News 2009

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QEII High School year 9 children help Rebecca House

Year nine students from Queen Elizabeth II High School in Peel  presented Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager from Hospice Isle of Man with the magnificent sum of £826.63.
 The money is being donated to Hospice’s childrens’ unit, Rebecca House.

The children did a variety of fundraising activities including packing bags at Shoprite, a bright colours day held in memory of Connor Steventon (who was a student at QEII and sadly passed away at Rebecca House) and a Christmas Party.

Amanda Walker, Head of Key Stage 3 at QEII said: ‘I was very impressed by the way students responded to the charity fundraising project undertaken as part of their tutorial programme. Rebecca House was by far the most popular charity with the students due not only to Connor but also Jade Quirk, a fellow year nine student, who had attended Rebecca House and is now back at school and herself an active fund raiser after her own serious illness’.

Pictured back row left to right: Bethany Gale, Caitlin Dunn, Katie Watson, Mary Doyle, Alice Henderson, Lucas Croydon and Jordan Mclellan. Front row is Lucy Savage.

OSKARS DREAMS GET ARTY

A group of students from year nine at Queen Elizabeth II High School in Peel helped raise money for Oskar’s Dreams.

Jade Quirk and her friends raised the money at school during every break time.  They had
a table in the entrance hall set up with a glass jar of sweets for 'guess the amount of
sweets in the jar’ and a penguin that was 'guess the name of'.

It was carried out as a special school project with the group of girls thinking of ideas for fund raising for a charity of their choice and put the ideas into practice. The girls chose to raise money for Oskar's Dreams as they support Rebecca House, the children’s Hospice.

The group raised over £70 and bought art and craft accessories with the money. They chose this as Jade would love to use these type of toys when she was a patient at Rebecca House.

Pictured left to right is: Rachel Harrop, Mary Doyle PR and Marketing Manager of Hospice, Beth Vickers, Jade Quirk, Rachel Hopkinson, Aly Craig of Oskar’s Dreams, Moira Pain and Dawn Herbert also of Oskar’s Dreams.

JOHN CONQUERS AMERICA

Intrepid cyclist John de Weert presents his hard earned funds to the team at Rebecca House, Hospice Isle of Man’s children’s’ unit.

John started his 3,500-mile trip in Los Angeles and finished in Boston after cycling on
average 10 hours and 200 miles per day, three and a half weeks later. John thanked all his family, friends and all sponsors. He would particularly like to thank Shoprite for their generous top up to make a grand total of just over £1,200.

John is pictured handing over the final proceeds from his mammoth journey to team leader, Frances Bland and nurse Heather Speers. Also pictured is John’s son, Daniel, aged 12 who fractured his collar bone at cycling on the 21st of April – must be a family thing!

LOCAL HOLISTIC AND SPA THERAPIST RUNS FOR HOSPICE

Holistic and Spa therapist Dawne Watson is pictured presenting £1,560 to Hospice Isle of Man. Dawne ran both the New York and Paris marathons for this local charity. She presented the funds to Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager for Hospice. Her son, Alex, aged 9, is proudly wearing his Mum’s medal.

CHARITY FOOTBALL MATCH

Local company, DLP Limited organised a charity football match against B&B Furniture Limited in order to raise much needed funds for the children’s Hospice, Rebecca House.

The game played at Douglas High School Old Boys grounds on Blackberry Lane was a good hearted match with DLP being the eventual winners. The game had finished 4 – 4 after 90 minutes and was settled by a penalty shoot out which we won by 4 – 3.

The organiser Steve Noon would like to thank everyone who came along on the day, despite the awful weather, Karen and Alex for looking after the refreshments on the day and Stuart Eckton and Tom Maynard for their fund raising efforts.

Nick Parsons, Managing Director of DLP presented Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager, of Hospice with the grant total of £1,300.

Mary thanked Steve Noon, organiser of the football match and everyone involved in supporting this fun event and contributing to Rebecca House.

