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Have you got what it takes to be a trivia titan? Why not try your luck at the upcoming Quizmasters event hosted by the Heald Green Volunteer Fundraising Committee on behalf of St Ann’s Hospice!

The event which will be held on Friday, November 15, sees teams of any size take on a variety of categories from general knowledge to celebrity knowledge in a fun evening of quizzes.

All proceeds from the event will go towards the St Ann’s Hospice Build It Together appeal for the creation of St Ann’s new hospice building in Heald Green.

The campaign has raised over £1,300,000 of the remaining £2,000,000 target. A big push is needed to raise the remaining £700,000 as the new build is already under construction.

Chairperson of the Heald Green Volunteer Fundraising Committee, Lynn Partridge says the event will be an entertaining evening for all to enjoy.

“We look forward to seeing everyone at Heald Green Social Club on the night for what is sure to be a brilliant evening of fun and most importantly quizzing!” Lynn said.

“On behalf of the Heald Green Volunteer Fundraising Committee, I would like to encourage one and all, even those who don’t believe they would be good at quizzing to come along on the night. After all, all proceeds go towards a great cause,” she added.

Doors for the St Ann’s Hospice Quizmasters will open at 7pm at the Heald Green Social Club, SK8 3DQ with the quiz starting at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £15 per person and include a hot pot supper (vegetarian option available).

Tickets can be purchased through the St Ann’s Hospice website.

A local ladies’ fellowship group have raised over £1,600 for St Ann’s Hospice in what has been described as an unexpected but “fitting” tribute to one of their past members. 

Hazel Grove Methodist Church Ladies Fellowship picked St Ann’s as their charity this year, raising the sum through raffles, collection boxes, and hosting a charity afternoon. 

A long-time member of the Hazel Grove Methodist Church Ladies Fellowship, Muriel Gray was a previous inpatient at St Ann’s Hospice before she passed away earlier this year. 

One of the main organisers behind the fundraiser, Christine Aspin, said the group raised the money for the Hospice as St Ann’s is currently building a new site. 

Hazel Grove Methodist Church Ladies Fellowship meet every fortnight between September and May and hosts talks on a wide variety of topics followed by tea and biscuits, all held in the Hazel Grove Methodist Church. 

St Ann’s was Hazel Grove Methodist Church Ladies Fellowship’s chosen charity for the 2023/24 season. The new 2024/25 season sees the group which has been running for over 60 years raise money for the Alzheimer and Dementia Society. 

Christine says that “friends old and new” are welcome to attend the fellowship events. 

Community Fundraiser for St Ann’s Hospice, Greg Kelly thanks the ladies’ fellowship group for their “thoughtful donation”. 

“Former member of the fellowship, Muriel was recently an inpatient at the hospice, where she was cared for. This shows just how important hospice care is in the community.  We cannot thank them enough for their support and I am also glad that we were there for Muriel when she needed us the most.” Greg added. 

Construction for St Ann’s Hospice’s new Heald Green site is well underway, raising over £1,300,000 of the £2,000,000 target. St Ann’s are now pushing for the final £700,000 for the completion of the new build. In the latest construction update, the installation of the steel structure of the new hospice got underway and the building is starting to take shape. All donations towards the completion of the build are greatly appreciated.

Long-time volunteer Nicola Done-Orrell has overcome her fears by conducting four “terrifying” open-water swims, raising over £11,000 for St Ann’s Hospice.

The swimmer, who is the daughter of BetFred founder Fred Done, “put herself through the paces” when she swam relay swims around Jersey Island and across the English Channel. She also conducted two solo swims, one at Lake Windermere and the other at Ullswater also in the Lake District.

According to Nicola, each open water swim came with its own mental and physical challenge but says her relay swim across the English Channel was a standout.

“It’s terrifying because you’ve got to swim with jellyfish. In my first hour, I was stung but you’ve got to get back in the water because you are part of a team and if you don’t you’ll all be disqualified,” Nicola said.

“It was cold, it was only 14 degrees, so that also added to the struggle of getting back into the water.”

Nicola and her team swam the English Channel in 12 hours and 18 minutes.

Nicola says that swimming the length of Lake Windermere was also challenging as it was the longest solo swim she has done.

A number of years ago, Nicola began open-water swimming as her friend was training for a triathlon and said she would help her train. According to the long-time St Ann’s volunteer, it was then that she caught the open-water “swimming bug”.

“When I first got in the water with my friend, I thought I’d just be helping her train and that would be it, I’d be done, I had no intention of ever doing it again. When I got in the water, I just absolutely loved it,” she said.

Nicola has also previously raised over £6,000 for the hospice following her first open-water swim at Coniston Lake in the Lake District in 2022.

Now that she has swum the length of Ullswater, Coniston, and Windermere, the open-water swimmer has completed the coveted ‘Lake District Triple Crown’.

Nicola also volunteers at the hospice’s Little Hulton site and says the reason she does so much for St Ann’s is because “you never know what’s around the corner”.

“You never know when you might need it, or your family might need it, or your friends might need it.  It’s so important to have the hospice for the community. It’s a fantastic organisation,” she said.

Nicola may have completed five open-water swims but that does not mean she is ready to stop. She intends on conducting a solo swim from Jersey Island to France next year in a 14-mile, solo open-water swim also in aid of St Ann’s Hospice.

Dancing queens and kings said “lets groove” as a Manchester charity disco raised over £18,000 for St Ann’s Hospice in Greater Manchester.

