A fabulous foursome of friends, haven’t stopped fundraising for Marie Curie since 1999 and have now smashed their target of raising £500,000 before the end of this year.
Julie Hayward, Debra Wyatt, Jo Hayward and Tina Jacobs have been friends for more than 30 years and are passionate about raising money for the end of life care charity.
It’s all in memory of Lilian Goodfellow, Julie’s mum. She died following a diagnosis of breast cancer and was cared for in her final days at the Marie Curie hospice.
More than 1,200 patients living with a terminal illness and their families from the local community access the West Midlands Hospice in Solihull for specialist care and support – either staying at the hospice – or using the day services such as bereavement counselling; pain management; complementary therapies; and even exercise groups.
Julie from Solihull said:
We are ecstatic at surpassing the half a million mark – we have now raised an amazing £503,000 for Marie Curie! It’s the level of care the Marie Curie hospice provided my mum and actually all our family that made us want to raise money for them.
To honour her mother’s memory Julie, Tina, Jo and Debra found fun ways that reflected Lilian’s character, to raise money.
She said:
“We started with ladies’ nights, where we would let our hair down, with entertainment and a good time. We had 300 ladies join us for our first event. Since then we’ve hosted tea-parties in a marquee, and our annual ball.
“Our fundraising has inspired others to join us, they’ve done all sorts from bike rides to Slim-a-thons, and quiz nights. We’ve had so much support. But we’re never going to stop fundraising, because it’s in my mum’s name and it keeps my mums name alive.
“As the years have gone by, I’ve had friends and family who have been affected by a terminal illness and have used Marie Curie’s brilliant services, and a lot more people have come on board to support our fundraising as they realise what a fantastic job Marie Curie do.
“We’ve also inspired a whole new generation, and our children are now involved. It’s great to see young people raising money for such a worthy charity.”
Lynn Wood, Fundraising Manager for the West Midlands, said:
“We want to say a huge thank you to Julie and her friends for raising such an enormous amount of money for Marie Curie, the ladies have been an absolute pleasure to support. They have tirelessly fundraised for the last 20 years, raising vital funds for the Marie Curie Hospice in Solihull to enable us to continue to provide care to our patients as well as providing vital support for their loved ones. We simply could not do what we do without people like Julie.”
If you would like to support Julie and her friends, you can follow them on Facebook: LGGF@LilianGoodfellowGroupOfFriends