Anyone for cricket?

Birmingham House held a Cricket Match and a Cake Day recently, raising an impressive £350.  The money is being donated to local charities, Military Patients and the Neonatal Unit at the hospital.



The cricket match took place at the nearby Saltley Leisure Centre, and members of the night and twilight staff played their parts well.  In the end the match was won by the night team, who beat the twilight team in both innings.  A fun day out was had by all, players and spectators alike.



Meanwhile Jo Hall and Teresa Hughes sold cakes to staff, which had been made by Jo, Angela Knight, Ann Windmill and Gail Butler.

[caption id="attachment_1125" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Cakes aplenty!"][/caption]

Staff unrecognised at work

[caption id="attachment_1113" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Paul Latham and Richard Hartley. Or is Bart Simpson and Marilyn Monroe?"][/caption]

Along with tea parties and cake bakes Plymouth Group held a Fancy Dress day, as part of their 'final push' to raise funds for Community Week.

Mel Howes, Secretary at Plymouth, organised the fancy dress day. The total amount raised between their fancy dress escapades, tea party and breakfast morning came to a fantastic £241in aid of Children's Hospice South West Precious Lives appeal.

The ‘dressed’ on the day were: Marion Henry (SBR) as Wonderwoman, Ross Smith (SBR) as a Pirate, Richard Hartley as a woman, Paul Latham as a skateboarder, Mel Howes as Cruella de Vil, Di Parker (CS) as a little devil, Kathy Ball (CS) as a hawaiian girl and last but not least Ken Woods as a 70’s rock star.

Liverpool's running total...

Liverpool House have been literally running around raising money for Community Week, in particular for cancer charities.

[caption id="attachment_1107" align="alignleft" width="124"] Brian Murphy after his marathon run[/caption]

Brian Murphy ran a half marathon and raised £542 for three charities: Zoe's Place, Macmillan and a local charity called Cry.

Louise Broadhurst, Liverpool transport manager, who lost her mum to cancer in January, raised £255 by running the Cancer Research Race for Life.

Night staff and NRS staff joined in with Nottingham House in the inter house football tournament and raised £140 which went to Clatterbridge Cancer Hospital.

[caption id="attachment_1108" align="aligncenter" width="519"] Race for LIfe ladies[/caption]

And Matt Tyrer held a charity night in honour of his dad Monty Tyrer whom he lost to cancer in April - raising £740 for Clatterbridge Cancer Hospital.

What an amazing amount of money raised altogether - well done Liverpool!

NAC active for charity

Amongst other things the NAC held a sponsored walk and a car wash as part of their Community Week efforts.

A group of fifteen walkers plus one dog arrived at the NAC on a Saturday morning equipped for all weathers. After a two and a half hour gruelling 10km walk along the Spen Valley Greenway, collecting a few blisters and aching feet along the way, they arrived at the Ship Inn, Mirfield, for some well-deserved liquid refreshment. Sponsorship currently stands at £500 raised - congratulations to those who took part!

[caption id="attachment_1098" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="NAC walkers en route"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1099" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Catching a lift?"][/caption]

And their car wash volunteers set straight to the task at 9.00 am.  Having studied the in-depth instructions on how to wash a vehicle, getting to grips with a kinky hose, and the logistics of staff moving cars to the designated area at the allotted time, the operation ran smoothly (as long as you didn’t mind getting your feet wet). Twenty four cars were washed in total by a team of 22 volunteers, who raised £120! The car park has never had so many shiny vehicles in it and there were no complaints from the car owners. A big thank you to all involved!

Slough's turn for the footie

[caption id="attachment_1081" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Kamran heading for a goal, to bring his Day Pack team back in the game"][/caption]

Well done to Slough House who held a charity football match for Community Week,  and raised £90 on the day.
 
They had two teams of 5, Day Pack team Vs Twilight.  The final score was 7-7, but Twilight clinched the game on penalties. 

[caption id="attachment_1082" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The winning Twilight team, with Alan Bowen, Slough House Manager"][/caption]

Bristol Group mind their Bs....

Well, we may have thought that the Plymouth Group had devised one of the more unusual methods of fundraising, with their fishy pedicures, but really, hats off to Maria Newport, Brislington SAP HR.  Maria volunteered to sit in a bath and be subjected to a shower of baked beans, with her colleagues paying to tip them in!

As well as the baked bean bath, the Bristol Group held a 'Burst a Balloon' competition, where some of the balloons had 'You're a winner' tickets inside, and a Bacon Roll sale - not sure Maria was too hungry!  Raised so far with these events - £290 for their chosen charities.

[caption id="attachment_1073" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Brave Maria Newport 'beaning it' for charity"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1072" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Mmm, nice colleagues Maria!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1075" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Someone's a winner..."][/caption]

Gigs and gardens for MSC

Worcester MSC have stepped it up a gear with their fundraising and community work.  They held a gig on 23 June at the Marrs Bar in Worcester in aid of their charity, Acorns.

The 3 bands - Arturo, FTB and Hades the Cat - all played for free on the night and all door donations were collected for Acorns.  The bands all had current or ex Smiths News staff as members.  They raised a wonderful £210 on the night.

[caption id="attachment_1050" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="At the Marrs Bar"][/caption]

They also got a group together to start a gardening project at Acorns.  They were asked to hire a skip and clear away 18 months' worth of garden waste!  2 skips later they'd managed to clear the debris.  The gardening project is ongoing, with the MSC 'adopting' an area of Acorns garden to upkeep on a regular basis.  They have big plans for their plot, including composting the garden waste and screening it off with a trellis.  They also plan to raise more funds to pay for fencing and some apple trees.

[caption id="attachment_1051" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Working at Acorns"][/caption]

The helpers in the garden were: Vicky Wheeldon and her sons Jamie and Sam, Mark Falcon, Darren Clark, Andy Walls, Laura McDonald, Andy Wheeldon, Tracey Harper and her daughter Chloe.

[caption id="attachment_1057" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Getting stuck in!"][/caption]