The event was opened by Dartmouth’s Mayor, Councillor David Wells, who encouraged everyone to help raise money for the charity.
Children paraded their Easter Bonnets and Hats for the judging and prizes were awarded by the Town Crier, Les Ellis and his Consort, Liz, to the makers of the two best hats.
Forteen different local traders had stalls selling lots of interesting gifts, artwork, jewellery, cakes, books and crafts and the brilliant James Harris made great music on his saxophone during the afternoon.
The event raised a total of £1,087 which will help Children’s Hospice South West to provide essential specialist care and support for over 550 families with life-limited babies and children in the South West.
Volunteer Sue Tweed said ‘Discovering that your new baby or small child is likely to die before reaching adulthood must be devastating. Children’s Hospice South West exists to provide specialist care and support for these families through respite, palliative and bereavement care for the whole family, including sibling support.
‘Our Dartmouth & District Friends Group is one of many throughout the South West who organise local events to raise money and awareness for the charity to allow this essential care and support to continue to be given.’
Services are free to families who need CHSW because the charity believes that nothing should get in the way of very sick children receiving the very best care. It costs over £11 million every year to run their 3 hospices in the South West and less than a fifth of their expenditure is provided by government. The rest must be raised from fundraising.
New volunteers are always welcome at Dartmouth & District Friends Group, for as little or as much time as they want to contribute.
In the last year the Dartmouth & District Friends Group raised just over £17,000, an excellent result for a small group of regular volunteers plus other supporters helping as and when needed.
This friendly group help on the stalls, make cakes, donate toys, crafts, jigsaws, and other items that can be sold to raise as much money as possible for CHSW.
The group welcomes any offers of help and support, or opportunities to fundraise or talk about CHSW, from any person or organisation in the area.
Impressively, in almost 25 years as a fundraising group, they have raised £430,976.
In addition to this, direct donations made to CHSW, helped by group activities and awareness-raising in the area, have raised another £484,237 – a total of £915, 213. They’re aiming for the million!
Sue concluded ‘Thank you to everyone who helped, contributed, or attended our Easter Fair; we very much appreciate all the support we receive locally.
‘The event has raised a substantial sum to help Children’s Hospice South West to continue to make the most of short and precious lives.’ See our website for more pictures
For further information about the Friends Group or the charity, contact Sue Tweed on 07955 197721 or [email protected]. The website www.chsw.org.uk also gives lots more information.
