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.”

Manchester to Blackpool Bike Ride

A big thank you goes out to all who took part in the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride on 10th July 2011 in aid of St Mary's Hospice, including Sandy Townsend (pictured), who raised a wonderful £600 for the charity!

Sandy commented on the event:

"At 2pm on Sunday afternoon, I crossed the finish line having started the ride at 8am. Not exactly the time I was aiming for but as you might expect the event did not run as smoothly as I would have liked!

The first 18 miles went without a snag and I was really enjoying myself, however just as the bunch of cyclists passed Standish Golf Club, I was overtaken by a fellow competitor and as he cut in and took my line his rear wheel caught mine and I was on the floor!

The cyclists to my rear did their best to avoid me but there was a bit of a pile up! Injured and bloody (someone else’s blood!)I was picked up from the road and two kind cyclists checked my bike over and dried my tears and I began mile 19/65. Cycled into torrential rain for the next half hour, followed by sharp showers for the following half hour. The dreadful weather was further compounded by my post crash bike having a bent handlebar and there was also something wrong with my gears. All I needed to do was get to the next mech stop, that was my goal.

Arrived at a sunny Preston Sports Arena and had my bars sorted. The crash had also bent a thingy which needed the doodah removing, straightening and then recalibrating. 20 mins or so later I was back on the road (with gears) for mile 48/65.

As I approached St Anne’s pier, the roar of three fans cheering me on (Julie, Mike and Max) gave me the extra bit of encouragement I needed to get me to the finish, also Mike explained that even with my bad luck, I was still in the top 50, out of about 8000 riders!

Next thing I knew I was crossing the finish line at the Solaris Centre, with my lovely Family who had placed themselves right at the chequered flag! And had waited quite some time!

I cycled to work, Monday and Tuesday with my aches and pains which made me realise, a bumped head, sore rump etc etc for a few days is NOTHING compared to the conditions some people have to endure for the rest of their lives. I am talking about the people that you have helped by donating your hard earned cash to a cause which is now very close to my heart.

Love and thanks

Rider 3509"

Furness Firecrackers Roller Marathon!

St Mary's Hospice would like to thank The Furness Firecrackers Team from GP Commissioning who took part in a Roller Marathon at Goodwood Park.

Team member Wendy Gillen comments on the event, "It was brilliant and wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be! We are definitely going to do it again next year, hopefully with a bigger team. I completed the marathon in 2 hours and 41 minutes. I have no blisters or aches or pains, so it was a complete success! All 6 of the Furness Firecrackers Team managed to complete the course to raise much needed cash for St Mary's Hospice."

So far the team has raised a fantastic £1300 and they are still collecting sponsorship until November. Well done girls!

17 strong group walks Cumbria Way to raise vital funds

A 17-strong group of walkers, led by Martin Hughes from Barrow, embarked upon the five-day trek along the Cumbria Way walk to Carlisle, from Ulverston in memory of Linda Hughes in June 2011.

The walk was held to raise money for St Mary’s Hospice, where Mr Hughes’ wife Linda was cared for before she died, aged 45, on the 10th September 2010.

On the 10th September 2011, the group gathered together again at the Brown Cow Inn, Dalton to present Zoe Guest from St Mary’s Hospice with £7765, which has been raised by all the participants for the charity.

The group is now planning to hold an annual fundraising event in Linda’s memory.

Mr Hughes said he was extremely grateful to Phil and Jenny Collier, who drove the group’s support car along the journey and ferried bits and pieces to them along the way.

Mr Hughes would also like to thank Tina Bayliss, Selina McKenna, Angela Forbes and Mandy Shaw for bringing daily supplies to the group.

Zoe Guest said “It is a fantastic achievement to raise such a significant amount of money for St Mary’s. We cannot thank Martin and the team enough for everything that they have done and really appreciate all the support shown to St Mary’s.”

Paws for Thought

We were delighted that 39 dogs and their owners turned up for our first ever sponsored dog walk “Paws for Thought” on Sunday 11th September. Despite the terrible weather, all the pets put their best feet forward with their families to raise funds for St Mary’s.

“Paws for Thought”, in memory of Family Support Team Leader, Mo Kirk, who sadly passed away recently, covered 1.5 miles and took place from Glaxo Sports and Social club, Ulverston.

The course took the owners and dogs towards the coast and then on a circuit of the playing fields. It was then back to the entrance for well-deserved refreshments for both adults and dogs. All dogs who took part in the event received an award for their participation.

It is hoped that together participants will have raised over £1200 for St Mary’s, which is a wonderful achievement. We will certainly be running the event in 2012 and hope that even more dogs will come forward to take the challenge.