The team at St Mary’s were delighted to present a Barrow-in-Furness woman with a cheque for £10000 recently. The lady (who didn’t wish to be named) has been playing the St Mary’s Lottery for 12 years and was overwhelmed to be the 3rd ever winner of the rollover prize, which was introduced in 2010.

She said “We couldn’t believe it when the Hospice phoned. We have never won anything before. St Mary’s is such a very worthy cause and we will continue to support them.”

St Mary’s lottery was established in 1998 to support the work of the hospice. The lottery currently has over 7,000 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 the rollover prize starts at £200, this is increased by £200 each week and peaks at £10,000! There are also 12 other valuable cash prizes.

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.uk/lottery/join-our-lottery

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. Players must be 18 years or over.

2012 is a Leap Year and this means that St Mary’s has to find an extra days running costs. The additional day at the end of February will cost the charity an extra £6000 to run all of the services it provides. To help St Mary’s raise this extra funding the charity is asking all local people to donate small change and pennies on the 29th February in their Penny Pinching Challenge.

St Mary’s will distribute Penny Pinching boxes upon request during February and all you have to do is fill them! It is really simple and hopefully as many people as possible will come forward to help.

The Penny Pinching Challenge is a great event for schools to take part in. Schools can distribute our small Penny Pinching boxes to their pupils, and at the end of the Penny Pinching Challenge the children return the boxes to the school. At the end of the challenge period the hospice collects the returned boxes and our volunteers count the monies received. All participating schools will receive a certificate.

Alternatively, local people may wish to organise a small event or coffee morning on that date and place all funds into the challenge box provided.

To take part in any part of the Penny Pinching Challenge please call Lorraine, St Mary’s Hospice Fundraising Team on 01229 580305 or email events@stmaryshospice.org.uk 

St Mary’s Hospice is absolutely delighted that the Vintage Village Hall team will be hosting one of their famous pop-up fairs and tearooms to raise funds for the charity at Greenodd Village Hall on Sunday 29th April. 

At the event you will find amazing exhibitors offering: vintage clothing and accessories from the 1930s – 1970s, jewellery, homewares and much more. A special stall from the St Mary’s Hospice retail chain will also feature.

St Mary’s Hospice is hoping to have another barking-mad day out on Sunday 11th March when they host their second sponsored walk for dogs. They hope that a maximum of 50 owners will come forward to put their pooch to the test.

On Saturday 17th March, St Mary’s Hospice hopes to bring the sounds of Freddie Mercury, the greatest rock singer of all time to Dalton. Mercury, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen was famous for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range.

It is hoped that the outstanding tribute act “Deano” can recreate some of his magic when St Mary’s hosts a special evening at Dalton Cricket Club to raise funds for the charity. Starting at 7.30pm, DJ Billy will entertain the audience with up to date tunes and get the audience warmed up ready for the main performance.

Deano will capture the imagination of the audience with his amazing vocal and costume familiarity of Freddie Mercury himself and take the audience through one of the most explosive times in British Rock and Pop!...

Tickets are £10 to include a hot supper provided by the Bob Inn Cafe.

Deano has a worldwide following and has been pleasing audiences of all ages for many years with his unique voice and vocal style and his vast repertoire. The St Mary’s Fundraising team are sure that this event will soon be sold out.

For tickets call St Mary's on 01229 580305. Tickets can also be purchased at from St Mary’s or from with the St Mary’s Charity Shop in Dalton or Barrow.

On Tuesday 7th February, Zoe Guest St Mary’s Funding and Operations Manager and Hannah Priestley-Jukes our Business Administration apprentice were pleased to receive a cheque for £1000 at the ‘Tally Ho’ in Barrow-in-Furness from Hayley Mackay.

A Tribute 60th Birthday night was held in memory of Pamela Mackay at the ‘Tally Ho’. Many activities were held on the night including tombola, raffles, bands and bouncy castles.

A total of £1345 was raised; £345 had been kindly donated to the Oncology Unit at Furness General Hospital, with the rest of the proceeds donated to St. Mary’s.

Everyone at the hospice would like to thank the people that have supported the event, and the organisers for such a great achievement.

Help the Hospices are delighted to confirm that ITV’s charity appeal Text Santa appeal raised an incredible £4,120,000, of which £686,000 will be going towards supporting hospice care.

Funding & Operations Manager, Zoe Guest, said she was "delighted with the local community’s response to St Mary’s annual super draw ". Ticket sales reached a grand total of £32500. She expressed sincere thanks to all who bought tickets and supported St Mary’s who provides care for those with life limiting conditions in our local community.

On the first Sunday of September, hundreds of cyclists once again saddled up for the biggest cycling event in South Cumbria. I 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. In 2011 more than 360 riders lined up at Roose Conservative Club, in Barrow, for the event.

On 18th January, Zoe Guest from St Mary's Hospice was presented with £7700 by members of the Furness Rotary Club, which had been raised by event participants. This is in addition to money which is to be received directly from Just Giving from riders, which will make this amazing total even bigger!

A very big thank you goes out to Event co-ordinator Bill Nickson, and the team from Rotary Club of Furness, who organise the event every year. It has become a major event in the local calendar and the team at St Mary's cannot thank them enough for all their support this year and in the past.