Donations and fundraising in memory of loved ones

St Catherine’s is privileged to receive donations from supporters who wish to give back to the charity in honour of their loved ones.

From making one-off or regular ‘in memory’ donations, to taking on charity challenges in tribute of a family member, friend, or colleague whilst raising sponsorship for the hospice; our supporters generate much-needed funds for our cause in ways which are personal to them.

Charity fundraising

The bowls teams at Bamber Bridge Conservative Club will honour the memory of club stalwart Dave Smith when they hopefully start playing again next year.

It will also be a further way of thanking St Catherine’s Hospice which cared for Dave who died from esophageal cancer in March.

Dave, who was 75, was nursed by his close friend Katherine Illingworth at her home in Bamber Bridge where he passed away. Katherine carried out one of his last wishes by making a £1,000 donation to the charity.

The proceeds were mostly from Dave who requested that Katherine pass on the gift to the hospice on his behalf.

Fellow club members whose season was cancelled by the pandemic had wanted to boost the total from a wake but that could not go ahead. Instead, the donation was topped up by donations from Katherine and a club lottery.

Katherine said: “Dave was a lovely and well respected man. He was captain of our vets A team and club steward for a while. He organised raffles for St Catherine’s and was always there dropping off the proceeds from our monthly bowls days.

“His cancer was very aggressive and he only lived for six months after diagnosis. The hospice was wonderful and so kind and nice and he couldn’t have wished for better care.”

The club on Cranbourne Street will continue raffles in Dave’s name and plan to install an engraved planter to remember him.

In memory donations

Preston teacher Annie Consiglio has close family ties to St Catherine’s Hospice.

Her grandma Ann died there in April and her grandfather Raymond was one of the hospice founders and was its president for more than two decades.

That strong emotional link inspired Annie to raise £1,200 by running 300 miles within 10 weeks as part of a Great North Run Challenge. The proceeds were split between St Catherine’s and The Larder Cafe in Preston.

The family were able to be at Ann’s bedside when she died, aged 83, on what was the last day before lockdown.

Annie, who teaches English at All Hallows Catholic High School, Penwortham, said: “My grandma spent just over a week at St Catherine’s and the care she received was excellent. It was lovely there and so calm with a nice atmosphere.

“Many organisations struggled for money during lockdown and I thought I could turn my enjoyment of running into an actual benefit for people. People knew I wasn’t really a runner and averaging 30 miles a day was a challenge and quite hard.

“I ran through Haslam Park and around the Guild Wheel and at times felt like giving up, but the memory of my grandma and my sponsors kept me going.”

Her grandparents met while working in the medical profession in Gloucester. Ann was a nurse and Raymond was senior house officer at the local hospital.

The couple moved to Lancashire where Raymond later became consultant anaesthetist at Royal Preston Hospital. He was passionate about building a local hospice for patients with life-limiting illnesses and even lived on the site temporarily before it welcomed its first patient in 1985.

Raymond was president of St Catherine’s from 1997 until 2018 – more than half of its existence.

He recalled: “A lot of serious work, a lot of humour and most importantly a lot of love went into founding the hospice.”

• If you would like to make a donation in memory of a loved one, please click here. To find out more about fundraising for St Catherine’s, please click here.

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