Recycle your workplace ink cartridges and help raise funds for St Mary’s

Last month Wise Fundraising Ltd was delighted to present St Mary’s Hospice with a cheque for £152. The money was raised by Fingerprints, a printing company in Barrow-in-Furness, who have been recycling their used printer cartridges to raise funds for the charity.

St Mary’s and Wise Fundraising Ltd have been working together to generate funds to support local people in South Cumbria who need the help of the Hospice. A forerunner in corporate fundraising for charities, Wise Fundraising Ltd supply and recycle ink jet cartridges and toners and kindly provide St Mary’s with a donation from each new sale and from the value of returned empty cartridges and toners.

We hope that the funds we receive from Wise Fundraising Ltd could be greatly increased if more local businesses donate their empty inkjet cartridges and laser toners.

20% of the value of the cartridges will be donated to St Mary’s. All cartridge and toner types are accepted. Wise Recycling can collect large toners directly from your workplace free of charge and can provide you with the weight for recycling stats. Prepaid bags and collecting boxes can also be provided for smaller inkjet cartridges. As the postage is inclusive, returning your used items costs only a little time and, as many are suitable for re-filling or re-manufacture, you will be helping the environment.

You can also help to raise further funds for St Mary’s by ordering your cartridges and toners with Wise Fundraising Ltd online. Simply visit www.stmaryshospice.is-recycling.co.uk

Princes are very competitive on a large range and include VAT and postage. 10% of the value of orders will be donated to St Mary’s.

As ink cartridges and toners are a commodity which most of us use in conjunction with our computers, this method of raising funds for St Mary's is simple yet effective. We hope that you will use this innovative opportunity to help raise much needed funds for us and help the environment. If you would like further information about recycling in your workplace please contact Hannah on 01229 580305.

Spread the word about CommunityForce!

NatWest CommunityForce is a new initiative, which sees the Bank working with local communities to support the people, projects and charities making a real difference in local communities.

As part of their customer charter, they have made a commitment to help the communities in which we live and work. Community Force is a platform that empowers local projects and charities to raise awareness of their work and make their plans a reality with the support of NatWest and their local community.

The Community Force website has become a hub for projects to talk about the work they do and let local people find out how they can get involved.

In addition, charities have been able to apply for their projects to be in with a chance of winning £6000! The three projects with the most votes in each Community Force area will win an award.

St Mary’s applied and our project has been accepted.

This year the community force awards will be allocated based on votes from local people and this is where you come in. We need you to vote for St Mary’s at http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/1265

Voting is open now and you can vote anytime up to the 23rd October.

Once you have voted please pass this e-mail on to all your contacts and ask them to vote to support St Mary’s!

Founder member of St Mary's sadly passes away

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of one of the original founder members of St Mary’s and our dear friend, Nick Gosswinn. Nick died in Furness General Hospital on the 27th September after a period of illness.

In 2009 St Mary's reflected on 25 years of considerable achievement. To celebrate the occasion a tree planting ceremony took place - of a liquid amber tree - by the original founder members of the hospice (Pictured).

At the service Nick explained that back in 1984 Margaret Berry, Clarissa Kavanagh and himself came up with the raw idea of a Hospice for the South Cumbria area and worked extremely hard to make their vision a reality.

He said "We had a vision of a place of peace and tranquility and after a lot of heartache and headaches the Hospice was eventually opened (by Princess Diana) in 1990. It has since built a reputation as the centre of excellence where the treatment and care is unsurpassed."

Nick worked tirelessly for the charity and after its establishment worked as a volunteer in later years.

His funeral was held at Thorncliffe Crematorium on Friday 7th October.

He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

Hospice Hill Climb Series - All is well that ends well on Gamswell Fell

The final round of the Hospice hillclimb series took place on 1st September up the Gamswell hill course. 18 riders took part on a picture perfect evening and produced some seriously quick times.

Youth shone through with the overall win taken by Barrow Central Wheelers, Connor Furness clocking a lightning 5-27 and shaving over 40 seconds off his first go.

In the women’s category the win was taken by recently crowned (for a 9th time!) world masters champion Anne Plant, with 6-52.

The veteran’s category was hotly contested, and top wrinkly was Lakes Eammon Quinn at 6-27, taking over 30 seconds off his last time. Also competing was an interesting effort by local tri-athlete George Ambrose, who ditched the bike & ran the course!

The Mens category was taken by Scotty Smith, just missing out on the overall at 5-33.

Congratulations must go to the Barrow Central Wheelers who completed a clean sweep in the interclub event. Well done to the yellow menace for a comprehensive win and big turn out to all the races.

A huge thank you goes to the Ulverston Brewing Company for sponsoring this race and to all the businesses that have sponsored the other races. 4 £10 vouchers were handed out to the winners of each category at this event, along with 4 spot prizes kindly supplied by the Brewery.

