Ladies Thai Evening with Celebrity Chef Ooy

St Mary’s Hospice is delighted to announce that Chef Ooy, the No 1 Thai celebrity Chef in the UK will be hosting a Ladies Thai Evening on Wednesday 20th July at her restaurant in the Victoria Park Hotel in Barrow to raise funds for the Charity.

At the event, Thailand’s multi award winning queen of Oriental cooking will bring the finest cuisine of Asia to the people of Furness. All ladies who attend will be able to enjoy a true Thai experience with fruit punch on arrival, food tasting and traditional Thai dancing.

Chef Ooy is the only demo chef that does traditional Thai dancing with her Oriental dancers, she is the current CN News Cumbria Business woman of the Year, the current "Food North West" winner for Skills, current winner of SMARTA 100 Awards, she was the 2009 "O2" North West Female Entrepreneur of the Year, a gold medal winner at the 2009 BFIIN Awards for education and last year she was a runner up at the Ethnic Minority Business Forum Awards for Social Enterprise of the Year.

Chef Ooy and her team at the multi award winning educational school show the "Northern School of Asian & Oriental Cooking" has been to over 1100 schools & events in the last 5 years and has appeared before more than 500,000 people.

Tickets for the event are only £10 and are available from St Mary’s Hospice. Tel: 01229 580305. However, numbers are strictly limited and anyone wishing to attend is advised to book tickets as soon as possible.

It is hoped that lots of money will be raised for St Mary’s on the night as Chef Ooy and her dancers entertain the ladies and see her produce fantastic Asian & Oriental food.

Tour de Furness Fun

The ‘Tour de Furness’ charity cycle event is organised by the Rotary Club of Furness, to raise money for St Mary’s Hospice and other Rotary charities. The idea of the event is to get cyclists of all abilities joining in to have fun while raising money for local charity.

This year the event takes place on Sunday 4th September 2011.

The cycle routes will be very similar to the routes used last year. There will again be a family fun ride of 5 miles, the Tour de Furness route of 13 miles, which passes by Furness Abbey and for cycling enthusiasts there is the, Furness 50, which covers approximately 50 miles to Coniston and back in a figure of eight. Remember that the event is not a race, it is for fun so let us hope for fine weather on the first Sunday of September!

To register on-line or for further information please go to the event website www.tourdefurness.co.uk

FREE SPORTS FOR ALL AGES!

FREE sports will be on offer throughout the day on Sunday 10th July at lakes leisure Ulverston. The leisure centre is offering a wide range of activities free of charge on its annual Try Sports Day; this year the event is in partnership with St Mary’s Hospice who will be providing some great new activities and events to make Try Sports 2011 the best yet!

The idea behind Try Sports day is to encourage members of the local community to try a variety of different sports on the same day, learn a few skills and maybe even consider joining a local club or regular session. It is a really good chance to bring friends and family and have a go at some great sports together – free of charge!

Free sports available on the day include tennis, hockey, football, cricket, rugby, aikido, cardio tennis, ruggercise and even wrestling! There will also be a climbing wall and on site catering so bring a few pounds just in case (any money taken from the catering will go towards St Mary’s Hospice). Local clubs based at lakes leisure Ulverston will also be on hand to run sessions and offer advice and tips about joining up – whatever your age or ability!

Chris Brookshaw, Assistant Operations Manager at Ulverston and Try Sports organiser is looking forward to the event this year:

“We are hoping that Try Sports 2011 will be the best yet and we are really pleased to be working in partnership with St Mary’s Hospice, a fantastic local charity. There’s going to be loads of free sports on offer, the chance to meet our local clubs and a 1k and 5k fun run so come down and join in!”

New to the event this year is the 1k and 5k St Mary’s Hospice fun run. Why not come along and have a race against your friends or relatives or just join in for fun! The runs are open to all ages and abilities and cost £5 for adults, £3 for children or £10 for a family of four. You don’t need to raise any sponsorship to enter; all proceeds will go to the hospice.

There is a full programme of activities running during the day starting from 10.00am right through until 5.00pm, no need to book in advance just grab your trainers and head down to lakes leisure Ulverston…

For more information about Try Sports Day 2011 contact the centre on 01229 584110 or visit the website www.lakesleisure.org.uk/ulverston

Lakes Road Club 3 Lakes Summer Tour

This summer Ulverston Victoria High School teacher Stuart Emms, and a few friends from Lakes Road Club, are cycling from Lake Windermere (the biggest lake in England) to Lake Garda (the biggest lake in Italy). On the way, just for good measure, the cyclists intend to call in at the biggest lake in Germany - Bodensee. The group will set off on 23rd July 2011.

