The Mersey Valley Group held their second annual Chairman’s Ball at the rugby ground in Widnes to accommodate the anticipated huge numbers attending. The event itself was reported at the time and reflected the efforts made by all attendees in raising a good sum of money, £2,000 for at the time, unidentified local charities and good causes.
That amount goes to show the generosity of everybody who attended when not knowing who the recipients of that generosity would be. Last year, donations were made to charities based around our halls, this year it was decided to split the money equally, four ways. With charities for babies and families, young people, adults and The West Lancs Freemasons’ Charity being recipients.
Zoe’s Place is the only UK Hospice that cares specifically for babies and children aged up to five years with complex needs or life limiting conditions. The current, six bed site in Liverpool offers specialist nursing care for each child whilst simultaneously providing much needed respite for parents and careers. Yes, they only have space for six children, but are looking to expand and offer this wonderful facility to even more.
The hospice in Liverpool has been there for our children and their families on the same site within Liverpool for the last 29 years, but we now urgently need to raise an addition £3,500,00 to fund our new, long-term home for our vital, specialist services within West Derby, Liverpool. It’s our aspiration to raise enough capital to ensure that our new hospice can facilitate our current services, providing the home away from home environment that our babies and families deserve. Every single donation to our urgent appeal is an important step closer to our new home. The £500 donation awarded to Zoe’s Place is helping them take another step!
The second donation made was to Millstead Special Needs School based in South Liverpool. Rated as outstanding by OFSTED in 2024, this is a specialist school for two- to eleven-year-old children who have profound and multiple learning difficulties, severe learning difficulties and autism spectrum conditions. The school only has space currently for 35 pupils in classes of about six children. This is set to expand in September thanks to the hard work of staff. The current playground is hoped to be transformed into a modern space offering a diverse range of facilities for the children, to help stimulate and develop them further.
The school also has plans to transform a small patch of greenery into a vegetable garden for further stimulation and educate, something many schools strive to do. It is hoped that by taking ownership of this area, some pupils will start to develop in a different way and find different coping strategies. Zoe Doyle expressed great enthusiasm for this remarkable facility and its future development. It is expected to continue to achieve its outstanding OFSTED evaluation whilst developing and educating a lot more pupils from September.
The Alzheimer’s Society has been chosen as the category covering adults with over 40,000 people under the age of 65 in the UK having dementia (young onset dementia). Sadly, too many of us know someone who is suffering from this awful affliction, where everyone’s dementia is different. There are lots of causes and no two types of dementia are the same. With different types of dementia, there is damage to different parts of the brain.
Whatever you are going through, be it suffering or supporting someone who is suffering, the Alzheimer’s Society offer support and information to help. The donation awarded will help them to continue to make that offer and be there, when needed. A representative from the society said: “Your support means that we can look to the future as well, investing in ground-breaking research into better ways of treating and caring for people with dementia. It also means that we can campaign for a more equitable society, with over 160,000 of you adding your voices to the call.”
All remaining monies will go to the West Lancashire Freemasons’ Charity for onward distribution to many who will appreciate the support and whom we will never know. We are all very aware of the good work undertaken through this charity, but some may be reluctant to user the services it has to offer. Do not be shy to speak to a member of the team and discuss options in a safe and discreet manner.
On behalf of the recipients, the ball committee would like to thank all those who attended and have helped to ease a burden to our community. With your help, the next annual ball can raise even more money to help a worthy cause of your choosing. Give it some consideration and submit your ideas once the poster appears in your hall.
Story and pictures by Steve McNee.
