Theme: Fundraising

The St Ann’s Hospice Forget-me-not services held each summer provide an opportunity for both families and patients to come together and reflect.   

Rehab Assistant Practitioner at St Ann’s Hospice in Little Hulton, Rachel Bridge attended one of the Forget Me Not services last year.   

Rachel says as a staff member at St Ann’s Hospice, supporting families is “a crucial part of our role day to day”.   

“It’s about building relationships with patients and their families, and the families knowing that if they need anything, they can just ask with ease   

“It’s about consistency and being able to be there for families and gauging what kind of support they need. It could be offering someone a cup of tea and a chat or offering time to talk about their loved ones or how they are feeling.  

According to Rachel, the Forget-me-not services are needed to allow families to reconnect with St Ann’s following the passing of a loved one.   

“These services are often part of the grieving process for families. Having gone through that grieving process myself, it was important to be able to have a place to reflect. I still go to a remembrance service every year, and it’s a time to remember and reconnect with those who looked after my mum.  

St Ann’s Hospice has launched its Forget-me-not appeal where individuals can dedicate a forget-me-not to a loved one in the Memory Meadow via the St Ann’s website.   

The two St Ann’s Hospice Forget Me Not services will take place at the Heald Green and Little Hulton hospices on Saturday, June 14. The first will take place at Little Hulton at 10am with the Heald Green service commencing at 2pm.

To learn more about the appeal or to dedicate a flower in memory of a loved one in our online Memory Meadow, click here.

St Ann’s Forget Me Not services return this Saturday, June 14 and offer an opportunity for reflection and celebration of the lives of loved ones. 

My name is Sam, and I have been supporting St Ann’s Hospice since 2023, when my mum, Denise died here following a diagnosis of terminal cancer. 

My mum knew she didn’t want to die at home, she knew she wanted to go to a hospice, and in the end she chose St Ann’s, a charity she had placed in her Will. 

Mum didn’t last long at St Ann’s, only around six days. Her symptoms got so bad that she had to have a nurse with her around the clock to help manage them. 

The thing that stood out to me at that time was the nurses wanted to know all about her, they wanted to see photos of her. It just made such a difference that they really cared about her. 

When I was with mum at her bedside, I promised her that I would do whatever I could to raise money for St Ann’s to make sure that other people got the same care that we received. 

Even after she passed, St Ann’s helped me. They provided me with bereavement support and further counselling. 

I ran into a doctor from the Heald Green hospice who cared for her earlier this year. It’s been two years and he remembered her name, and which room she was in. I think that just shows the kind of place St Ann’s is. 

Having that support at the end of your life is so necessary. It takes stress off your shoulders knowing there are medical professionals there when you feel panicked.  

Knowing someone is always there, day and night to help you, having the space to be with mum when she died was everything.  

Please join me in supporting this year’s St Ann’s Forget Me Not appeal, every donation makes such a difference in the lives of families such as mine and it helps ensure patients will continue to receive the very best care at St Ann’s for years to come. 

To learn more about the appeal or to dedicate a flower in memory of a loved one in our online Memory Meadow, click here.

Vivienne’s husband Trev died in the care of St Ann’s in December and she is now donating his impressive Lego collection to the hospice as her way of giving back.

Trev’s extensive collection consists of dozens of models built over many years, including one of Old Trafford, the Titanic, and many more.

According to Vivienne, Trev fell back in love with Lego building when he was recovering from his initial bout with cancer of the head and neck which was caught early. He used to build Lego sets as a child.

“Up until then he would distract himself by completing jigsaws – it seemed almost pointless to spend hours on something to break it up and put it back in the box,” Vivienne said.

Click the Gallery above to view videos of Trevor’s Lego room.

Trev’s cancer returned in his lung in October 2020 and he completed a month of radiotherapy in December 2020. It was during this treatment that the Millennium Falcon model was completed.

He recovered again and life went on and according to Vivienne there was a lull in model construction from March 2021 until April 2023.

“By this time most rooms in the house had a Lego model in them. Everything from a Concorde on the coffee table, the Batcave in the office and an Aston Martin DB5 on top of the freezer,” Vivienne said.

In April 2023 Trev’s cancer had returned once again.

“While he was waiting to see if he was eligible for a clinical trial at the Christie, we made the decision to convert a garage into a Lego room.,” Vivienne said.

“During the clinical trial treatment, the Lego room took shape, trips to Ikea for robust shelving, despite protests from me. Trev painted the walls but did allow builders to lay the flooring.

“Boxes that contained the larger Lego models were covered with material and used as display stands,” she added.

In December 2023 Trev was taken off the trial as one of his tumours had grown outside the margins that the trial would allow so he was placed onto the conventional chemo infusions in January 2024.

“The Lego room still grew with some smaller easier models, a telephone box, a lighthouse, and more,” Vivienne said.