Nick said: ‘As a company we were delighted to be involved in helping raise these valuable funds and were delighted to be in a position double the amount raised.’

LOYD GROSSMAN TO VISIT THE ISLE OF MAN IN SEPTEMBER

Loyd Grossman, the world renowned food critic and TV presenter, is to visit the Isle of Man in early September for two events in aid of Hospice Isle of Man.

Loyd, also famous for his fabulous cooking sauces, plays guitar in a rock band and has agreed to play at Paramount City on Friday, 11^th September, 2009 in an over 18s only
 band night. Supporting Loyd’s band The New Forbidden, will be local talents, Anna Goldsmith and Uber Room. Tickets are available from Hospice Isle of Man and 3FM are priced at £10 each.

A black tie dinner will be held the following evening at the Sefton Hotel. Loyd will be the guest speaker. Tables and tickets are now available.

For further details on both events contact Angela Davies, events coordinator at Hospice Isle of Man on 647432.

Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager for Hospice said: ‘We are delighted that such an international renowned celebrity has taken time out of his busy schedule to come to the Isle of Man. The two events will be a lot of fun and help us continue to raise much needed funds.’

THE BIRTHDAY GIRLS

Pictured are Barbara Kniveton, Nicola Cain and Lynne Valerga presenting the proceeds of their birthday barn party to Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager for Hospice Isle of Man. The two sisters and niece decided to celebrate their birthdays in style by asking for donations to Rebecca House rather than birthday gifts.

Mary thanked the ladies for this lovely gesture and everyone that gave so generous to the birthday girls.

Year 7 Ballakermeen High School pupils silent efforts for charity

On 25^th March 2009 12 students from Year 7 at BHS spent the day in silence to raise money for the Hospice Isle of Man’s children unit, Rebecca House.

Following a talk from Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager and Caroline Cresswell, Family Services Manager, the students and their form tutor teacher discussed ways in which they could help raise money to donate to help children less fortunate than themselves.

The idea of staying quiet for a whole day, although challenging, appealed to students from the beginning. Their form tutor Louise Babb commented, "It's a way the students could actively participate in the fund raising, without it interrupting their studies, whilst showing to others what they were doing. All the pupils wanted to try and there was a lot of debate about which of them could last the entire day. I'm very proud of all of them for their efforts, and thankful to those people whose sponsorship raised such a large amount". 

Their efforts raised nearly £200. Mary Doyle, from H thanked Mrs Babb and the year 7 children from Ballakermeen High School for their endeavours in raising this much appreciated funds for Rebecca House.   

MAYOR SUPPORTS CARING MATTERS

The ex-Mayor of Douglas, Mrs Dot Pitts presented three local charities with funding towards costs of running their first ever carers’ conference from her Mayoral charity appeal recently.

The funds will help support the conference to be held on Wednesday, 27^th May, at Mount Murray between 9.30am-4pm. The conference is a joint initiative between Hospice Isle of Man, Crossroads Caring for Carers Isle of Man Limited and Manx Cancer Help.

Various speakers will be present throughout the day including a presentation by one young carer talking of her personal experiences. It is noted that at least three out of five people will become carers.  

Pictured left to right: Jackie Betteridge of Crossroads Caring Representatives, ex-Mayor Mrs Dot Pitts, Andrea Chambers of Manx Cancer Help and Wendy Smith of Hospice Isle of Man.

SHUGARF 

Thank you very much for your interest in project scHUGarf in aid of Hospice Isle of Man.

It would be great if as many people as possible could knit or crochet scarves.
It doesn’t matter what size or type of wool (although from my own efforts, bobbly wool covers a multitude of sins!).

Ideally we’ll end up with a number of different scarves, men’s, women’s and children’s
which I will then put into paper bags with handles (the sort you sometimes get in a deli) with the scHUGarf logo on them.

Hospice have kindly agreed to let me have a stall at their Christmas Fayre to sell the
scarves. Anyone who would like to assist that day would be more than welcome. It will be at the Villa Marina on 29th November.

