Ladies’ Barbecue cooks up thousands in cash for St Catherine’s

A Ladies’ Barbecue hosted in a Leyland family’s garden – which featured amazing raffle and auction prizes including a holiday to Spain – generated an incredible £1,185 for St Catherine’s Hospice.

Cath Knox wanted to bring family, friends and neighbours together for food, drinks and games for a worthy cause, so set about planning the ultimate girls’ night in at her home in Farington Moss.

Along with daughters Vicky and Jenni Mills, and her mum Barbara White, the girls pulled off a fun-filled bash, with guests urging them to make it an annual event.

Cath explained: “We charged people £10 for food and Pimms, and we had a raffle and silent auction after lots of local businesses donated prizes.

“We contacted a few firms on Facebook and some heard about what we were doing just through word-of-mouth. One couple who heard about it have a villa in Spain and put that forward as a prize, for the winner to spend a week there.

“That was for the auction, and for the raffle we had plenty of prizes from people such as chocolates and Prosecco, and local businesses offered some great prizes including a family ticket from Preston North End, beauty treatments and meal vouchers.

“Around 20 people came, and even some who couldn’t make it donated money anyway. You realise when you organise something like this just how generous people are.”

Vicky added: “Everyone had a good laugh and people really enjoyed the night – they’ve been asking us to do it again next year, so we’ll definitely look in to that.”

If that wasn’t enough, the family also brought in a special St Catherine’s Hospice cake for patients accessing the charity’s Day Therapy services, when they called in last week to present the cheque.

St Catherine’s fundraiser Rochelle Crichton said: “It’s fantastic to hear about the lengths people go to in order to support the charity, and we’re always so humbled and grateful when people think of their own imaginative and fun ways to generate funds and raise awareness of the hospice.

“It’s also wonderful to hear of the amount of support they received from local businesses who were keen to donate prizes, and raising £1,185 from a garden party is an incredible achievement.”

She added: “It costs £5m to run St Catherine’s every single year, and £3.7m of that comes from charitable fundraising and donations, so we’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to the girls as well as their guests and all the people who donated money and prizes, which made this event such a success.

“Support like this goes a long way to helping us care for local people and their families when it matters most, so well done to everyone involved.”

Businesses which donated prizes:

• A ticket for a family to a home game donated by Preston North End FC
• A Wii mini donated by UCLAN catering services
• A £20 gift card donated by Barton Grange
• A fruit hamper donated by Booths
• A wine tasting voucher donated by Wine Down bar in Preston
• A voucher for Shellac, file and polish donated by Red Hair and Beauty in Penwortham
• A meal for two donated by Sultan of Lancaster Indian restaurant
• A £10 beauty voucher donated by Pink Beautique in Lostock Hall
• A men’s designer t-shirt donated by Designer Menswear in Preston
• A hair treatment and blow dry donated by Heaven on Earth in Leyland
• A £10 voucher donated by Serendipity gift shop in Kirkham
• A voucher donated by Mercer’s Traditional Meats butchers in Bamber Bridge
• A voucher for two fish suppers with a side donated by Jaws Chippy in Clayton Brook (x2)
• A cake for the fundraising evening donated by Greenhalgh’s Bakery
• A box of cupcakes donated by Victoria Cakes of Leyland
• A £10 voucher donated by Hoghton Therapy Room
• A voucher for a facial donated by Skin Deep in Lostock Hall
• A voucher for a cut and style, plus a gift set containing purse, lip gloss and hair brush, donated by Dotty Lines Hair in Ashton, Preston
• A £15 voucher donated by La Corte Italian Restaurant in Leyland
• A hand-made, chain-saw wood carved owl donated by Acorn Woodcraft
• A cut and blow dry donated by B Inspired in Bamber Bridge
• A £30 voucher donated by Franco’s Italian restaurant in Longridge
• A £25 voucher donated by Foxglove gift shop in Higher Walton
• A £5 voucher donated by GeeTees in Bamber Bridge
• A 30 minute appearance from a princess of your choice at a birthday party donated by Enchanted Princess

Share with your friends!