“In July 2024 we visited a Lego fair in Manchester where Trev purchased the Taj Mahal. This had been on his wish list but was difficult to find as it had been discontinued. Home it came and was the last model he completed in August 2024.

“Lego provided an excellent distraction not just for Trev but when friends came to visit, some with children, the construction of the Titanic or watching the light in the lighthouse flash or taking the pyramid apart was a far better topic of conversation than how the side effects of chemo had affected him or the balancing act of managing medication,” she added.

Vivienne says the decision to let the models go to auction was “not an easy one”.

“I have kept a couple of models for myself, but this is our way of giving something back to the Hospice.

“I learned that when Trev was in for what turned out to be his last 6 days at St Ann’s that they needed to raise £20,000 a day to continue providing care.

“Trev’s life ended in a pain free restful and comfortable environment where I was allowed to be his wife not his carer. That was a privilege and priceless to me. I do fear that there may be lots of Viv and Trev’s that may not have that dignified end unless sufficient funding is maintained hence why the monies raised from the auctioning of the Lego models will go to St Ann’s Hospice,” she added.

A sun-bathed Trafford played host to a 5k walk to mark Nurses’ Day 2025. The walk was organised by St Ann’s Hospice.

Click through the gallery below to see some of the pictures and videos from the day.

St Ann’s supporter Lisa Hillyard and a group of five others will be taking on a 24-hour AMRAP CrossFit marathon to raise funds for the hospice. 

The marathon will be taking place on Saturday, June 21. 

The marathon is a worldwide event with different teams competing. Every hour the team will be given an exercise and they will have 60 minutes to complete 500 reps. 

“We won’t even know what exercises will be doing until the beginning of each hour,” Lisa said.  

“So, to be able to stay in the competition we will have to persevere through every challenge. 

Lisa’s team will be seeing themselves complete workouts such as pull ups, box jumps, kettlebell swings, burpees, and much more. 

St Ann’s Hospice relies heavily on donations from the public and needs to raise approximately £20,000 a day to keep the two hospice sites operational. 

To learn more about Lisa’s challenge or to donate to her cause you can visit her JustGiving page, here. 

A Manchester based band are raising funds for St Ann’s through the purchase of a single dedicated to a friend who was cared for at the hospice.  

Band member Ben said that Peter had been a supporter of the band since they started around 18 months ago.  

“Pete was our drummer’s father-in-law. He was diagnosed with cancer, and it progressed really quickly,” Ben said.  

“He was only 54 years old when he died, he was very effusive about the care he had received at St Ann’s.”  

According to Ben, ‘Among Friends’ was Peter’s favourite song by the band. It has never been officially recorded and has only ever been played at live shows. The band decided to release a live recording in his honour and use it to raise funds for the hospice.  

“We wanted to raise awareness and raise a bit of money for other people who are going to go into care,” he said.  

“The family had a comforting experience with all of the staff at St Ann’s Hospice in Cheadle,” Ben added.  

By The Waves have just released their new single ‘Grey Car’ which is available to stream on Spotify. You can purchase the live recording of ‘Among Friends’ here. 

All proceeds from ‘Among Friends’ will be donated to St Ann’s Hospice. 

St Ann’s Hospice is launching a “brand new” fundraising initiative in partnership with Ford. 

Ford will be conducting a community test drive, using St Ann’s Hospice in Heald Green as a base on Saturday, May 10 from 9am to 5pm. 

The community test drive will see Ford bring a number of electric vehicles to the Heald Green site. For every unique household that drives a vehicle, St Ann’s will receive £30 from Ford. 

Head of Fundraising and Capital Campaign at St Ann’s Hospice, Anne-Marie Wynne said that the community test drive is an exciting opportunity to raise money for St Ann’s. 

“We are looking for 200 unique households to come and test drive an electric vehicle out of St Ann’s. It will be a short test drive around the area, and there are no strings attached. It’s just a great opportunity for people who are perhaps on the fence a little bit about an electric vehicle and don’t want the commitment of going to a showroom. It is also a great way of supporting St Ann’s Hospice,” Anne-Marie said. 

The event will be completely free to the public, and St Ann’s will receive a £30 donation from each unique household who test drives a car whether or not people commit to purchase a vehicle. 

Ian Cookson, General Manager of TrustFord Wilmslow expressed excitement about the event. 

“We are delighted to partner with Ford on this community initiative. St. Ann’s Hospice makes such a significant impact on our local area, and we’re excited to support them.  

There will also be a tombola on the day and it will also provide the opportunity for the public to come and see the St Ann’s site and see the progress of development at the new build next door which is nearing completion. 

A valid driving license is required on the day. To register your interest in a test drive please visit our website here where you will find a link to Ford’s Drive4URCommunity page.