A concert, a 10-year-old’s fundraising event and even the donation of a specialist chair have helped boost the funds of a charity which supports the West Suffolk Hospital.
The concert was held by the Edmund Octet, and supported by the female quartet Classic Semme, and raised £750 for the My WiSH Charity.
The event, held at the Unitarian Meeting House, in Bury St Edmunds, has been hailed a huge success by Gill Garside the musical director for the octet.
The money raised will go towards paying for specialist exercise classes for prostate cancer patients at the hospital.
Gill said: “We have an annual charity concert and last year we raised money for the Women’s Refuge so this year we decided to do something for a men’s charity.”
Meanwhile, 10-year-old Megan Cooper, who has been a long time sufferer from asthma, has raised an amazing £1,048.75 following a series of events in and around her village of Metfield with £533.75 going to the My WiSH Charity with the rest going towards Asthma UK.
The youngster, who is a pupil at Fressingfield School, organised a non-school uniform day, a cake sale at her mother’s workplace in Diss, plus a tombola at nearby Mendham Village Hall.
Mum Heidi, who is an accountant at accountancy firm Larking Gowen, in Diss, said her daughter had been given huge support from the respiratory team at the hospital together with Asthma UK and wanted to repay the hospital for the wonderful treatment she received.
Megan said she wanted to give something back to help others who struggle daily with just breathing.
Her 35-year-old mother said: “Three years ago her asthma was so out of control but the staff at the hospital have been wonderful. Megan decided to raise the money totally on her own. We are very, very proud of her for all the effort she put into raising the money.
“Larking Gowen gave her huge support with the cake sale raising £400 alone.”
Fundraising officer Amy Hatch, who met with Megan, said: “Megan was an absolute joy to meet and incredible inspiration. The money she has raised will go to such a good use. We are already looking into the possibility of purchasing a Smart inhaler and we cannot thank Megan enough for all her hard work.”
And former staff nurse at the hospital Peter Brown has donated a specialist chair to F7 ward.
The £1,000 piece of equipment can also be used as a bed for patients.
He used to be a staff nurse on F7 but is now a lecturer in adult nursing at the University of Suffolk, in Ipswich.
His father John, who lived in Great Dunmow, Essex, died in 2016, and Peter said staff and the team on the ward were “very kind” to him following his father’s death and wanted to repay them for their kindness towards him.
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