YOU just can’t get better friends than these.
The Friends Support Group for the Forget Me Not Trust Children’s Hospice was set up eight years ago and has raised £110,000 towards making that dream become a reality.
The hospice has now been built in Brackenhall and that has only been possible with fundraising on this kind of scale and dedication.
The Friends were nominated by Norman Mellor from Meltham, who said: “It is a magnificent sum for a wonderful project. They have achieved this by organising coffee mornings, concerts, fashion shows – you name it and they have done it.’’
They group includes Noreen Rochford from Deighton and her husband, Terry, who is the group’s treasurer, Eileen King from Meltham, Mary France from Berry Brow, Betty Smith from Meltham, Hannah King from Helme and Margaret Baxter from Newsome.
Noreen said: “It takes a lot of organising but it’s so rewarding.
“I usually have a little cry every time I see the new building. It’s taken so much effort by so many people to get it to this stage.’’
The group was set up after Noreen responded to a plea for help by Linda Senior who had the original dream for a children’s hospice in the Huddersfield around 15 years ago.
She was in hospital with her disabled son, Russell, at the time as he underwent several operations.
Noreen said: “Linda appealed for help as she needed to share the burden. I asked my friends if they could give me a hand to try to do one fundraising event a month.’’
And they have carried on ever since.
So the next three for your diaries are a Jubilee lunch this Friday afternoon at Meltham Sports And Social Club, a golf tournament at Elland Golf Club on July 24 and a coffee day and lunch at Huddersfield Grammar School in Paddock on August 5.
