MORE than £2,000 was raised at a Sunday lunch for St Richard's Hospice

THE Mayor of Malvern, Councillor Clive Hooper, held a fundraising lunch at St Richard's Hospice as part of his programme of events to support his nominated charity for the year. More than £2,000 was raised for the charity.

Speaking after the event last Sunday (4 February) Coun Hooper said: “I was delighted that the lunch was so successful and memorable in the hospice’s 40th year caring for patients and families. It would not have been possible without the tremendous support and help from the St. Richard’s team. The food was excellent and we had a splendid raffle raising over £1,000, with a first prize of a voucher for £100 generously donated by Anja Potze to spend in her Worcester jewellery shop.”

Jenny Cowpe, who chairs the board of trustees, welcomed everyone and the lunch concluded with guided tours of the hospice, after a short-illustrated talk by Prof. Richard Lewis, a vice-chairman of the trustees, who had been long associated with St Richard’s.

Coun Hooper concluded by saying, “Everyone was so full of praises about the lunch and how it was arranged, and I have had quite a lot of expressions of appreciation from those who attended. It gave us an opportunity, particularly, to make known the work of St Richard's to a wider community, predominantly those coming from Malvern. Judging from the response we had to the brilliant day, I imagine we may have recruited even more supporters of St Richard’s.”

St Richard’s Hospice was founded in 1984 and is a local independent, Worcestershire charity caring for adults with a serious progressive illness, improving their quality of life from diagnosis, during treatment to their last days and supporting those important to them.

Each year the hospice team supports more than 3,100 patients, family members and bereaved people in Worcestershire.

It costs £10.28m to run the hospice (22/23 audited accounts), which includes patient care and all the necessary support services.

St Richard’s relies on voluntary support, including from donations, gifts in wills, retail and events for the majority of its income with the remainder funded by the NHS.

For more information about St Richard’s Hospice visit www.strichards.org.uk