None of the races would have taken place without the help of volunteers who gave up their free time to marshal, time keep, take photos, update websites, and give assistance. THANK YOU also to Steve, Ian, Wils, Andy, Miss Jenkinson, Zoe, Chadders, Ivor, Brenda & George, Tony, Mike, Claire, Allan, Pete, Charis, the Furness's, Roz & Flumps, the oldies, & Martyn.

We are delighted to announce that throughout the series we have raised £218.53 for St Mary’s Hospice, which is more than we had hoped for.

The organisers hope that everyone enjoyed a chance to have a go throughout the summer at what is usually an autumn sport and appreciate all the generosity in raising funds for the Hospice.

Thanks to everyone that had a go this year and we look forward to seeing you in 2012.

Howie Lindow

St Mary's Santa Dash 2011!

If you are planning to visit the Dickensian Festival in Ulverston this year you may get a shock. St Mary’s hopes that hundreds of bearded Santa’s, will be taking part in their second Santa Dash, on Saturday 26th November. The festive event starts at 1.30pm at Ulverston Victoria High School and after travelling a mile the Santa’s will finish at Victoria Gardens in time to join the Dickensian Grand Parade, which proceeds through the town centre at 3.00pm.


Everyone who enters the 1 mile run/walk will get a free Santa Claus costume, which they get to keep, and there will also be a certificate for all who complete the run.

Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager said “We hope our Santa Dash will once again be a really fun event for all the family. Last year we had 54 entries and this year we hope to see hundreds of Santa’s running through the streets of Ulverston. The Hospice provides supportive and palliative care for life-limiting illnesses and to their families, both at the Hospice itself and at home. The Santa Dash will helps us to raise the funds we need to continue to offer these vital services”

“Even though it is only autumn and the sun is still shining, it is a great time to sign up for the challenge so you have plenty of time to get fit” said Zoe

People wanting to take part in the St Mary’s Santa Dash can enter individually or as a family. Entrants must be aged 4 and over, and all those under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. The entry fee is £12.50 per adult and £7.50 per child with a special offer of £30 for a family of 2 adults and 2 children.

To enter please call the Santa Dash Hotline on 01229 580305 or visit http://www.stmaryshospice.org/events/santadash.php

Celebrities’ Sing to Help Hospice

Furness musicians will take to the stage once again with local “celebrities” for St Mary’s Voices for Hospices charity talent contest. The event was a resounding success back in 2009 and St Mary’s hope that this year’s event will be bigger and better than ever!

Entertainers from South Cumbria will be paired up with well-known local people from the area in a singing competition to raise funds for the Hospice. Together they will sing a duet to compete to be the Voices for Hospices Champions 2011 on 27th October.

Those taking part include Rochelle Berry from Bay Radio, Rev Allan Mitchell from Dalton and former Barrow AFC player Mr Neil Doherty.

Local entertainers who will be partnered up with contestants include Steve Silver, Pete Thompson, Melissa Thompson and Lisa Hart.

The evening is sponsored by the Best of Barrow and Furness and will be compared by Pete Murphy. There will be a special judging panel on the night, but the audience vote will crown the winners.

The event has been organised as part of Voices for Hospices, which will see concerts taking place around the world throughout October to promote Hospice care.

Tickets are £10 including a light buffet supper and are available now from St Mary’s Hospice or the St Mary’s Hospice shops in Ulverston, Barrow and Dalton.

My Darling Clemmie with Rohan McCullough

A huge thank you goes to all those people who attended “My Darling Clemmie” at the Victoria Hall in Grange to raise funds for the Charity on Friday 16th September. A fantastic one off performance was given by Rohan McCullough who was described by attendees as “captivating” and “mesmerising.” In addition, £1145 was raised from the event for St Mary’s.

Rohan McCullough began her career in the original cast of the legendary musical Hair and Jean-Louis Barrault's Rabelais. She has also been seen as Antigone in Oedipus at Colonnus (Manchester Royal Exchange) and in Les Liaisons Dangereuses (RSC). Her film appearances include Derek Jarman's War Requiem and David Hare's Strapless. She has given poetry and music recitals in London and at Arts Festivals nationwide. She has performed as narrator with leading American symphony orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and The Boston Symphony at Carnegie Hall

“My Darling Clemmie” was written by Hugh Whitemore. Hugh has written for the stage, films and television. His TV film, The Gathering Storm, which was about Churchill in the 1930’s, won an Emmy, the Writers’ Guild of America Award, and the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for the best television drama of 2002.

My Darling Clemmie is the remarkable, moving and highly entertaining story of the woman who married one of the truly great figures of the 20th century: Sir Winston Churchill. As described by Lord Halifax as “The Guardian Angel of our country’s guardian.”

In 2009 My Darling Clemmie was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the Assembly Rooms and for Rohan McCullough to come and perform the show locally for St Mary’s was a lifetime opportunity for many local people.

A big thank you goes to all the staff at the Victoria Hall, the Grange Operatic Society and all staff who were involved in making this event possible.

As Winston Churchill said “My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.”