Why would he do this you ask? To support your local Hospice and you can help. You can support St Mary's Hospice by guessing the kilometres the group will ride in total from Windermere to Lake Garda. It is only £1 per guess and you can have as many guesses as you like. There is a £100 cash prize for the person who guesses correctly, failing that the nearest guess. In the event of a tie the winner will be drawn from a 'hat'.

You can enter by filling in your guess, name and a contact number at:
- Ulverston Victoria High School Reception
- St Mary's Hospice Shops: Ulverston, Dalton, Barrow & Grange
- The Orangery Cafe, St Mary's Hospice
- Top Mark, Greengate Street, Barrow in Furness
- DC Cycles, Upper Brook Street, Ulverston
- Contact Mr Emms at Ulverston Victoria High School

All proceeds will go to St Mary's Hospice.

Furness Building Society cooks up a delicious idea to support St Mary’s Hospice

Furness Building Society staff in Ulverston are putting on their aprons and rolling up their sleeves to support St Mary’s Hospice. The team will be baking sunflower-themed cupcakes to give away to customers in a drive to support the work of the hospice and promote the St Mary’s Affinity Account, which has raised more than £840,000 for the hospice since it was launched.

In preparation for the’ big bake the Ulverston branch staff will be attending a master class in how to make the best cupcakes run by catering students at Ulverston Victoria High School.

‘Sunflower Week’ at the branch starts on Monday June 27th and will run through to Ulverston Carnival on Saturday 2nd July, when the building society staff will be swapping their aprons for collecting buckets to support St Mary’s who are the main charity for the carnival.

During the week the branch in New Market Street will host a display for St Mary’s Hospice (for which the sunflower is a signature emblem) and will be encouraging visitors to the branch to consider opening a St Mary’s Hospice Affinity Account which earns a payment from the Society’s own funds based on the total balances in all of the accounts. Savers also get a better return on their money because the interest is calculated on the total balance in all of the accounts, and so qualifies for a higher rate of return.

In addition, the Hospice will have on sale sunflower cupcakes during sunflower week in The Orangery Café. The cupcakes will be donated by Windy Ash Cupcakes in Ulverston who will be supplying cupcakes each day freshly baked to their own exclusive recipe.

Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager for the Hospice, said “We are delighted with the support from Furness Building Society. The Affinity Account is a major fund-raiser for the Hospice and the special sunflower week is the perfect build up to the Carnival. We are also extremely grateful to Windy Ash Cupcakes for supplying some of their own delicious cakes to help us raise additional funds in our Orangery Café.”

For further information about the Furness Building Society Affinity Account scheme visit: http://www.furnessbs.co.uk/savings/affinity/

Pictured: Bob Cheetham from Windy Ash Bakery with Zoe Guest from St Mary's, Furness Building Society staff show off their baking skills

Carol Klein sings praises of Holker Garden Festival

Holker Garden Festival was once again a sign that summer had arrived in South Cumbria.

Thousands of people made the most of Friday and Saturday’s glorious weather and flocked to the annual gardening festival. The three-day event, hosted by the Cavendish family and sponsored by the North-West Evening Mail, is a celebration of stunning show gardens, local food and produce, and traditional skills.

The glorious sunshine made it perfect ice cream weather for festival-goers who descended for the perfect blend of horticultural celebration and family fun. Tents such as Made in Cumbria showcased the best of local produce, while show gardens and stalls kept browsers busy. Entertainment in the arena, which included horse-riding show Stallions of Substance and Terrier Racing, delighted the crowds who perched on haystacks in the seating area.

And the festival’s biggest fan this year came in the form of celebrity guest, BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Carol Klein. Carol was also guest of honour at last year’s event. Her enthusiasm for the event was infectious as she greeted visitors, posed for pictures, marvelled at the displays and perused the stalls.

She said: “I had such a brilliant time last year I brought my husband this year, I felt that he should not miss out because it is marvellous.

“How do they organise this weather? It is a beautiful show and it deserves it, it is a very joyous sort of occasion.

“It was my first time last year and I was so delighted to be asked back again. It’s so friendly and completely laid-back."

Carol also attended an auction to raise funds for St Mary’s Hospice. Once again very kindly hosted by Lord & Lady Cavendish and this year once again led by experienced auctioneer Mr Henry Bowring. The auction was a great success and raised £1990 for the Hospice.

Over the weekend St Mary’s was delighted to raise an amazing £5928.16 in total, and a big thank you goes out to everybody who supported St Mary’s throughout the weekend, provided auction prizes and contributed to help us raise such a magnificent total. The volunteer time provided to support this event was greatly appreciated.

Charity Concert presented by Seventh-day Adventist Church

The Dalton Seventh-day Adventist Church held a concert on Saturday the 7th May. Singers from the Midlands, Manchester and Preston sang gospel songs to the appreciation and enjoyment of an audience of local people and many who had travelled in for the occasion.

A collection was taken and the proceeds, some £354 was collected and presented to St Mary's Hospice.