The Help Our Hospice year so far... FEBRUARY 23 THE Ely Standard Help Our Hospice campaign is launched with a front-page article by editor Debbie Davies. MARCH SOHAM Comrades Club staged a fund-raising event, featuring two of the district s hottest act

The Help Our Hospice year so far...

FEBRUARY 23

THE Ely Standard Help Our Hospice campaign is launched with a front-page article by editor Debbie Davies.

MARCH

SOHAM Comrades' Club staged a fund-raising event, featuring two of the district's hottest acts, Akimbo and up-and coming rockers The Strays, raising £1616 for the Milton Hospice.ELY-Hereward Rotary Club donated £500 to EACH when fund-raiser Tracey Tingey dropped in to give a talk about the charity's work.MARATHON man Mark Hurworth announced he would run the London Marathon, the Great North Run and the Great South Run in aid of the hospice.FOUR staff members at the Causeway Day Centre in Soham held a dinner party and charity auction, attended by more than 50 people. Radio Cambridgeshire's Paula Dolan and auctioneer Richard Palmer gave their services for free.A TABLE-TOP sale was held at the Village Centre in Little Downham.EACH was given a new people-carrier, worth more than £15,000 by the popular morning show GMTV to transport the young people at Milton Hospice.STAFF at Boots in Ely generously decided to donate £100 left over from social funds to the campaign.THE Gift of Care campaign was launched, encouraging people to contribute to the hospice as a gift to a loved one.A £15 gift would pay for a play therapy session, or contribute to a music therapy or respite care session at Milton Children's Hospice.KERRY Giles-Brown of Littleport told us she would be heading down to Bungay take part in a half-marathon in aid of the Milton Hospice.

APRIL

LITTLEPORT Ex-Servicemen's Club held a charity concert and party.MILTON Hospice announced that World Cup England badges would go on sale, with all proceeds going to EACH.EAST Cambridgeshire band ERROR 404 donated £473.45 to the Ely Standard's Help Our Hospice Campaign, after staging two concerts.BIG-HEARTED beer drinkers from Wilburton donated £400 from the previous year's beer festival.BARRY Lonsdale, owner of Cloisters Antiques, signed up to the 1001 mobile phones campaign - you can now drop off your unwanted mobile phone at his Lynn Road shop.The Cambridge Building Society in High Street, Ely and the Ely Standard's offices at 38 in Market Street, and the Littleport Leisure Centre are also drop-off points for phones.ELY'S Atrium Club really got stuck in to the campaign, and sold Mother's Day gift vouchers for the appeal, as well as hosting a scuba diving session to raise money and told us they would be a mobile phone collection point.A CAKE stall and raffle at the Littleport Bargain Centre raised £445.WILHAD Darts League donated proceeds from its winter league finals to EACH.

MAY

IT was a case of 'hair today, gone tomorrow' for fitness instructor Greg Hill as he underwent a thorough waxing for Milton Hospice, raising just under £300.FIVE brave souls from Sutton Conservative Club undertook what must be the ultimate challenge - eating 50 pickled onions each in 10 minutes. Tony Rutterford, Lyndsey Hall, Ian Bacchus, Donna Rutterford and William Scoular ate a total of 230 onions. A 'Play Your Cards Right' evening and the contents of the club's change bottle brought the total up to £1,852.DI O'CONNOR swam lengths of The Paradise Pool, raising £325 in sponsorship.A COFFEE morning and cake stall at St Andrew's Social Centre, Isleham, raised more than £300.ISLEHAM cyclist Michael Kelly announced he would take part in EACH's mammoth 33-mile bike ride on Sunday to raise money for children's hospices.

JUNE

THE Friends of Milton Hospice organised a fantastic Gala Day at Milton Hall, raising an estimated £8,000 with games, live entertainment and activities. LITTLEPORT Leisure Centre hosted a busy day of activities on Saturday in aid of Milton Children's Hospice. Women and children competed in a netball competition, while other events included a football match and a darts competition.CAMBRIDGE Motor Boat Club hosted a coffee morning at its headquarters in Clayhithe, raising £900 for Milton Hospice. CHILDREN at Little Thetford Primary School ditched their school uniforms in favour of fancy dress for the day in aid of the campaign, raising more than £220 for the charity. SUTTON couple Tony and Jena Harnwell celebrated their Ruby wedding anniversary with a party to raise money for Milton Hospice. More than £500 raised for the cause.MORE than 100 big-hearted bikers rode out from the White Hart pub in Godmanchester to raise money for the Milton Hospice. The bikes, predominantly Triumphs, set off from the pub and travelled down to Huntingdon before taking to the fen roads to visit Milton Hospice, raising more than £1,000.

JULY

Ely Standard editor Debbie Davies handed over a cheque for £1,000 to the Milton Hospice.The money was from the newspaper's Grand Plan fund, launched in September last year.

# THE success of our campaign has also been possible because of the number of cheques that generous members of the public have brought to us at our Market Street office. We have received an enormous amount of money from people who have taken the time and trouble to reach into their pockets and support the hospice, kick-started by Gordon Blythe of Ely. Mr Blythe wrote to us in support of the campaign and enclosed a cheque for £750.