On Friday 27th April, St Mary’s Hospice is hosting a cabaret night at Ulverston Sports and Social Club. The evening will commence at 7.30pm with well known, local entertainer, Brian Judge and his Swing N Blues Band. DJ Billy will then entertain the audience and get them warmed up ready for the main performance - Lareena the UK's No. 1 Adele Tribute Act.

Zoe Guest St Mary’s Hospice Funding & Operations Manager, was delighted to be presented with £568.32 by the Longmire family from Dalton-in-Furness. Jennifer, Sharon and Debbi had arranged a 40th Birthday party for Debbi and they asked all who attended to give a donation to St Mary’s instead of buying presents. This was done in memory of Robert Longmire, Sharon and Debbi's dad and Jennifer’s husband, who was cared for by the Hospice before he died.

The whole team at St Mary’s would like to thank the Longmire family for raising such an amazing amount of money and for all of their support.

Would you consider marking a special occasion by helping to fund the care we provide for people with life limiting illnesses? If you are up for the ultimate feel-good present then, in lieu of gifts, ask your friends and family to make a donation to St Mary's Hospice.  

Zoe Guest, Funding & Operations Manager was delighted to be presented with £421.57 by Steve Robson & Rebecca Rawlings from the Barrow Community Team, on Wednesday 14th March at St Mary's Hospice.

The money was raised in the raffle at this year’s Love Barrow Awards, which took place on 9th March. St Mary’s were very pleased to be one of the recipients of funds for a third year running and appreciate the support of the Barrow community team who arranged the raffle.

Zoe commented “We really appreciate all the support shown to us by everyone who attended the Love Barrow Awards. We were amazed to be chosen once again to receive money. The Love Barrow awards are a fantastic event and I would like to thank the organisers for all their support.”  

We would like to thank George Woods and his family for kindly donating £750 to St Mary's in memory of Brenda Woods. George presented the donation to St Mary’s Hospice at Home nurses who cared for Brenda in the comfort of her own home.

The Hospice at Home team provide specialised palliative and end of life nursing for patients with life-limiting illness in their own homes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The team offer one-to-one care specific to the patient's needs, which may includes hands-on-care, respite and overnight care to prevent carer fatigue.

For more information about our Hospice at Home service visit: http://www.stmaryshospice.org.uk/what-we-do/hospice-at-home 

We would like to thank Fiona Cook and Esther Cook for making the wonderful donation of a Musical Keyboard to St Mary's Hospice. The keyboard has been donated for the enjoyment of Day Hospice patients. Fiona and Esther are pictured presenting the keyboard to Hospice nurse Fiona Macdonald.

The St Mary's Day Hospice is a service for outpatients that provides medical advice from the Hospice Medical Director and nurses, as well as our Complementary Therapists who can help patients to develop their own coping strategies through group therapies such as relaxation, meditation, tai chi, movement and exercise. Volunteers also help out at the Day Hospice to provide the social aspects - there is always plenty of opportunity to get together for a chat and some fun.

For more information about the Day Hospice visit: http://www.stmaryshospice.org.uk/what-we-do/day-hospice

We were thrilled that 24 dogs and their owners turned up for our second sponsored dog walk “Paws for Thought” on Sunday 11th March. The weather stayed fine and all the pets put their best feet forward with their families to raise funds for St Mary’s.

“Paws for Thought” covered 2 miles and took place from Market Place, Dalton in Furness, starting at 1.30pm. The course took the owners and dogs towards Barrow-in-Furness before turning onto the Low Road at the bottom of Mill Brow. It was then back to the start for well-deserved treats for all the dogs.

A huge range of dogs took part in the event ranging from a Great Dane to a tiny Chihuahua and a very charismatic Daschund! All the participants went home very happy and for taking part they received a doggy bag and an engraved collar tag, which they can wear with pride.

We want to thank all those who took part and brought their canine friends to Dalton to raise money for the hospice. It is hoped that together participants will have raised lots of money for St Mary’s. We will certainly be running the event again soon and hope that even more dogs will come forward to take up the challenge.  

The staff of St Mary’s Hospice would like to thank the team from The Wilsons Arms at Torver for organizing and running a Wine Tasting Evening on Thursday 8th March at their establishment. We are delighted to announce that the team raised £500 from the event, which is a wonderful achievement.

