£24,000 for Hospice Care Home and Away

On the 3rd October the Forge Europa 100km sponsored cycle ride was completed by eight riders and so far has raised over £24,000 for two very worthwhile causes.

A great big thank you goes out to everyone for their kind support!

Forge Europa would like to thank all of the local and international businesses that have made a pledge and to everyone who has already donated. The money raised will help CAFOD buy more than 250 bicycles for health care workers in Rwanda, Nigeria and Mozambique, and deliver a significant financial boost for St Mary's Hospice, enabling it to continue delivering vital palliative care and support.

Please help us to collect all pledges and donations by the closing date on 29th October 2010, by using the Justgiving sites or by sending your pledges direct to Forge Europa. If you have any questions, please call Julie Barton at Forge Europa on +44 (0)1229 580000.

www.justgiving.com/CumbriaWayCycleRide

www.justgiving.com/CumbriaWayCycleRideCAFOD

Dental nurse & pal cycle London to Paris for Charity

Ulverston Dental Nurse, Becky Burch has raised thousands of pounds for charity in a 300-mile cycle ride from London to Paris.

Mrs Burch arrived in the French capital on Saturday 11th September, after completing the gruelling four-day ride.

So far, Mrs Burch has raised £4,500, which will be split between St Mary's Hospice and The Rumic Foundation Trust, which helps disadvantaged children across south Cumbria.

She completed the challenge with friend Sarah Dacosta, 45 who did the cycle ride in memory of her father, Ulverston physiotherapist Joe Harrison, who died recently. Mrs Dacosta raised £1,700 for her local hospice in Bedfordshire.

Mrs Burch works at Benson Street Dental Surgery, and Avanti Capitola wine bar, both in Ulverston. She started cycling as a hobby but was inspired to take up the London to Paris challenge this year.

The London to Paris challenge is split into three stages: London to Calais, Calais to Amiens and Amiens to Paris. The pair arrived at the finish line in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Mrs Burch said: "This has been one of the hardest but most rewarding experiences of my life.

"The journey was much tougher than either of us imagined but we have had a fantastic time; and although it has been incredibly challenging, we have met some truly inspirational people.

"I am so grateful to the people who have sponsored and supported me in this, especially the Capitola staff who were key in helping me to raise such a fantastic amount. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of people in the area."

Mrs Dacosta said: "It was an amazing experience and I was proud to have done this in memory of my dad. We have had incredible support from our friends and families."

With thanks to North West Evening Mail for the article.

Have you got a talent? ...then its your chance to shine!

FURNESS 30/30 CHARITY CHALLENGE

Local people in Cumbria are being given the opportunity to step into the talent spotlight and win a share of £2000 for their chosen charity in the 30/30 Charity Challenge launched by Furness Building Society.

We are looking for as many people as possible to step up and take part and raise funds for St Mary’s. If you don’t think you have the talent then please pass this information on to anyone who you know who would like to participate to raise money for us.

The Furness 30/30 Charity Challenge invites charity supporters to show their talent in a 30 second video clip to be sent into Lakes TV. The best of the clips will appear online on the station’s website www.lakestv.net. Performance clips will feature on the Lakes TV broadcast on Sky Channel 203, which goes out weekdays at 8.00pm and weekends at 4.00pm. The 30/30 Charity Challenge area of the Furness Building Society website www.furnessbs.co.uk will also be linked to the Lakes TV website.

The best 12 individuals or groups will be invited to perform live on stage in the North West 30/30 Charity Challenge Grand Final on December 3rd at the Coronation Hall in Ulverston, Cumbria. Judging will be by text message, audience votes and a panel of experts to decide who gets the cash prizes for their charity; £1,000 for the winner and a further £1000 to be divided amongst runners-up.

The talent can be anything from singing, dancing or playing an instrument to magic, comedy or juggling! But it has to be entertaining and fun. The ideal way to record the video audition is on a mobile phone, but it can also be captured on a computer webcam or on a digital camera and can feature a single entertainer or a group. Film clips should ideally be submitted in an MP4 format.

The video clips should be sent to info@lakestv.net with name, age, contact number and details of which charity you are representing. Alternatively the video clip can be handed in at local Furness Building Society branches in Millom, Barrow, Ulverston, Dalton or Grange-over-Sands, or at any of the Society’s other branches or agents across the North West. Anyone wishing to take part has 30 days - from October 6 to November 5 - to submit their 30 second audition clip; hence the 30/30 challenge.

Furness Building Society Chief Executive Rob Cairns explains: “The Society is organising the competition to help make everyone more aware of the need to support charities in the current tough economic climate. But we are also hoping that people will enjoy taking part and have fun doing something for their chosen charity."

Further details of the 30/30 Charity Challenge can be found on the Furness Building Society website www.furnessbs.co.uk, together with the rules of the competition and a full list of branches and agencies. In addition we will be placing information on our website and posters will be displayed in the local area.

St Mary's Hospice Gets on Board Affinity Savings Campaign

St Mary’s Hospice is literally getting on board a new ‘You Save, We Give’ campaign from Furness Building Society, designed to spread the word about the good work of the charity and the fund raising benefits of special affinity saving accounts.

The campaign using Ad-Vans will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people across the North West, with Furness Building Society on one side of the travelling billboards and the charity’s own advertising message on the other.

St Mary's Hospice in Ulverston provides free dedicated palliative care for people with life limiting conditions, as inpatients or at day clinics and therapy sessions, and at home. It is funded by the community it serves in South Cumbria and to maintain the Hospice services costs around £2.4 million a year, of which £2 million (£6000 per day) must be raised from supporters.

St Mary’s is one of the most successful affinity accounts, raising more than £840,000 so far for the hospice over more than 10 years. Under the affinity arrangement, St Mary’s supporters open special instant access accounts with the Building Society, and enjoy a return on their savings. But the Society also agrees to give from its own funds an annual cash payment based on the total average balance in all the St Mary’s Hospice accounts.

Furness Building Society is a UK leader in the creation and development of affinity savings accounts with almost 20 now active for North West organisations.

Furness Building Society Chief Executive Rob Cairns says that affinity accounts are a vital part of the local commitment of the Society. He explains: “As a mutual building society the deposits of our local savers provide the funding for local mortgages and that link is at the heart of our business based on mutual benefit.

“In the same way the affinity accounts can potentially deliver a higher return for savers because the interest is calculated on the combined balance of the affinity account, and the Society recognises the business benefit in the form of an annual payment to the local charity. Again affinity accounts offer mutual benefits that work for everyone concerned because the more supporters save, the more the Society gives.”

For St Mary’s Hospice, Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager commented: “In the current economic climate charities are under financial pressure and so it is important for us to maximise every possible opportunity to raise funds. We are immensely grateful for every donation we receive and our supporters put a huge amount of effort and dedication into working on our behalf. The affinity account has the unique advantage that it raises money for us while also providing a higher rate of interest return on savings for our supporters.”

St Mary’s Hospice is one of three charities featured in the advertising, which all have affinity accounts with Furness Building Society; the other two are the North West Air Ambulance and the Rosemere Cancer Foundation.

For more information on affinity accounts visit www.furnessbs.co.uk, or call in at your local branch or Furness Building Society agency.