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.

Hill of an effort to raise Hospice funds

Joining forces to raise much-needed cash for St Mary’s Hospice, the Lakes Road Club and Barrow Central Wheelers have organised a series of cycling hill-climb races.

The first of the four races took place on Thursday night, with more than 30 riders taking part in the 1.6-mile Grizebeck Hill challenge.

Spectators braved the gusting winds to watch the cyclists whizz past.

Howard Lindow, event organiser, said: “The two clubs had wanted to do hill-climb racing for some time and we thought we may as well raise some money for the hospice at the same time. We managed to raise £60 for the hospice on the night.

“The weather stayed fine and we had plenty of supporters both on the roadside and in helping set up the race.”

"We had a load of volunteers turn up to assist and personally I think there was a real buzz about the evening. So Thank you all for your assistance so far and roll on the next climb at Gamswell."

Topmark Cycles, DC Cycles, Gill Cycles, The Ulverston Brewing Company and the Stone Workshop have all provided prizes for the winning cyclists.

There will be four categories in each race – 15 to 18-year-old juniors, men, women and over 45s.

For a run-down of the hill-climb series of races, visit the website at www.lakesroadclub.org.uk/hillclimbreports.php

Martyn Uttley was present taking photographs of the rather ashen-coloured riders as they crested the hill, and he'll be making these available through his website with all profits going to St Mary's: www.martynuttleyphotography.co.uk

Charity Casino Night raises £1400!

On Saturday 15th January 2011, Steve and Diane Hogan hosted a charity casino night at The Strawberry Hotel, Barrow-in-Furness. The event, raised £1,400, which has been shared equally between St Mary’s Hospice and The David Cole Training Fund for Oncology Nurses at Furness General Hospital.

Steve and Diane said they were delighted with the number of people who attended the event and by the generosity of everyone who donated raffle prizes and gave up their time to support the evening.

Urswick Charity Concert raises £3685!

Motivated by the loss of two friends, Brian Butterfield and Jimmy Spooner, local villagers organised a special concert at the Coot on the Tarn, Great Urswick on Friday 6th May 2011. The objective of the concert was to raise money for St Mary`s Hospice in appreciation for the superb care they have provided to all of the residents of Urswick and surrounding areas over recent years.

The concert, which featured Barrow Male Voice Choir, Jessika Gillam (saxophonist), Jessi Conway and Christopher Faulkner, was compared by John Mario. The Concert, was a resounding success and raised an amazing £3685.00.

The Village Organisers Damian Gorman, George Elwood, Edward Woodend and Martin Lloyd would sincerely like to thank everyone who supported the Concert. Special thanks go to all the local businesses and individuals (who are too numerous to mention individually), for providing sponsorship, donations and sales outlets.

Zoe Guest from St Mary’s Hospice said “St Mary’s relies heavily on the support of the local community and we cannot thank the organisers of the charity concert enough for all their hard work. To raise such a fantastic amount of money for the Hospice is greatly appreciated.”

Walk to Remember 2011 raises £46000!

This year 626 women came together to raise an estimated £46000 at our fifth annual St Mary’s Hospice - Walk to Remember on Friday 20th May. Hundreds of ladies dressed in pink packed into Barrow’s Asda car park before forming an eye-catching parade through the streets of Barrow to support St Mary’s.

Whether it was their first time or their fifth, every woman who tackled the seven-and-a-half-mile route was walking to remember a special someone and to help support the work of the charity.

Walkers enjoyed a five-minute warm-up courtesy of local gym instructor Kelly Brook from Nuffield Health, Barrow, and Dalton Leisure Centre.

This year the walkers were set on their way by Barrow deputy mayor, Councillor Wendy Maddox, just after 10pm. From there it was up and away past Barrow AFC’s Holker Street football ground and up Cemetery Hill towards Thorncliffe Road.

As far as the eye could see, a swarm of matching pink T-shirts flashing bunny ears, deely-boppers and crowns wove through the streets of Barrow, as groups of friends, family and colleagues tackled the two-to-three-hour walk together.

One brave woman taking part was Ami Beckman, 35, who was walking in memory of her husband, David, who died in March of a brain tumour. Still struggling to come to terms with the loss of her beloved husband she, Daisy the dog and 13 others managed to raise more than £1700 for the hospice which provided essential care in the home during the final few weeks of David’s life.

Speaking just before the walk, after a long drive from her home in Sunderland, the former Barrow woman said: “I just wanted to give something back to say thank you so much for looking after him.”

“This walk is to remember David. I’ll never forget him. It is also to give something back to the nurses, who are just so committed to what they do.”

“Taking part in the Walk to Remember is just so important in raising awareness and recognition of the great work the hospice does for so many people and the commitment of all the staff.”

Zoe Guest, fundraising and operations manager at St Mary’s Hospice, said: “On behalf of the fundraising team at St Mary’s Hospice, I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part, marshalled, and helped with making arrangements or registration of walkers at our Walk to Remember. We were delighted that we had 626 ladies taking part and we appreciate so much all the support that we received from everyone involved and the many people who sponsored them.”

“Without the support of the community of Furness and South Lakes we wouldn’t be able to help local people who require our care. A special thank you must go to Asda Barrow for all their support prior to the event and on the night, Paul Beddall of Beddall’s newsagents, who provided all the Mars bars for participants, BAE First Aiders, Bob Clegg, the team from Furness Peninsulas Rotary and the many other volunteers who came to help marshal at the event and keep everyone safe, as well as the Evening Mail and The Bay Radio, who promoted the event on our behalf, without any of whom it wouldn’t have been possible.

“We look forward to seeing everyone again in 2012.”

Thank you to BAE Systems Charity Quiz Team

We would like to thank Karen Ashdown and Robert Taylor for presenting £1362 to St Mary's Hospice on behalf of the BAE Systems Charity Quiz Team. The funds were raised at the Astute Charity Quiz and raffle event held in April. The funds raised will contribute towards specialist equipment to be purchased for the In-patient unit at St Mary's Hospice.