Founder member of St Mary's sadly passes away

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of one of the original founder members of St Mary’s and our dear friend, Nick Gosswinn. Nick died in Furness General Hospital on the 27th September after a period of illness.

In 2009 St Mary's reflected on 25 years of considerable achievement. To celebrate the occasion a tree planting ceremony took place - of a liquid amber tree - by the original founder members of the hospice (Pictured).

At the service Nick explained that back in 1984 Margaret Berry, Clarissa Kavanagh and himself came up with the raw idea of a Hospice for the South Cumbria area and worked extremely hard to make their vision a reality.

He said "We had a vision of a place of peace and tranquility and after a lot of heartache and headaches the Hospice was eventually opened (by Princess Diana) in 1990. It has since built a reputation as the centre of excellence where the treatment and care is unsurpassed."

Nick worked tirelessly for the charity and after its establishment worked as a volunteer in later years.

His funeral was held at Thorncliffe Crematorium on Friday 7th October.

He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

Hospice Hill Climb Series - All is well that ends well on Gamswell Fell

The final round of the Hospice hillclimb series took place on 1st September up the Gamswell hill course. 18 riders took part on a picture perfect evening and produced some seriously quick times.

Youth shone through with the overall win taken by Barrow Central Wheelers, Connor Furness clocking a lightning 5-27 and shaving over 40 seconds off his first go.

In the women’s category the win was taken by recently crowned (for a 9th time!) world masters champion Anne Plant, with 6-52.

The veteran’s category was hotly contested, and top wrinkly was Lakes Eammon Quinn at 6-27, taking over 30 seconds off his last time. Also competing was an interesting effort by local tri-athlete George Ambrose, who ditched the bike & ran the course!

The Mens category was taken by Scotty Smith, just missing out on the overall at 5-33.

Congratulations must go to the Barrow Central Wheelers who completed a clean sweep in the interclub event. Well done to the yellow menace for a comprehensive win and big turn out to all the races.

A huge thank you goes to the Ulverston Brewing Company for sponsoring this race and to all the businesses that have sponsored the other races. 4 £10 vouchers were handed out to the winners of each category at this event, along with 4 spot prizes kindly supplied by the Brewery.

None of the races would have taken place without the help of volunteers who gave up their free time to marshal, time keep, take photos, update websites, and give assistance. THANK YOU also to Steve, Ian, Wils, Andy, Miss Jenkinson, Zoe, Chadders, Ivor, Brenda & George, Tony, Mike, Claire, Allan, Pete, Charis, the Furness's, Roz & Flumps, the oldies, & Martyn.

We are delighted to announce that throughout the series we have raised £218.53 for St Mary’s Hospice, which is more than we had hoped for.

The organisers hope that everyone enjoyed a chance to have a go throughout the summer at what is usually an autumn sport and appreciate all the generosity in raising funds for the Hospice.

Thanks to everyone that had a go this year and we look forward to seeing you in 2012.

Howie Lindow

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!