Charity Concert raises £1306!

A Charity Concert featuring the Elwy Singers and Dean Fawcett & friends recently raised £1306 for St Mary's Hospice. Organisers William Edmonds and Fred Davies presented the cheque to new Hospice Director Sue McGraw who was delighted with their fundraising efforts.

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

Tour de Furness Fun

On the first Sunday of September, hundreds of cyclists once again saddled up for the biggest cycling event in South Cumbria. It could easily be the peloton in the Tour de France, until you realise that many in the field are under four feet tall or riding on the back of dad’s bike. This is the Tour de Furness – not so much the world’s toughest cycle race, but more a nice leisurely ride for all the family.

Since the first event was organised in 1995 by local cyclist Bill Bartlett, the charity ride has raised thousands for St Mary’s and other good causes. Each year it has grown, and more than 400 riders lined up at Roose Conservative Club, in Barrow, on September 5 for this year’s event.

£7500 was raised for St Mary's Hospice at this year’s event. This fantastic amount was presented to Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager, by members of the Furness Rotary who are the race organisers. A very big thank you goes out to Event coordinator Bill Nickson, and the team from the Rotary Club of Furness. It has become a major event and St Mary’s cannot thank them enough for all their support.

Dougie Burrows Tribute Night raises £2623!

St Mary's Hospice would like to thank everyone who supported the Dougie Burrows Fundraising Night at the Netherfield Cricket Club in Kendal on the 26th March 2011. The grand total raised on the night was £2623!

Supporter of the fundraiser Steve Cullen would like to say: "A big thank you goes out all of the Netherfield Cricket Club staff involved and the Committee. Also to everyone who donated prizes, supported the raffle, bid on the auction and contributed to all the other fundraising that went on. We had a fabulous night of entertainment, provided by Kevin Fryer and Revival, and everyone who attended a packed house donated in one way or another to support St Mary's."

"A final thank you goes to Dot and all of the extended family for organising the event in tribute to Dougie who was a very popular and well loved character. I'm sure that wherever he was that night he had his feet tapping to 'Loch Lomond'."

Tara's Fundraising night raises £742!

Tara Bird (pictured) has raised £742 for St Mary's Hospice by organising a fundraising night at the Albion pub, Barrow-in-Furness, which took place on 19th February. Along with her darts team, Tara wished to repay the kindness that was shown to a relative as they were cared for by the nurses of St Mary's.

Tara put a great deal of effort into organising the event and managed to obtain 80 raffle prizes by approaching retailers in Barrow to ask for their support. Being a big Barrow Raiders fan, Tara also took a St Mary's collection box to a game and collected donations from the fans. Tara would like to thank all of the Raiders fans for their donations.

Thanks also go out to Landlady of The Albion, Lynda Potter who arranged and kindly paid for a DJ for the event, and to brave Martin Boylan who raised sponsorship on the night by having his head shaved and his legs waxed!

St Mary's would like to thank all of those involved in the Fundraising night. 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.

Priory raise £400 with Grand Raffle

Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager at St Mary's, was delighted to be presented with £400 by Wendy and Kelly from the Priory Hairdressers in Duke Street, Barrow.

The money was raised by staff and customers who bought tickets in their grand Christmas raffle. St Mary’s really appreciates all the support it receives from the local community and would like to thank everyone involved for their generosity.

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