In part three of our series on St Christopher’s Hospice, DAVID MILLS looks at how it raises millions of pounds to keep its services alive.

ST Christopher’s Hospice needs more than £14 million every year to continue caring for the sick and ill in the community.

About a third of this comes from the NHS with another third coming from legacies, which is money bequeathed by people in their will.

The rest the hospice must raise itself and relies on the generosity of the community to do so.

Fortunately St Christopher’s has a dedicated army of fundraisers from the hospice’s fundraising team to ordinary people in the community holding their own charity events.

Anybody can arrange their own fundraising event with St Christopher’s on hand to help people make it a reality.

Senior fundraising manager Paul Fennelly said: “What’s important to emphasise is how much fun can be had.

“Some people do it year on year out because it becomes part of their social life.

“They can invite their friends, raise money for charity and it’s an excuse to have a party.”

Despite being hit by the recession, the hospice is confident of raising enough money this year.

Mr Fennelly said: “We’ve had people ring up saying ‘we are really sorry we can't give this year, my husband's lost his job, but as soon as he's got a job we will carry on’.

“They see it as their responsibility, their commitment to their own community.

“But even through the recession, people still keep that commitment going.”

One major event in the hospice calendar is the fun walk, which was started by the Langley Park Rotary Club in 1989 and is held once every two years.

In 20 years the fun walk has raised more than £1.5 million with last year’s total amount exceeding £220,000.

Rotarian David Stoneham, who helped come up with the idea, said: “A couple of us had been involved in charity walks being run at the time and we decided as a club we could organise a more fun event with more activity and interest.

“We came up with the concept of it being a fun walk rather than charity walk.

“At the end of the first year we were rather surprised, we thought we would raise £2-3,000 and it was enough to buy a minibus. All of a sudden we had raised more than £10,000.”

For information about joining the rotary club email jerrycope@talktalk.net or call 020 8658 6178.

HOW YOUR MONEY CAN HELP

£5 buys paint to support patients in arts therapy

£10 covers the cost of a day’s meals, for a patient on one of the wards

£25 enables a patient to attend a complementary therapy session, such as reflexology or aromatherapy

£50 pays for a visit from a specialist nurse in the middle of the night

£100 buys a nebuliser to allow patients to breathe more easily

£200 covers the cost of organising and running a support group for bereaved relatives

£1,000 will train three bereavement counselling volunteers

£5,000 pays for five syringe drivers to deliver essential continuous medication to five patients

£37,000 pays for a specialist home care nurse for a whole year

To find out more or to make a donation call 020 8768 4500 or visit stchristophers.org.uk