Stamford Ladies Group Photo
Cake sales, coffee mornings, dinner parties, a fashion show, black-tie ball…and more
When one of her closest friends died of cancer Julie Gay teamed up with eight other women and set up the Stamford Ladies Fundraising Group to raise money for the Sue Ryder Thrope Hall Hospice in Peterborough.
‘Seeing the outstanding level of care at Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall really made me want to help in some way,’ says Julie, and I decided I wanted to do something that would keep the memory of my beautiful friend alive. I’m now working with a fantastic team of women, all of whom have lost loved ones that have been cared for at Thorpe Hall, and who share the same vision.’
Sue Ryder Thorpe Hall Hospice currently looks after around 500 people with terminal illness and has delivered palliative care to 55 Stamfordians in the last two years alone. Although this care is provided to the patients and their families for free, the annual cost of running the hospice is £3.4million, and more than two-thirds of this must be fundraised.
Since January 2019, when the group first formed, Stamford Ladies has already raised £2,400 for the hospice from a cake sale and two dinner parties. It now plans to hold coffee mornings, and a fashion show in Stamford later in the year. More recently, the group has been preparing for its most ambitious project yet—a charity ball, to be held in February at the Greetham Valley Golf Club.
‘Thinking up new fundraising ideas is both challenging and rewarding,’ says Julie, and we try to make the events as fun and life-affirming as possible to honour the strength of spirit of the friends and family we have lost, and also to contribute to making the final days of those residing at the hospice as comfortable and enjoyable as possible.’