If you don’t fancy knitting yourself, if you have any spare wool I’d be very grateful for it.

Thank you very much – happy knitting!

THE SCARVES THE LIMIT

A group of ladies from PKF (Isle of Man) LLC/West Corporation Limited in Douglas have got together to launch a new and exciting way of raising funds for Hospice Isle of Man.

They are asking people to get involved by knitting or crocheting scarves. It doesn’t matter what size or type of wool – just get involved!

Jill Turner, whose fantastic idea it was to get the Island knitting for Hospice, is hoping to end up with a large number of different scarves; men’s, women’s and children’s. Jill’s son, Sam, aged 7 has also got involved and knitted a scarf!

The scarves will be sold at Hospice’s Christmas fair on Sunday, 29th November, 2009 at the Villa Marina.

If you don’t fancy knitting but are happy to donate wool, or would like your scarf to be collected, please contact Jill on email turnerjill@ymail.com or alternatively contact the Hospice for further information on 647434.

The ladies have set a goal of 100 scarves – help them reach their goal by contacting Jill as above.

Pictured is Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager, for Hospice Isle of Man with the team as PKF (Isle of Man) LLC/West Corporation Limited; left to right (back row) are Andrea Lamb, Louise Watson, Emma Whyment, Paul Seaward, Jill Turner, Brian Stephenson, Margaret Thomas and Isobel Foster. Front row is Joan Slack, Sam Turner (age 7) and Stacey Davidson.

CELTON MANX LIMITED  WEST HAM MASCOT

Celton Manx Limited have arranged a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity for three people (two adults and a child) to fly to London to watch the West Ham United game against Liverpool on Saturday 9^th May 2009. Jack will be the mascot at this game, walking the West Ham team out. Lunch will be provided in the Penthouse suite, the Grace family will then watch the game from the Director’s box.  

Jack, pictured in the West Ham kit, was really excited and looking forward to the big day. He thanked Bill for this fantastic opportunity. He also thanked his Dad, Mark who had been the successful bidder for this fabulous auction prize at the recent Oskar’s Dreams, James Martin dinner. The prize had been donated to Hospice Isle of Man by Celton Manx to help raise valuable funds for this local charity.

Jack Grace, aged 11, is pictured with Bill Mummery of Celton Manx Limited, his Dad, Mark and Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager of Hospice Isle of Man.

THE ROYAL NAVY VISIT HOSPICE ISLE OF MAN

The Royal Navy visited the Isle of Man recently. As part of HMS Walney’s visit,
officers from the ship took time out of their schedule to visit and present proceeds of a fundraising effort to Margaret Simpson, Chief Executive of Hospice Isle of Man. The officers enjoyed a visit to the children's unit, Rebecca House meeting staff, patients and their families.

The visit was organised by Mrs Una Johnson MBE who is the liaison officer for the Royal Navy on the Island. The money was raised by the ships’ crew donating their Manx coins and a general ‘whip around’.

Pictured is Lieutenant Commander Tim Green and his crew during a visit to Rebecca House.

SUNSET ISLAND FESTIVAL PRESENTATION TO HOSPICE ISLE OF MAN

The Sunset Island Festival charity was launched in April 2008 to raise funds for local charities. In 2008 they agreed to raise much needed funds for the Lymphoedema services at Hospice Isle of Man. Lymphoedema is a swelling that can occur anywhere in the body when the lymphatic system no longer functions as it should.

Chris Barr, Chairman and Carole Male, Events Organiser for the charity got together with
a small group of friends and set about organising a variety of key events, ranging from Peel Pirates Day, a Race Night, a Loud Shirt Day, a Sex in the City night and a ‘Chocoholics and Cabaret’ night during 2008. Through their team’s hard work they raised the princely sum of £35,000.

Chris, 55, a solicitor, had attended the Hospice clinic and decided along with other committee members to help raise funds to allow this essential service to continue its good work.

