Love Barrow Awards

Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager was delighted to be presented with £746.80 by two representatives from the junior wardens at St James school, Barrow-in-Furness, on Friday 1st April.

The money was raised in the raffle at the Love Barrow Awards where the wardens were nominees. St Mary’s were delighted to be the recipients of the funds for a second year running and appreciate the support of the Barrow community team who arranged the raffle.

Zoe said “I was fortunate enough this year to attend the Love Barrow Awards and was amazed at the generosity of all those who attended and raised money for St Mary’s. It was a fantastic event and I would like to thank the organisers for all their support.”

The Best Little Car in Furness!

Have you spotted the bright blue ‘bestof’ mini driving through the streets of Furness? The ‘bestof’car, sponsored by local businesses, including Poole Townsend, Owen Bayliss Digital CCTV Services and Melville & Co can be seen circulating in the local area.

All the sponsors are helping to raise money for St Mary’s to assist them to continue with the wonderful work they undertake. Owner of the ‘bestofbarrowandfurness’, Helen Penny is donating any surplus profit from sponsorship to St Mary’s Hospice in Ulverston.

Helen adds: “There are over 40 bestof cars up and down the UK – mainly Minis. I will be donating any profits after the cost of leasing, to St Mary’s Hospice, and hope to continue this for many years.

To date, we have three local businesses taking advantage of this unique way of promoting their companies and are talking to several others for future sponsorship. The more local sponsors, the more money we will be able to donate to St Mary’s.”

Zoe Guest, Funding Operations Manager, St Mary’s Hospice, comments: “We are delighted that Helen has decided to support St Mary’s through her new ‘bestof’ car. If Helen can sell the eight sponsorship spaces on her vehicle, which will be in circulation throughout the local area, it should result in a donation of over £3,000 each year to the Hospice”

For further details on how to become a sponsor of the ‘bestof’ car, contact Helen Penny on: (01229) 584641 or visit www.thebestof.co.uk/local/barrow-and-furness

A Premier Fundraising Day

The Bay Team were out and about on Sunday 27th March at Premier Tiles, Premier Business Park in Barrow. Dave and the team at Premier Tiles organised a fun day to accompany the grand opening of The Premier Times Natural Stone Showroom to raise funds for St Mary’s Hospice. There was a wonderful atmosphere and lots for all the family to do including a tombola, raffle, bouncy castle, refreshments and an appearance from the Bay bear. Premier Tiles also donated 5% of all sales on the day to St Mary’s Hospice.

Organisers were delighted that the event raised over £500 for St Mary’s and a big thank you goes to all how supported the event and all the businesses who provided raffle prizes.

The picture shows Dave Staunton and Zoe Guest drawing the raffle in the new natural stone showroom at Premier Tiles.

The raffle winners were as follows:-
Cath Kelly - 1 Hour Studio Shoot & Print Bundle donated by Shot At Photography, Barrow
Elissa Hill - Kodak Digital Photo Frame donated by KC Inks, Kendal
P Butcher - Manicure at Harmony Beauty, Cartmel
Linda Jackson - Gift Voucher donated by Harmony Beauty, Cartmel
Mike Sawrey - Voucher donated by Annie's Traditional Butchers, Ulverston
Bernard Whiteside - Gift Voucher donated by Cumbria Karting
R Kelly - Corporate Tickets for 4 People donated by Barrow AFC
A Walmsley - Gift Voucher for the Orangery Cafe donated by St Mary's Hospice
R Kelly - Massage Voucher donated by Nuffield health, Barrow
Mrs Reilly - Barrow RLFC Shirt donated by Barrow Rugby Club
Mike Sawrey - Easter Cake donated by Mr & Mrs A Hill
B Whiteside - Pair of Cinema Tickets donated by Apollo Cinemas, Barrow
Miss While - Pair of Cinema Tickets dontaed by Apollo Cinemas, Barrow
Jacko - Pair of Cinema Tickets dontaed by Apollo Cinemas, Barrow
Malcolm - Pair of Cinema Tickets dontaed by Apollo Cinemas, Barrow
Austin - Pair of Cinema Tickets dontaed by Apollo Cinemas, Barrow

Dr Helen Clayson receives bouquet of the week

The Trustees and staff nominated Dr Helen Clayson for the award of bouquet of the week with the Evening Mail in recognition of her hard work and dedication to St Mary’s over the last 16 years. Many local people have benefited from Helen’s expertise and she has touched the lives of many local families in her work as medical director at St Mary’s Hospice. She left the organisation on the 28th March at a time when hands-on care of people with advanced illness in the hospice and in their own homes is going from strength to strength and St Mary’s now helps more than double the number of people they were caring for a few years ago due to the addition of the hospice at home service, which Dr Clayson and the team instigated.

All the staff and volunteers wanted to recognise publicly Dr Clayson’s contribution as she headed off into semi-retirement.

Jenny Stalker, Matron said “Helen has been a wonderful doctor, who has helped so many people over the years. She will be missed by us all.”

Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager said “We all just wanted to say a big thank you to Helen for all her dedication to the charity and the empathy she has shown whilst dealing with hundreds of people and their families dealing with life-limiting conditions.”

Alex Tyson 3 Valleys Memorial Ride

The Alex Tyson 3 Valleys Memorial Ride took place on 18th September in 2010. The challenge was completed in memory of Alex Tyson. Alex was a keen cyclist, forming the Broughton Wheelers with like-minded friends, who take part in local and regional bike challenges. Alex bravely fought cancer for 2 years and sadly passed away in 2009 at the age of 45. Members of the Broughton Wheelers decided to host a mountain bike challenge in Alex’s memory. All of the 25 riders knew Alex as a friend, family
member or colleague.

The challenge was to cycle 50km off road from Broughton- in-Furness to Wast Water, by mountain bike, taking in the Duddon Valley, Eskdale and Wasdale – three of the Lake District’s most beautiful valleys.

All proceeds from the challenge were kindly donated to St Mary’s Hospice at Home service, who cared for Alex by day and importantly at night, in his last few weeks. £2500 was raised in sponsorship for the challenge and the team would like to thank all of the local businesses who supported the ride in their own way. Rider Paddy Gannon said “They helped us help St Mary’s Hospice.”

To date, approximately £6500 has been raised for St Mary’s in Alex’s memory by family, friends and
colleagues. St Mary’s would like to thank Alex’s loving wife, sister-in-law and niece for raising £1096, with the help of Haverigg Prison, by taking part in the St Mary’s Walk to Remember. A further £165 was raised when Alex’s colleagues decided to donate to the hospice rather than sending Christmas cards.

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. We cannot thank enough all of those who fundraised and gave in Alex’s memory to help support our work.

Thai Night raises £1300 to purchase new hoist

Furness Ladies Lions organized a Thai Evening at Barrow Golf Club on Saturday 19th March. The event raised £1300 towards the purchase of a hoist for our in-patient unit.

Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager, was delighted to be presented with the donation at the event, which was attended by over 80 people.

She said “ It was a fantastic evening. We cannot thank enough the ladies who arranged the evening, the caterers, dancers and all involved at Barrow golf club for all their hard work. To raise such a wonderful amount of money is amazing support for St Mary’s.”

Quiz Night raises £500!

The St Mary's Hospice Fundraising team would like to thank everyone who helped organise, provided a raffle prize and attended our Quiz night at Furness Cricket Club on Friday 11th March.

We are pleased to announce that during the evening we raised £500, which is a great support for St Mary’s and we are very grateful for all the help we received with this event.

A big thank you to everyone for their extremely generous support.