Guest post: Sharon’s hospice fundraiser

Earlier this month, Sharon Turner held a big fundraising day at Stone Cricket Club to raise money for the Douglas Macmillan Hospice. If you went along, you’ll know what a great day it was, and thousands of pounds have been raised for the hospice. In this guest post, Sharon explains why she organised the event and how her friends and the community pulled together to make the event a huge success…

A lot of people asked me the question ‘Why did you want to do this?’.

It’s quite simple really.

In the last 18 months I have watched two special friends of mine and their families be totally devastated and heartbroken by losing a close member of their families through cancer. I felt their pain but also felt totally helpless.

Once the healing process began for them it was my time to do something for them. It just seemed right to pay back the Douglas Macmillan Hospice in Blurton for all their care and kindness when both families needed them. To do this I wanted to raise as much money as we could to pay them back for everything.

A dear friend of mine, Wendy Lyth, died back in June 2011 from a brain tumour. She had battled breast cancer many years previous and combated that but sadly, years later, secondary cancer set in. She died at the age of 67. Wendy, from Walton, was a jolly and most gentle lady who loved life and her family and friends. Always smiling. She was a lovely person to be around. Her wish was to die at home and the Macmillan nurses made that possible.

Ken Jones was a happy man who had a lot of dealings with the cricket world. He helped maintain the cricket grounds at Stone Cricket Club for many years. He was a true family man who loved his sport. Back in 2010 Ken was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Sadly, the hospital could do no more and he died at the age of 67. The Macmillan nurses also looked after Ken and made him as comfortable as they could when he needed it. Ken was that fond of the cricket world that he had his ashes scattered across Stone cricket ground.

We started the fundraising by choosing our venue – and where else would we choose but Stone Cricket Club? All the staff and committee were fantastic. Any problems or questions I had they solved.

People started to approach me to do sponsored events. In the end we had 12 more people wanting to be involved. They were Phynon Morris – sponsored chest wax; Lawrence Mccoll – sponsored chest wax; Gary Lyth – sponsored leg wax; Rachel Banks – sponsored half marathon; Tina Flannigan – sponsored half marathon; Charlie Richardson – sponsored silence; Jake Regan – sponsored silence; Chloe Edwards – sponsored week’s washing up; Joshua Cartwright – 100-length swim; Amanda Morton – sponsored 100-length swim; Nadine Schmid – sponsored 100-length swim; Helen Cartwright – sponsored 100-length swim.

On Saturday 3rd December Dave Johnson held a mountain bike ride at Cannock Chase. All entrants donated £5, which all went towards our funds. This made a total of £90, a great start!

On Sunday 4th December at 10am, the doors opened at Stone Cricket Club for a Zumbathon class held by Natasha Smith at £2 per person.

A lot of my friends turned up to pull together and get everything set up for the rest of the day. I am very proud and privileged to have such fantastic friends.

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The door was to open to the public at 2pm but by 1.30pm people started to flood in. We held several stalls from raffles, tombolas and archery to refreshments and auctions. The place was packed and the atmosphere was fantastic.

Young Stone musician Ben Owen came to entertain us, along with a young lady called Emily Davis. They were a pleasure to listen to and helped me to make this day very special.

We also held the sponsored waxing for everyone to join in if they fancied! Many eager people dropped a donation into the buckets to have a go, much to the victim’s disgust. Oh what fun we all had!

I cannot get over the generosity of all the busnesses that donated prizes and food. I would like to thank Alton Towers, Room 2 Room Interiors, Hilderstone Garage, Francesco’s, Barlaston Golf Club, Boots chemist, Walton Fish Bar, EWD Wholesalers, Wrights Pies, The Woolpack Inn at Weston, Mayfair Dry Cleaners, Ladbrokes, The Crown & Anchor, Morrissons, Dunoons, Clinton Cards, Deb’s Piercing, Butters John Bee, Kitson chemist, Big Boys Toys, The Red Lion, The Wash Tub, Trentham Gardens, Stone Computers and everyone else who donated items. I would also like to thank Ashcroft Park, Uttoxeter Road, for donating all their money they raised that day.

At around 6.30pm we lit two Chinese lanterns while Ben Owen sang ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams. It brought us back to what the day was all about. Two very special people, Wendy and Ken.

I cannot tell you exactly how much we have made just yet, but I know for sure its over £3000. We have done these two special people proud.

We are still waiting for the collection buckets to be counted and Barclays bank in Stone are matching us pound for pound on our raffle up to £700, and I can tell you we did that!

A good days work I feel for a fantastic charity and to remember two fantastic people.

Thank you Douglas Macmillan for all that you do.

Sharon will be presenting Douglas Macmillan Hospice with the fundraising cheque at 6.30pm on Saturday 14th January at Stone SP Cricket Club. Everyone is welcome to attend.