Furness College raises £260 with Share a Card scheme

St Mary's would like to thank the staff at Furness College Barrow, for presenting a cheque for £260. The money was raised from the St Mary's Christmas Share a Card scheme which the college ran throughout December.

In the run up to Christmas St Mary's encourages workplaces to swap Christmas cards for a free A3 poster which everyone in the office can sign. Money otherwise spent on sending each other cards can be popped into the accompanying charity collection box.

Share a Card allows people to give at Christmas to a charity where it is needed most: a Christmas card may only last a few weeks, but your donations will leave a legacy for a long time to come. In 2010 a total of £2442.54 was raised from the scheme.

You can find out more about the St Mary's Share a card scheme here.

Success for St Mary's Hospice in the Furness Charity Challenge

Talented singing group Voce impressed judges with their vocal performance at the Lancaster Grand Theatre on Wednesday January 26th to win £500 for St Mary’s Hospice in the Furness Building Society Charity Challenge talent competition final.

There was also a cash prize for Macmillan Cancer Support thanks to a stunning stage performance from 12-year old classical pianist Katherine Miller from Grange-over-Sands.

Voce – Phil McIntosh, Chris Warby and Mark Johnson - performed ‘Bring Him Home’ from Les Miserables and dedicated the song to the fourth member of the group who is currently recovering from treatment for cancer. Voce are long-time supporters of St Mary’s Hospice and Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager, from St Mary’s was delighted to receive the prize of £500.

Other winners were 13-years-old Amy Jo Clough who won £1000 first prize for the Ryan Stanford Appeal in Lancaster to aid research into Alpers Syndrome, a rare genetic condition, and 19 year old student Kelsey May Cullen who won £250 for Liverpool’s Zoe’s Place Hospice for children under 5.

They were among 12 acts selected from across the North West taking part in the final of the competition which aimed to raise awareness of the excellent work undertaken by charities in the region and encourage people to step up and do something for others.

Chief Executive of the Furness Building Society Rob Cairns, who headed the judging panel, commented: “The quality of all the acts was fantastic. It was inspiring to see so many people give everything they had to aid their chosen charities, and to see the audience having such a great time supporting them. Furness Building Society is proud to have sponsored such a wonderful event – showcasing local talent and supporting local charity work.”

Bay Radio presenter Darren Milby was another of the judges along with the Mayor of Lancaster Coun. Tony Wade. Darren was also amazed at the quality of the finalists. He said:”I thought the judging would be easy, but the acts were so good, and so different, that it was very hard to select the winners.”

Quiz raises £178 for St Mary's

St Mary’s Hospice would like to express their gratitude to Liz Young. Liz organised a Bird Quiz to raise funds for the charity. Quiz sheets were available to purchase for £1 at various retail outlets throughout the area during December and an amazing £178 was raised for the charity.

There were 17 correct answer sheets submitted and so a draw was necessary. The winners were:-
1. Shirley Collins, from Dalton who won £15
2. Emma Hayes, from Ulverston who won £10
3. G Barratt, from Grange over Sands who won £5

Shirley Collins was presented with her prize at a presentation event at Dalton Town Hall on Wednesday 2nd February at 6.30pm. Mr Barratt chose to donate his prize back to St Mary’s.

Pictured: Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager for St Mary’s being presented with a cheque for £178 by Liz Young.