The evening was a great success and our thanks go out to all of those who supported the event with raffle prizes or who participated. We really appreciate all of your support.

Leven Valley support Group proudly present The Fashion Olympics. The show is to be held at The Café Ambio, Lakeland Motor Museum, Backbarrow on Friday 20th April at 7.30pm. The evening will commence with a tour of The Motor Museum at 6pm. This will be followed by an Olympic themed Fashion Show by Two by Two of Ulverston.

Tickets are priced at £7.50, which includes entrance to The Motor Museum and the Fashion Show. Light refreshments will be served during the interval and a raffle will be held. All proceeds from the evening will be presented to St Mary's Hospice.

Come along for a wonderful evening out! For ticket information call the St Mary's Fundraising Team on 01229 580305.

Last year 620 ladies took part in St Mary’s Hospice ladies only moonlit sponsored walk raising £45,000. This was an amazing achievement, but this year, with your help, St Mary’s would like to at least equal that magnificent total.

Over the last 20 years, St Mary’s has grown and developed extensively, enabling the hospice to care for many more local people each year. The special care provided and support is beyond price for those who benefit, but is only possible because of the generosity of those who give.

In 2012, with the help of the community, St Mary’s needs to raise approximately £6,000 per day to cover the running costs of all their services.

It’s the sixth time that St Mary’s has organised a sponsored ladies only moonlit walk, but this year, for the first time, it starts from both Ulverston and Barrow. St Mary’s has introduced the new Walk to Remember Extra to try and attract more support and give local ladies a new challenge.

The original seven mile moonlit Walk to Remember starts from ASDA in Barrow at 10pm, but anyone who wants can now go the extra miles for St Mary’s and take part in the Walk to Remember Extra. This starts from St Mary’s Hospice, Ulverston, at 8.30pm and will cover for 11 miles. The two walks will join into one on Abbey Road, at the checkpoint at the bottom of Dalton Lane, Barrow where both routes meet.

The Walk to Remember 2012 and Walk to Remember extra take place on Friday May 18th. Both walks cost just £10 to register call 01229 580305 or visit http://www.stmaryshospice.org.uk/events/walk-to-remember

There is no minimum sponsorship but St Mary’s does respectfully ask that you try and raise as much as you possibly can. Why not ask your employer if they will match fund you?

If you would like to be involved in the event, but for whatever reason do not want to do the walk, how about volunteering your assistance on the night?

St Mary’s will need lots of help, both male and female, with stewarding, registration, refreshments and other duties. To register as a volunteer please contact the St Mary’s Hospice Fundraising Team on 01229 580305 any time between 8.30am and 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.

St Mary’s is delighted to announce that Chef Ooy, the No. 1 Thai celebrity Chef in the UK, will be hosting a second charity Thai Evening to raise funds for the Hospice on Wednesday 21st March at her restaurant in the Victoria Park Hotel, Barrow.

At the event, Thailand’s multi award winning queen of Oriental cooking will once again bring the finest cuisine of Asia to the people of Furness. All who attend will be able to enjoy a true Thai experience with a James Bond Theme twist.

Chef Ooy was the 2011 CN News Cumbria Business woman of the Year, the 2011 Food North West winner for Skills, winner of the 2011 SMARTA 100 Awards, she was the 2009 O2 North West Female Entrepreneur of the Year, a gold medal winner at the 2009 BFIIN Awards for education and in 2010 she was a runner up at the Ethnic Minority Business Forum Awards for Social Enterprise of the Year.

Chef Ooy and her team at the multi award winning educational school show the Northern School of Asian & Oriental Cooking has been to over 1100 schools & events in the last 5 years and she has appeared before more than 500,000 people.
Tickets for the event are only £10 and are available from St Mary’s Hospice. Tel: 01229 580305. However, numbers are strictly limited to 50 and anyone wishing to attend is advised to book tickets as soon as possible.

It is hoped that lots of money will be raised for St Mary’s on the night as Chef Ooy demonstrates how she produces her fantastic Asian & Oriental food. Her new recipe book and DVD will be available to purchase on the night.