Chris said: ‘As a breast cancer patient, who has used and benefited from the fantastic services provided by Hospice, I felt it was time to give something back.

Carole added: ‘It has a good year with some great events and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our sponsors, in particular Bridson and Horrox, my fellow committee members and everyone involved in raising this amount. I would also like to thank local businessman Mr Albert Gubay and the Anglo International Group for supporting us in so many ways during what has been a very busy year.’

Margaret Simpson, Chief Executive of Hospice Isle of Man thanked the Sunset Island Festival team for all their hard work and involvement with Hospice during 2008. Margaret continued by offering them the best of luck raising funds for another local charity during 2009.

Pictured is Chris Barr, chairman of Sunset Island Festival with fellow committee members presenting £35,000 to Margaret Simpson, Chief Executive of Hospice Isle of Man. The amount is the proceeds of the team’s hard work for the lymphoedema services offered at Hospice Isle of Man.

Pictured left to right:

John Wannenburgh –IOM Sporting and Dining Club
Steph Tiesteel- 3fm
Margaret Simpson - Hospice IOM
Melanie Steel – Anglo International
Chris Barr – Anglo International
Carole Male - Manx Gas
Emma Morter- Sunset Island Charity
George Campbell – Bradford & Bingley International

ST JOHN’S PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN RAISE LOTS OF MONEY FOR REBECCA HOUSE!

hree children from St John’s Primary School got together recently and raised lots of money for Rebecca House by selling Easter bunnies to their school friends. Ethan and Mailie Herbert along with James Craig talked at their school assembly about why they were fundraising for Rebecca House. The children raised the princely sum of £245 in total.

Pictured are Ethan Herbert, aged 10, Jaime Craig 9 and Mailie Herbert aged 9 with their Easter bunnies.

REBECCA HOUSE - MANOR PARK SCHOOL CAKE SALE

Manor Park Primary school council organised a cake sale that raised £250 in aid of Rebecca House. The whole school got behind the idea of selling delicious home made cakes and raising much needed funds to help Hospice Isle of Man children’s unit Rebecca House.

Pictured are Mary Doyle, Carole Whitfield and Angela Davies from the Fundraising team of Hospice Isle of Man with members of the School’s council: year 2 Ciaran Smith aged 6, Katie Beedie (7); year 3 Jake Pressley and Lakeisha Bates, both aged 8; year 4 Courtney Shimmin, Michael Glennon; year 5 Ryan Larter and Carly King – all aged nine

WALK THE WALK FOR HOSPICE ISLE OF MAN
TEAM HOSPICE ISLE OF MAN PARISH WALKERS

Team Hospice Isle of Man Parish walkers got together recently to chat about training and how their fundraising efforts were going.

During the meeting the team were presented their specially designed hi-viz tabards by the
Chief Executive of Hospice Isle of Man, Margaret Simpson. Margaret used the opportunity
to thank the walkers for supporting the charity and said she was hoping for better weather this year than the 2008 event!

If you are interested in walking this year’s CMI Parish Walk please contact the Fundraising team on 647434.

THE FABULOUS FOX GIRLS

EXTREME GIFTS TO REBECCA HOUSE

Staff at Rebecca House, the children’s Hospice, based at Strang, Braddan were delighted to receive a wide range of toys from Lee Watson of Extreme Arts and Gadgets.

Frances Bland, team leader for Rebecca House said: ‘We really appreciate Lee’s kind
gesture to provide toys for the children. The toys will be put to good use by the children
that attend Rebecca House and I would like to thank Lee for this generous presentation.’

Pictured left to right is stand up cardboard Vicky Pollard, Lee Watson of Extreme Arts and Gadgets presenting lots of lovely toys to team leader for Rebecca House, Frances Bland and nursery nurse Terri Cook. 

CHILDREN GIVING TO LESS FORTUNATE CHILDREN

Four little girls from Foxdale had the fantastic idea of helping children less fortunate than themselves by making hundreds of little fairy dolls to sell.

