An Evening with Henry Olonga

We are delighted to announce that we will be hosting an evening with Henry Olonga on Friday 28th October 2011, at Ulverston Golf Club, Priory Road, Ulverston.

Guest Speaker for the evening will be former Zimbabwean test cricketer, Henry Olonga. Henry made his international debut in 1995, becoming the youngest player to represent Zimbabwe. He helped Zimbabwe to its first ever Test victory in that game.

A right arm fast bowler, Olonga was the first black cricketer to play for Zimbabwe. Olonga achieved international recognition (along with team mate Andy Flower) in 2003 by wearing a black armband in a Cricket World Cup match to protest against the policies of Zimbabwe's government, led by Robert Mugabe. This act led to a warrant issued in Zimbabwe for Olonga's arrest on charges of treason (which carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe) and forced him to retire from international cricket and temporarily go into hiding.

Henry also has a superb voice and is an emerging tenor, recently releasing a CD entitled “Aurelia”. He has a foundation that lies in being afforded leading roles in productions such as the Gondoliers, Annie Get Your Gun, and Joseph and his Technicolor Dream-coat and in addition, to speaking about his time in test cricket, Olonga will also be singing for the audience on the 28th October.

Tickets for the event are available now and are priced at £10. The evening will commence at 7.30pm.

Henry will be bringing along signed copies of his book and CD to purchase.

For further information please contact St Mary’s Fundraising Team on 01229 580305 or email events@stmaryshospice.org.uk

A magical £329.60 is raised for St Mary's

A fabulous evening has had by all who attended the North West Society of Magicians annual stage competition at the Lisdoonie Hotel, Barrow on Wednesday 19th October. An audience of over 100 people were treated to some amazing tricks and illusions from the 8 performers who each performed for 10 minutes.

This year the event was held to raise funds for St Mary’s Hospice and we are delighted to announce the evening raised £329.60, which is an absolutely amazing achievement.

St Mary’s staff were delighted to attend the event and present the prizes to all the winners. This year the main award went to Terry and Michelle with Dave Simpson a close second. The comedy cup went to Richie Cottam.

Our thanks go to the Lisdoonie, and all the performers, and all who attended and made it a lovely event.

Ulverston Auction Mart raise £1457!

Zoe Guest and Lorraine Irving were delighted to be presented with a cheque for £1457.49 at Ulverston Auction Mart by Ian Walker on Tuesday 18th October. The funds had been raised for St Mary’s at the weekly car boot sales held at the auction mart arranged by the farmers and auction mart staff.

All the staff at St Mary’s really appreciate all the support shown to the charity by the auction mart and car booters who have raised funds for St Mary’s for many years. It is a fantastic achievement to raise such a large sum of money and we are really grateful for all the support.

Imperial School of Dance raise £600 for St Mary's

Zoe Guest, St Mary's Funding & Operations Manager was delighted to be presented with a cheque for £600 on Saturday 15th October by children from the Imperial School of Dance. The donation was raised at their annual show “Dance Krazy” performed by the pupils in December 2010. The show marked the 25th anniversary year for the dance school.

All the staff at St Mary’s really appreciate all the support shown to the charity by the dance school who have raised funds for St Mary’s for many years. It is a fantastic achievement to raise such a large sum of money and we are really grateful.

Netball enthusiasts honour memory of teacher

Netball enthusiasts from across the North braved wet weather to take part in a tournament to honour the memory of a popular teacher and coach.

Hundreds of people turned out to the Gillian Blain Netball Tournament on Saturday 9th September, held at the Dash sports centre at Dowdales in Dalton, where she taught PE until her death from cancer in April 2010 aged 48.

The annual event, now in its second year, is organised by Lindal Netball Club, where mother-of-two Mrs Blain was a coach.

This year the event raised money for Furness General Hospital – as she received treatment at the oncology unit – and St Mary’s.

A downpour failed to dampen the spirits of the 24 teams, some of whom came from as far afield as Newcastle, Manchester and Preston, to battle it out in 81 games of netball to claim the trophy.

Lindal Netball member Rebecca Griffin rallied support from colleagues at HSBC bank in Barrow, who helped out on the day. The branch agreed to double the amount raised on the day, bringing the grand total to £8,000 and St Mary’s were delighted to receive a donation of £4000 on the 13th October.

Stephanie Blain, Mrs Blain’s daughter, said: “We would like to thank Dowdales for the use of the courts, Lakeside Hotel for donating the main prize, HSBC Barrow and everyone involved. It was a great day.”

St Mary’s would like to thank the team for organising such a successful event and for raising lots of money for the hospice. It is greatly appreciated.

Voce Sing for St Mary’s

Leven Valley Support Group were delighted to host a concert by VOCE to raise funds for St Mary’s on Friday the 7th October at the Cafe Ambio, Backbarrow.

A packed audience were entertained for two and a half hours by the group - Phil McIntosh, Iain Nicholson, Mark Johnston and Chris Warby.

VOCE is an Italian word, meaning simply voice and it is easy to understand why they chose this name for their four-piece group.

Together they sang pop/classical songs, similar in style to Il Divo and Blake and captured the audience with their beautiful sound.

It is hoped that the event will have raised over £600 for St Mary’s. A big thank you goes to VOCE for once again supporting St Mary’s.

Fire-walk raises £2300 for St Mary’s

The Rotary Club of Furness Peninsula held a charity fire-walk at Chetwynde School on Friday 30th September. The event gave Rotarians and members of the public the opportunity for a real “out of comfort zone” experience whilst raising funds for charities.

The challenge was taken up by 10 people and together they have raised over £4000 for local charities!

We are delighted to announce that £2300 of this money was raised for St Mary’s and we would like to thank those brave participants for all their support.

Rotary would also like to thank Tony Burgess and Julie French of the Academy of High Achievers for giving their time free to conduct the fire-walk and Chetwynde School for allowing the event to take place on their premises.