Theme: Fundraising

Anthony loved the hospice and the care he got there. He went in at his own request a few days before he died when his condition deteriorated.

MND is an awful degenerative illness , but St Ann’s opened Anthony’s eyes to help him focus on quality of living and introduced him to alternative therapies.

He wanted to go into the hospice for Christmas and we often wonder whether he knew he was dying and wanted to take a burden away from our family. He had a dignified death and received the best care and comfort at St Ann’s.

You don’t want to lose your brother at 41, but our golf reunions keep the happy memories of Anthony alive. As kids we played cricket at Sale Moor and he played football for Old Smithillians.


Phil Lowthian, Brother of Anthony

We are so grateful to Phil and Chris for organising the golf days in honour of Anthony and raising so much money for the hospice over the years. It means so much to us when the local community support St Ann’s in memory of someone they love. We really couldn’t carry on caring for our patients without you, so thank you so much.


Rachel McMillan, Chief Executive of St Ann’s Hospice

It’s really exciting that we’ve been able to raise such a huge amount of money for charities like St Ann’s in previous years, and we’re hoping we can do even better this time around.

It’s fantastic that we’re able to bring people together to raise money for such fabulous causes, and of course, the fact that the trees we collect are recycled is also good for the environment – not to mention that it takes away the headache of disposing of the tree from local people too.


Fiona Cosgrove, JustHelping

We’re proud to be one of the oldest and largest hospices in the UK, and the fact that we’re still here after half a century and still able to support local patients is down to the amazing support of our local communities. We were blown away to receive £50,000 in our 50th year from the 2021 tree collections, which shows the amazing impact of community spirit.

We’re hugely thankful to JustHelping, the army of volunteers who support them, and everyone who makes a donation, and would encourage anyone that lives in one of the eligible postcodes to sign up. Everyone who makes a donation really does enable us to keep our doors open and allows us to continue to provide specialist care to those who need it most. Thank you


Rachel McMillan, Chief Executive of St Ann’s

This won’t be a good Christmas for us after losing Christian, who was ill for two years and wanted us to raise money for St Ann’s to thank them for the wonderful care they gave him.

We asked for donations in lieu of flowers at his funeral and the hospice has been amazed by how much we’ve raised. Darcie raised £3,300 alone in sponsorship from a 32-mile walk.

We’ll have our lights up again. There’s a very good community spirit here and that’s been shown by the way friends and neighbours have supported our family.


Andrea Boswell, Wife of Christian Boswell

We are so grateful to Andrea, Tim and the whole street for getting involved. What a kind and creative way of supporting the hospice this festive season in honour of Christian. It means so much to us when the local community raise money for St Ann’s in memory of someone they love. We really couldn’t carry on caring for our patients without you, so thank you so much.


Rachel McMillan, Chief Executive of St Ann’s Hopsice

When you reach your 70s, you don’t really have anything to ask for and thought the party was a good way for people to contribute. It was a lovely party and so nice to get together with people we hadn’t seen for a long time.


John Bilsborough

Something that impresses me about the hospice is the high level of personal care and how everyone does their best for patients and families. Even something like the meals and special touches like the drinks trolley. It makes it very homely and personal.
We’ve also held many car boot sales over the years to raise money for St Ann’s, selling both our own items and those donated by friends and family.


Carol Bilsborough

Over the past 18 months we’ve found it incredibly important at the hospice to pause and acknowledge our experiences – lifting our heads up, taking time out to reflect and looking back on special moments, memories and the people we’ve cared for.  
That’s one of the reasons why I love our Light up a Life Appeal, especially the services. It’s a way for us to come together as a community in Manchester and beyond and recognise all that we’ve been through, the people and things close to our hearts we’ve lost and the memories which we’ll treasure. 
Thanks to the amazing support of our community and the generous donations they have made with their dedications, we’re able to continue supporting patients and their loved ones when they need us most.


Emma Dixon, Director of Clinical Services at St Ann’s

The race was a huge achievement for Thomas who pretty much hated running and couldn’t go far without stopping. I think he’s now found his inner runner and really likes it.
He’s always been very fit and enjoyed any exercise involving the gym, as well as swimming, tennis and football, but during lockdown all those things stopped because he was shielding.
His life had become very small and he was stuck in the house, so it was good to get out again and do something. The rest of us run and it’s something Thomas can now do with his family.
As consultants at Salford Royal Hospital, we have patients who go to St Ann’s for end-of-life care and medics who train there, so I’ve been aware of the hospice for a long time, but had never been for a visit until we presented the cheque.


Lucinda New, Thomas’s Mum

Huge thanks to Thomas and his family for taking on this brilliant challenge to raise money for the hospice. We’re so grateful.
The support of our local community is so important and helps us raise the £20,000 we need each day to keep providing our services. We can’t thank Thomas enough and everyone who organises a run, bucket collection or event in their community to raise money for the hospice.


Rachel McMillan, Chief Executive of St Ann’s Hospice

Our family and friends were keen to donate towards Christians’ funeral, but we decided as a family that we would prefer the money to be donated to St Ann’s Hospice to help other patients and families who were going through a similar experience to what we had been through. 
We recently held a beautiful afternoon tea garden party and Darcie completed a 32-mile sponsored walk to raise money for St Ann’s. The weather was awful on the first few days, but Darcie still wanted to walk so we did! 
The tribute page has made it easy for people to donate and has spurred us on to think of new ideas to raise money. It has brought not just us as a family together but also the local community. 
Christian was very generous and donated regularly to various charities so we know he will have approved of his page and be so proud of the amount raised.


Victoria Boswell, Christian’s sister

We’re hugely grateful to Darcie and her family for taking on this brilliant challenge – what an inspirational way to spend the school holidays. 
We can’t thank Darcie and her family enough, and everyone who has made a donation to Christian’s tribute page. As a charity, we rely on the kind support of people in our local community to continue providing our specialist care to patients and their loved ones. Every penny really does make a difference to someone’s life.


Rachel McMillan, Chief Executive of St Ann’s