IN BRIEF
FUNDRAISERS GIVE BOOST
TO CLAIRE HOUSE SINGER FRANK TURNER
VISITS WIRRAL
A year of creative and innovative ideas by a Wirral
company's fundraising champions has raised thousands
of pounds for Claire House. Organised by Linghams Booksellers in Heswall, Frank
who is an English punk and folk singer - songwriter with
a huge fan base across the Globe, visited Wirral for an
intimate gig.
Efforts by Birkenhead-headquartered training provider Progress
to Excellence Ltd resulted in £4,467 being raised for the children’s
hospice after staff chose it as their charity to support throughout 2018.
An Easter egg hunt, an auction, St Patrick’s night event, Christmas
jumper day and the raffle of an extra day’s leave all contributed to
the total. Staff also manned the bar at Aintree Races and Wirral Beer
Festival, donating their pay to the Claire House fund. However, a large
individual donation came from Kaye Kelly, the company’s personal
development behaviours and welfare officer, whose daring 10,000-foot
freefall skydive raised more than £800.
Sue Porter of Linghams said: "We were thrilled to work with him and
what a gent he was. His interview was conducted by Ian Winwood
journalist for the Guardian, Kerrang and NME to name a few! They are
obviously great friends which came across as Frank was interviewed
for over an hour on his life, his book and his singing.
Damian Burdin, chief executive at Progress to Excellence Ltd, said:
“Each year our staff vote for the charity they want to support with
their amazing fundraising activities. Claire House was a deserving
choice as everyone here knows of the tremendous work done there to
create experiences that help bring back some normal life to families
functioning in extremely stressful and difficult situations. Our teams
are wonderful when it comes to freely giving their time and energy
to raise money for good causes and coming up with innovative and
original ideas not only to boost funds for local charities but also to
raise awareness of the work by these organisations in our community.
The past year has seen some great fundraising projects for Claire
House due to brilliant and fun ideas by our staff which will help the
hospice continue with its vital work.”
Jess Campbell, partnerships manager at Claire House, added: “We
were absolutely delighted when Progress to Excellence Ltd chose
Claire House as their 2018 charity of the year. In the past six years
referrals to Claire House have gone up by 84 per cent which means
our hospice can no longer cope with demand and we cannot stretch
what we have any further. We urgently need support now to increase
our services both in the hospice and out in the community so we can
be there wherever and whenever families need us.”
10 wirrallife.com
"He then sang 6 tracks for his fans including a brand new song. Frank
met, hugged and signed every book - the last person went through
the line at 1am! It was superb to have such an amazing singer at an
intimate gig with a fabulous crowd."
Signed books are available at Linghams Booksellers in Heswall - but
be quick as there aren't many left!