The Virgin London Marathon 2010

Are you interested in running the London Marathon in aid of St Mary's Hospice?

Join the Help the Hospices team and become a Sunflower Runner in the greatest Marathon in the world - the Virgin London Marathon 2010!

The Help the Hospices website has an online registration form where you can apply. The form will ask you which local hospice you wish to run for. We will then recieve the application form automatically so that we can keep record of all those who are kindly running to support us.

Light up a Life - Raising awareness in national media

Help the Hospices have had some strong interest from weekly women's magazine journalists who are keen to support the Light up a Life appeal and raise awareness of hospice events this year. However, they have requested strong case studies to engage their readers and persuade their features editors to run special features.

We are therefore seeking any of the following:
- Hospice volunteers who went into volunteering following bereavement or who have experience of a relative or friend who was cared for by the hospice.
- People who have been bereaved within the last two years and who are now comfortable with telling their story, talking about bereavement and why they think Light up a Life is important.

Please be reassured that great care will be taken when working with people who volunteer to support media work. We know that it is a challenging area and would never push anyone into telling their story if they were not ready.

In order to raise awareness of Light up a Life nationally, we will also need the following:
-Expert comment eg bereavement experts and/or interesting new trends within the subject of bereavement
-Case studies as mentioned above
-Celebrity support/endorsement

We need to source any suitable media volunteers as soon as possible for meeting magazine deadlines for Christmas. If you can help or you have an idea you would like to discuss please contact Hannah on 01229 580305 or email hannah@stmaryshospice.org.uk

Jump for St Mary's!

Imagine standing at the edge of an open doorway in an aircraft flying at 14,000 feet - the noise of the engines and the wind ringing in your ears with only the outline of distant feilds below. Now imagine leaning forward out of that doorway and letting go - falling forward into the clouds, diving down through the air as you start freefalling at over 120mph! Then imagine the peace and quiet as the canopy opens, the steering toggles come down either side of you and you begin a tranquil descent from a mile up in the air, steering yourself back down to the centre of the drop zone below.

This is what 25 people did on Saturday 12th September 2009 to help raise money for St Mary's Hospice, which provides palliative and supportive care for those with life-limiting condtions throughout South Cumbria. The programme of jumps took place at the North West Parachute Jump Centre, Flookburgh and each of the brave participants raised a minimum of £130 for the charity with many raising much more. A further 5 individuals will be taking the plunge on the 26th September.

Zoe Guest, Fundraising Manager said "We would like to thank all the very brave people who volunteered to do this and who have raised a significant amount of money to help support our work."

This event was so popular that we have decided to host a second 10,000 feet freefall parachute jump in September 2010. If you feel brave enough to take part, and would like your name to be placed on the waiting list please email hannah@stmaryshospice.org.uk

We will ask you to raise £395 in sponsorship money in order for you to jump for free and in return St Mary's will recieve an average donation of £140. In additon to this, every extra pound that you raise over the minimum comes straight to the hospice, so we encourage you to raise as much money as you can.

Please note that limited places are available. Skydiving is a weather dependent activity so the pre-arranged date of your jump may be subject to change.

Want a taste of freefalling from 14,000 feet? Click here to watch a video of one of our supporters Justin jumping for St Mary's!

Voices for Hospices

World Hospice and Palliative Care day and Voices for Hospices is taking place this year on 10th October. Events will be taking place in 70 countries around the world on the day and during the week leading up to that date to raise awareness of local services, and to highlight our work. Events will include a global wave of Voices for Hospice concerts, education events and public awareness activities.

St Mary's would like to celebrate in style and on Thursday 8th October 2009 we will be holding our "Voices for Hospices" event at the Nines on Dalkeith Street in Barrow-in-Furness from 7pm until late. The event will see a group of local "celebrities", paired up with a team of well known local singers including, Pete Murphy, Denis Horan, and Steve Silver, and together they will sing a duet to compete to be the Voices for Hospices Champions 2009.

All contestants will be singing songs of their choice and will have been sponsored to perform in front of a live audience. A special team of judges will form a panel for the evening, but the audience will decide who will be the event winners.

Tickets are £5 each and can be purchased from The Nines, any of the St Mary's Charity Shops or from St Mary's Hospice, Ulverston. For more information please call 01229 580305 or email events@stmaryshospice.org.uk

Kendal Torchlight Procession

On behalf of the patients and staff of St Mary's Hospice, we would like to thank all of those involved for giving your time and effort to support St Mary's at the Torchlight Procession street collection in Kendal on Friday night or at the the Westmorland Shopping Centre, Kendal in the afternoon. During the day volunteers collected a total of £299.30 and in the evening £990.51 making a grand total of £1278.81. All funds raised will enable St Mary's to continue to provide comprehensive supportive and palliative care to adults in South Cumbria.

We really appreciate all the help we received and we look forward to seeing you again in 2010.