The 1st-7th February marked Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. This year’s theme was ‘Express Yourself’. The week shone a light on an issue that has been amplified by the closure of schools during and social restrictions during the pandemic. 

Kerfuffle and Marvellous Training have teamed up to launch a competition for the children of estate agents and the industry’s suppliers. There are four prizes of £100 Amazon vouchers up for grabs across four age group categories – 5 and under, 6 to 8 year olds, 9 to 11 year olds and 12 and above.

Julian O’Dell, founder of Marvellous Training, has teamed up with Kerfuffle to create a suite of bitesize training resources for Kerfuffle members. Known for his individual dress sense (as to is Chief Kerfuffler Simon Whale!) in each of the training videos Julian wears a different, eccentric shirt which when placed on the bright Kerfuffle background creates a memorable experience for viewers.

The challenge children are invited to take part in is this – design a new wacky and colourful shirt for Julian O’Dell. The competition closing date is the 8th March and four winners will be announced on 9th March. The 4 winning shirts will be made into the real thing and worn by Julian in subsequent training videos.

O’Dell said: “It is clear from the conversations I am having with property industry people that home schooling is taking its toll on them and their children in many cases. The lady who edits the videos has an 8 year old daughter who drew a fabulous picture of me in a shirt she thought up and the seed of an idea was sown. Something a little bit different where children can use their imagination can only be a great distraction. The fact that there is a nice potential reward at the end of it may also help brighten these difficult times.”

Simon Whale of Kerfuffle commented: “Obviously with Julian and I being sartorial pioneers within the industry, I am all for this initiative. I hope that we may even be able to stretch to making two copies of each winning shirt so I can benefit from the children’s efforts too. As Julian highlights, the mental health impacts the pandemic are having on both adults and children are both worrying and sad. With schools now in their second month of closure, the pressures of juggling home schooling and work is significant. We hope this lighthearted competition will give you a fun activity to do together.”

To enter the competition click here where you can get some inspiration for shirt designs and download a shirt template.

Kerfuffle and Marvellous Training will also display a gallery of all of the entries or you can view them via their social media feed with the hashtag #marvellousshirts.