Shepley Engineers & Sellafield raise £1230

Shepley Engineers Ltd at Sellafield, have been undertaking a cladding replacement project. For each panel replaced safely both Shepley & Sellafield Ltd decided that they would donate £1.50 each to a charity nominated and selected by a committee of the (hands on) workers on the project.

St Mary’s were nominated by Mr Paul Whitehouse (pictured first left) and were delighted to be chosen to receive £1230 on the 23rd September.

This is a fantastic help to St Mary’s and we appreciate their support.

Staff from Tesco Extra Bare All for St Mary's

A sneak peek at the charity calendar
On the 2nd September the staff from Tesco Extra in Barrow in Furness held a celebration evening at the Nines to launch their wonderful new charity calendar.

A group of ladies and gents from the supermarket decided to pose nude for their 2011 edition and to raise funds for their chosen charities: St Mary’s Hospice, North West Air Ambulance and Ostley House Amenities Fund.

All the members of staff who volunteered to be featured in the calendar are featured in a number of poses for different months, performing a variety of everyday tasks around the store. The pictures were very tastefully taken by Kells photography.

A batch of 1500 calendars, sponsored by a number of local businesses, have been printed and are on general sale at the Tesco Extra store in Cornerhouse Park and the Tesco Metro Store at Roose now. You can also call St Mary's Hospice on 01229 580305.

The calendars are available at the Customer Service desk in both outlets and cost £6. All proceeds will go to the charities and the Tesco team hope to raise a grand total of £9000.

We hope that as many people as possible will support the team.

Charities Share Celebration of Community Work

Representatives from three key partner charities joined Furness Building Society at the first Westmorland Gazette Business & Tourism Awards held in Kendal, where the society was commended for its work in the community.

Pictured at the black-tie dinner and presentations are: (left to right front)Anne Burrow from the North West Air Ambulance, Zoe Guest from St Mary’s Hospice, and Sue Thompson from the Rosemere Cancer Foundation. With them are their hosts (left to right back) Rob Cairns, Furness Building Society Chief Executive, Steve Pryer, Finance Director and Ian Bell, General Manager, Marketing and Development.

The Society also sponsored the awards, which recognised achievements by businesses from Cumbria, north Lancashire and north Yorkshire.

Howard to run New York Marathon for St Mary's

On the 7th November, Howard Graves from Broughton Beck is to run the New York Marathon to raise funds for St Mary’s Hospice. The New York City Marathon is a major annual marathon covering a distance of 42.195 km / 26.219 miles. The course runs through all five boroughs of New York City. It is one of the largest marathons in the world, with 43,659 finishers in 2009. Along with the Boston Marathon and Chicago Marathon, it is among the pre-eminent long-distance annual running events in the United States.

Howard said “New York 2010 will be my first overseas marathon and I wanted to mark the occasion by raising money for my local hospice, St Mary's in Ulverston. St Mary's provides a fantastic service to the local community in Furness and the South Lakes region, but in the present economic climate needs even more help to raise funds so that it can maintain the vital work that it does.”

You can sponsor Howard at www.justgiving.com/howardgraves

Hospice Chief Executive Exclusive Interview

Further to the recent press coverage of the Hospices financial situation. Please follow the link below to see an interview with St Mary’s Chief Executive, Alan Lodge.

North West Evening Mail Interview

Interview Video

Skydivers raise £4522 for St Mary's!

Imagine standing at the edge of an open doorway in an aircraft flying at 10,000 feet - the noise of the engines and the wind ringing in your ears with only the outline of distant fields 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 29 people did on Saturday 11h September 2010 to help raise money for St Mary’s Hospice, which provides palliative and supportive care for those with life-limiting conditions 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. So far the total raised is an amazing £4522.15!!

Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations 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.”

If you feel brave enough and would like you name to take part in next year’s sponsored skydive please email events@stmaryshospice.org.uk

Barclays Bank Match Funds Hospice Events

We would like to thank the staff of Barclays Bank, Dalton Road, Barrow for taking part in the annual St Mary's Walk to Remember and raising a grand total of £722. Ladies from the branch raised £361 in sponsorship money which was kindly match funded by their employer.

In addition, we would also like to tank the branch for helping us in arranging our recent Race Night and helping us to raise £1034.65, which also attracted match funding from Barclays of £750. To raise a total of £1784.65 from the event is an amazing achievement and we are extremely grateful for their support.

The help we receive from the local community is very special and it is what enables St Mary's to continue to provide comprehensive supportive and palliative care for adults in South Cumbria.

Both awards from Barclays will prove to be highly beneficial to our Hospice and the many people in the local community we support.