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.

60's Night Success!

On Friday 4th March, St Mary’s Hospice hosted its first ever 60’s evening at Chequer’s Hotel in Dalton. The event was a great success and a crowd of 140 people were treated to the sound of the sixties as they were brought back to life by Pete Kassells, Second Edition, Biggles and DJ Billy.

The event raised £1200 for St Mary’s, which was a wonderful achievement and is thanks to the generosity of all those who attended and supported the raffle.

Attendees had a fantastic time as they travelled back to the time of peace signs, free love and flower power as the entertainers offered a retrospective of the songs that revolutionized the music industry. To add to the atmosphere, lots of people had taken the time to don their favourite bell bottoms, tie-dye shirts and love beads to put them in the mood for "grooving" to the very best tunes of the times. A prize was awarded for the best male and female fancy dress costume.

A big thank you goes to all the performers who gave up their time for FREE to make the evening so special, to all those who generously provided raffle prizes and to Chequers for hosting the event.

Morrisons staff take a fresh look at hospice care on visit to St Mary’s

After Morrisons stores raised more than £1.3 million for hospices across the UK, staff from the Barrow in Furness store visited St Mary’s Hospice to take a fresh look at hospice care in their local community.

The visit marked the end of the supermarket’s national Charity of the Year partnership with Help the Hospices, the leading charity supporting hospice care in the UK.

The Morrisons store in Barrow in Furness was twinned with St Mary’s hospice in Ulverston for 10 months, raising more than £6350.53 from collections, and events, which will help to provide care and support to people with life-limiting and terminal illnesses and their families in South Cumbria.

Staff from the Barrow in Furness Morrisons store celebrated the successful partnership by being given a tour of the hospice facilities and enjoying a cup of tea and a cake in the Hospice Orangery Cafe.

“Statistically around half of our customers are likely to know someone who has been cared for by a hospice. Seeing the work of St Mary’s Hospice up close and meeting people who have benefited from our support has shown us how vital these services are to local people and has given us a fresh perspective on hospice care in our community” stated Trish Carling, Administration Manager for the Barrow Store.

Zoe Guest from St Mary’s said: “Morrisons staff and customers have embraced hospice care throughout the partnership, coming up with some extremely creative fundraising ideas which have made a big difference to people facing the end of life and to their families. We are pleased to have given Morrisons staff the chance to see the impact of their support.”

All money raised by the store through staff fundraising will directly fund hospice services for people with life-limiting and terminal illnesses from South Cumbria.

Pictured: Trish Carling Administration Manager visits St Mary's Hospice and meets Funding & Operations Manager Zoe Guest

J M Western Dance raises £711!

St Mary's would like to thank J M Western dance for raising a fantastic £711 for the charity! The dance group held a line dance disco and raffle on Saturday 29th January at St Matthews Hall, Barrow in Furness. All proceeds from the dance were kindly donated.

Dance group leader Janet McKenna would like to thank all of her dance classes for coming to support the night.

Fundraising events help to raise awareness about the care that St Mary's Hospice provides, as well as raising much needed funds. If you would like to find out more about organising your own event, please visit http://www.stmaryshospice.org/events/hostanevent.php

Pictured: Janet McKenna and her line dance troop presenting the cheque for £711 to Angela Lafferty of the St Mary's Hospice at Home team

Models needed for 2011 Fashion Show

We are looking for models over 18 years of age, male and female, of all shapes and sizes, to take part in our fashion show on Thursday 14th April 2011 at The Nines, Barrow in Furness.

The event starts at 7.30pm but models will be expected to arrive earlier and the show may run until quite late. Models will perform on the catwalk in front of an audience, wearing fine clothing collections from the St Mary’s shops and Debenhams. Model hair styling will be by Paul French and makeup by Clarins, Lancome and Estee Lauder.

If you would like to take part please contact Hannah or Natalie on 01229 580305 or email hannah@stmaryshospice.org.uk

Closing date for model applications is Tuesday 1st march 2011.

Lucky lottery winner scoops £10000!

The St Mary’s lottery was established in 1998 to support the work of the hospice. The lottery currently has over 7,500 playing members and it has become a major source of sustainable funding for St Mary’s.

There is a prize fund of £1700 to be won each week! The top prize is £1000 and there is an additional rollover prize to be won starting at £200 and peaking at £10,000! There are also 12 other valuable cash prizes.

On the 16th February 2011, St Mary’s staff were delighted to present £10000 to the lucky winner of the latest rollover, Mrs Linda Gibson. Mrs Gibson was overwhelmed when she heard that she had who won the prize in the draw, which took place on the 11th February. She said “I cannot believe it. I don’t normally win anything. I was just so excited.”

It only costs £1 a week to play the St Mary’s lottery and with the opportunity to stand a chance of winning up to £10,000 while helping a local charity everyone should join! If you are not a member and would like to join then give the lottery team a call on 01229 580305 or visit http://www.stmaryshospice.org/lottery/joining.php

The lottery runs on a secure computer software programme specially designed for the purpose. Each new player is given a unique draw number, randomly generated by the computer. A draw takes place every Friday and the winners are randomly selected by the computer.

In addition, St Mary’s is delighted to announce that tickets for this year’s superdraw are now available. Tickets will be on sale until the start of December 2011 – so you have plenty of opportunity to buy them.

All supporters will once again have a chance of winning a brand new Ford Ka or one of many cash prizes. The brand new car will be supplied by Alan Myerscough Ltd of Ulverston. The lucky winner will be able to choose his or her new Ford KA from a limited selection.

To be in with a chance of winning the car or other cash prizes, all you need to do is buy a ticket at the very reasonable price of £1 each. Tickets are available from St Mary's Hospice Ulverston, St Mary’s Hospice shops throughout the area and Alan Myerscough Ltd Ulverston. For further information visit http://www.stmaryshospice.org/lottery/superdraw.php

Pictured: Lucky winner Mrs Linda Gibson receiving her cheque for £10000 from Ray Cassley, Sales Representative for St Mary's.