The AK-OK 80s Rewind Charity Disco was organised by a group of friends including long-time Old Trafford stadium announcer, Alan Keegan.

Alan, also known as the ‘Voice of Old Trafford’ along with four friends, Mark Buckley, Mike Griffin, Liam Dennehy, and John Griffin decided to host the fundraiser as St Ann’s Hospice is very close to their hearts.

“The event was very successful, we were extremely pleased with the amount of people that turned up,” Alan said following the event.

“We had six DJs as well who all gave their time all in aid of St Ann’s Hospice,” he added.

Head of Fundraising at St Ann’s Hospice, Anne-Marie Wynne said the fundraiser was a “fantastic night”.

Speaking on BBC Radio Manchester’s Total Sport at 6pm ahead of the event, Alan said that St Ann’s is a “brilliant organisation”.

“…Mike Griffin, John Griffin, obviously, two brothers, Liam Dennehy, and Mark Buckley, we’re all involved in it and we’ve all been sort of involved with St Ann’s in one way or another. Sadly, two of my colleagues who were running the event with, their wives were looked after by St Ann’s and passed away there,” Alan said.

“I’ve done lots of work with them through their midnight walk, etc. It’s just a brilliant organisation, it’s based in South Manchester, they’ve got a new building being built as well as we speak, it’s looking fantastic.

“Get in touch with them, they’ve got donation pages etcetera… It’s based in the north, it’s here and we want to support it,” he added.

The AK-OK 80s Rewind Charity Disco was held at Stockport County FC on Friday, September 13. Alan, Mark, Mike, Liam, and John are now pushing to reach their fundraising goal of £20,000.

Alan and his friends have created a Just Giving page to help them achieve their £20,000 goal and any donations are greatly appreciated.

A Greater Manchester community centre is bringing forward some Christmas cheer in September. 

Bideford Community Centre in Baguley, Wythenshawe have raised a total of £14,000 in three years for St Ann’s Hospice largely due to some early festive spirit. 

Christine McDonagh from Bideford Community Centre has said that every penny “put in their hands” in September will be given to St Ann’s. 

St Ann’s Hospice is very close to the hearts of those at Bideford Community Centre as the former centre volunteer, Robbie who had lung cancer was moved to the hospice in his last few days. Robbie’s daughter Kirsty Taylor is the Bideford Community Centre Co-ordinator. 

Christine’s mother was also treated at the hospice. 

“The care that they got was wonderful, that we were able to be with them. When Robbie was in there, we brought in a Christmas tree, as it was near Christmas and we could spend 24 hours with him, whereas in a hospital, obviously, it’s different,” Christine said. 

“We were just really impressed with the care that he got,” she added. 

Speaking about Bideford Community Centre’s donation, Innovation and Digital Fundraiser for St Ann’s Hospice, Marie Foster said: “A massive thank you to Christine and all at the Bideford Community Centre for all the work they do to fundraise for St Ann’s Hospice. We are so grateful for their continued support. They have raised a fantastic £14,000 and continue to fundraise and raise awareness about the work that we do at St Ann’s.”

Funds this year will be made through Bideford Community Centre’s charity shop, serving breakfast in the community centre’s café, through supermarket collections and much more. 

“The Bideford team including our co-ordinator Kirsty work tirelessly and around the clock to make our events possible,” Christine said. 

The Bideford Community Centre will be raising funds for St Ann’s Hospice until the end of September.  

The Bideford Community Centre is based in Baguley, Wythenshawe and the services they offer include a local food bank, clothing bank, charity shop, computer courses, and a community café. 

St Ann’s Hospice has two sites based in Greater Manchester, one in Heald Green and one in Little Hulton. Both sites provide specialist care for people impacted by life-limiting illness, including patients, families and loved ones. 

Pundits and ex-footballers Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane, Jill Scott and Ian Wright will take to the stage at Aviva Studios, the home of Factory International in Manchester on Thursday 28th November for a night no sports fans will want to miss. 

The exclusive live show is to raise money for St Ann’s Hospice’s Build it Together appeal. The appeal is to build a new hospice in Heald Green for the people of Greater Manchester. 

The Overlap team – widely regarded as TV’s top pundits – will lift the lid on their celebrated playing careers as well as delve deep into today’s hottest sporting issues and fielding questions from the audience. Expect insightful opinion, glorious banter, hysterical tales… and, yes, more than the odd heated exchange as these old adversaries go head-to-head!

Since launching in April 2021, Gary Neville’s The Overlap has topped an astonishing 64 million views, one billion impressions and now boasts 473,000 subscribers. 

The hospice is raising money to build a new purpose-built hospice to replace the current Victorian building. St Ann’s new hospice will be a complete care facility in Greater Manchester that local people can access, from diagnosis of a life-limiting illness to treatment and beyond. It will be located on land next door to the current Heald Green hospice on St Ann’s Road North.  

The new building will house a 27-bed inpatient unit including individual en-suite rooms and access to private outdoor terraces. The development will also feature modern outpatient and day therapy services, dedicated bereavement and family support spaces, all surrounded by beautiful, landscaped gardens.  

Gary Neville said: “As soon as we heard about the Build it Together campaign we wanted to do everything we could to support St Ann’s Hospice and their fundraising.  

“Being able to bring The Overlap to the event is going to be brilliant and I can’t wait to get Jamie, Ian, Jill and Roy on stage for this incredible cause.”  

Tickets cost £60 and are available to book at https://factoryinternational.org/whats-on/the-overlap-live-in-aid-of-st-anns-hospice/