenge really enjoyed themselves.  It was a brilliant idea for a great cause.”

The band was sent to Blue Skye Thinking and it will be joined to Skye’s master loom band which currently measures more than 25,600m

More than 350 children a year in the UK alone, face the devastating news that they have a brain tumour but less than one per cent of cancer funding goes towards research into brain tumours, the number one cancer killer in children and teenagers. All money raised from ‘Loom to the Moon’ will go towards the charity’s goal of getting as much money as possible into the hands of the world's best researchers, so that all children diagnosed with brain tumours will have a better chance of survival and a better quality of life post-treatment.

Sally Hall, founder of Blue Skye Thinking and mum to Skye said: “This is a brilliant effort from the 2nd Castletown Brownies, well done. There are a few months left before the end of the campaign this May so there is still time for more groups to get involved and undertake this fun activity in memory of our little boy.”

Anyone wanting to get involved can get their free Loom to the Moon Groups Packs by emailing contact@blueskyethinking.org.

Packs include:

1. Short child friendly video to introduce the mission
2. Posters
3. Free Loom Bands
4. Sponsorship Forms
5. Certificate Poster

For more information about the campaign please visit http://www.blueskyethinking.org/loom-to-the-moon/

Photo - Skye Hall.