The dolls were sold to their friends and family – raising the girls £250 to give to Rebecca House, the children’s unit of Rebecca House.  They also made chocolate Christmas trees.

 Pictured (left to right) Mary Doyle, PR & Marketing Manager of Hospice Isle of Man pictured with the Fox girls, Ellen (6) Orla (9), Katie (7) and their hand made fairy dolls presented Vicki Quayle, a nurse in Rebecca House with a cheque for £250. Also pictured is Lilee aged 1.

CHAMPAGNE AND CANAPES IN AID OF REBECCA HOUSE

A wonderful evening of champagne and canapés was held recently in St Jude’s at the home of Susan Dixon in aid of the children’s Hospice, Rebecca House.

During the evening, which included a fashion show of the Carlisle Collection, a fabulous raffle was held. One of the lucky winners of two Manx2 tickets was Jeanne Eriksen.

Jeanne is pictured with Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager for Hospice Isle of Man and Ann Hartley from Manx2 receiving her tickets!

Jeanne was absolutely thrilled to win the tickets stating: ‘I never win anything so I
am really looking forward to using them and visiting one of the destinations Manx2 fly to.’

CHRISTMAS DAY ON THE HIMALAYANAS

Clive Williams gave up his Christmas dinner last year but all in a good cause – Clive spent three weeks in temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees for Hospice Isle of Man. He climbed to the ice base of Annapurna 1.

Clive having been touched by the exceptional work of the team in Hospice is pictured handing over his sponsorship proceeds to Mary Doyle, PR and Marketing Manager and Frances Moore of the Fundraising Department.

OSKAR’S DREAMS FAMILY FUN DAY

A family fun day raised valuable funds for Oskar’s Dreams. The event was held in
the grounds of the Nunnery with the marquee being sponsored by local company Equiom; MannVend sponsored all the drinks. There was a barbecue, bouncy castle, face painting and all the usual fun activities for all the family. A special guest appearance was made by the Cadburys Crème egg car with every child going home with a goody bag!

Nearly £6,000 was raised during the day which included a raffle and an auction.

Presentation of the final amount was made by the team behind the event of Tracey Leahy, Tracy Keig, Natalie Radford, Wendy Blake (not pictured) and Kathryn Ellis (not pictured) who recently handed over the proceeds to Oskar’s Dreams members Dawn Herbert and Aly Craig. Terri Cook and Debbie Jallow from Rebecca House were also present and took the opportunity to thank everyone involved in this fun event.

Oskar’s Dreams have to date raised over £260,000 to help support the fantastic work carried out by the staff at Rebecca House, Hospice Isle of Man children’s unit.

OSKAR’S DREAMS -  ILS STAFF DRESS DOWN FOR OSKAR’S DREAMS

Staff from local company ILS Fiduciaries (Isle of Man) Limited presented the proceeds of their dress down days held during 2008 to Oskar’s Dreams recently.

The sum of £500 has been used to purchase some ‘fun’ equipment for the children at Hospice Isle of Man’s children unit, Rebecca House.

OSKAR’S DREAMS – REBECCA HOUSE CATERPILLAR 

Oskar’s Dreams were very proud to be able to donate pieces of sensory equipment
to Rebecca House recently. The amount of £8,489 paid for the Caterpillar (pictured)
a music box and further equipment for the Dream Room. The Dream room is a
multi-sensory interactive room used by the children that attend Rebecca House, the children’s unit of Hospice Isle of Man.

A heated waterbed is one of the items that they were very happy to provide as a similar bed in Claire House (the children’s Hospice on the Wirral) was one of Oskar’s favourite places to relax.

Dawn Herbert of Oskar’s Dreams said: ‘I would like to say thank you to everyone
who gave and continues to give their support to our charity. Feedback from the staff at Rebecca House is that the children really love their new toys. We will continue to try and make the lives of the children that attend Rebecca House happy and to make them smile.’