East Lancashire Hospice bags Charity of the Year title

We are delighted to announce that East Lancashire Hospice has been selected as The Mall’s Charity of the Year following a record number of applications.

The hospice was chosen from a shortlist of three finalists and our case was put forward to the judging panel by Gareth Mayoh, whose wife was cared for by staff at the hospice before she died in July 2018 aged just 39.

Gareth told judges how invaluable the support was from everyone at East Lancashire Hospice and the decision of the judges to choose the hospice was unanimous!

Loraine Jones, General Manager at The Mall Blackburn, explains: “After a record breaking year raising money for #Fightlikeakid in 2018 we were inundated with applications for our Charity of the Year initiative.

“It took a long time to whittle all the entries down to three, but hearing Gareth’s story brought it home that there are thousands of families going through terribly tough times, and this would be even worse if East Lancashire Hospice wasn’t there to help.

“It costs £3.7million per year to run, with only around £1.2million coming from grants.

“We are really looking forward to working with the team to help them raise as much money as possible so they can continue to support people like Gareth and his sons Tom and Jack.

Sharon Crymble, Income Generation and Marketing Lead at East Lancashire Hospice, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be selected as The Mall Blackburn’s Charity of the Year. We offer a wide range of services from our inpatient unit to our creative and supportive therapies and community services to bereavement support to name but a few.

“The backing we receive from the local area is always very humbling and we will work closely with everyone at The Mall to ensure we make the most of our partnership.

“We were honoured that Gareth joined us for our presentation. We can talk about our services and events but Gareth’s story demonstrates it is much more than anything we can explain in a leaflet or on a website.”

Fundraising has already begun as The Mall has placed collection buckets at all its Easter crafts sessions, which will take place over the coming two weeks. More information about further fundraising will be available soon.