Kibworth car wash raises hundreds for Ukraine

By Charlie Hawes

A Kibworth villager who organised a charity car wash in the Harborough district has raised more than £650 for the people of Ukraine.

Claire Stanbridge, of Kibworth, Leicestershire, decided to organise the car wash to raise money for both the Disasters Emergency Committee and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, splitting all donations equally. 

“I decided to do it to simply help Ukraine,” she said.

“I felt helpless up to now so I thought a few hours of my time might make a difference to the poor citizens in the midst of the war with Russia.” 

The car wash took place on Sunday, March 20, on the forecourt of Crouch’s Recovery, Harborough Road, which is located on the busy A6 going through the village – a great location to attract plenty of vehicles.

“We know the man who owns the forecourt and I just thought it was a great location to get passers-by,” added Claire.

Leicester night walkers raise money for cancer charity

By Conor de Smith.

The streets of Leicester were illuminated by hundreds of people taking part in the city’s first Shine Night Walk in aid of Cancer Research on Saturday.

More than 800 glowing walkers came together at the weekend to raise more than £40,000 in crucial funds for Cancer Research UK.

The 10k walk started at 7pm at De Montfort University and passed landmarks such as Leicester Cathedral, the Clock Tower, New Walk and Victoria Park before ending back at the university.

Those who took part could raise money for 12 different areas of research such as bowel cancer, brain cancer, breast cancer and other forms of the disease. It cost £14.99 to enter and additional fundraising could be organised by walkers through the charity.

Heather Royrhorne-Finch, of Asfordby, launched the event with a starting horn. The 38-year-old programmes and relations manager for the civil service was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2009 while her sister and father have also survived the disease.

“It was a real honour because there are very few people lucky enough not to have been affected by cancer so it could easily have been someone else sharing their cancer story,” said Heather, who underwent a life-saving stem cell transplant in 2011.

“I was thrilled to be asked to share my story with the 800 people taking part. Every walker has either directly battled cancer or knows someone who has and not all cancer patients are as fortunate as me to have survived.

“Seeing everyone in their glitter, neon and fairy lights setting off into the city was emotional and uplifting,” she continued.

“People getting up and doing something that could benefit them one day but will definitely benefit others is inspiring. The distance doesn’t matter, it’s the effort that is important.”

Every year, more than 1,100 people in Leicester are diagnosed with cancer and there were more than 4,800 cancer patients on GP registers in March 2015.

Cancer is the second most common cause of death, accounting for 25 per cent of all deaths in Leicester and a third of deaths in under 75-year-olds.

Emma Sperring, 37, was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 2016 and walked with her dad and sister-in-law.

She said: “I really enjoyed the night walk, though it was really hard work, especially the last 1k. The atmosphere was really friendly and motivating.”

‘DMU 2018 Naked Calendar’ to raise money for charity

By Daniel Siggins

Societies from across De Montfort University have teamed up to pose for a 2018 naked calendar.

Members of the Netball, Korfball, Hockey, Rugby and Snow Sports teams have collaborated on the calendar, which will raise funds for The Sudden Adult Death Trust.

Snow Sports Calendar

Dominic Bryan, who is a third year studying computer science and a member of the snow sports society, explained what it was like participating in the calendar.

“I was nervous at first as I had never been a part of one before but once everyone had got their clothes off and you are all posing for the camera, you lose the nerves,” he said.

“It was a good laugh, however, but posing for so long is hard work.”

The Sudden Adult Death Trust is a charity with close links to DMU and has been promoted at the university by former England Rugby Union player Martin Johnson and Kasabian Bass Guitarist Chris Edwards.

The Charity deals with the condition Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome.

The condition causes a cardiac arrest by bringing on a ventricular arrhythmia, despite an individual not having a disease which affects the structure of the heart.

Gareth Unwin, who is the Snow Sports committee secretary and member for media, explained the importance of societies helping out charities.

“Our Vice-Chancellor, Dominic Shellard, mentioned in the Vice Chancellors Activities Dinner last week the importance of raising money for charity and named a few societies that had raised hundreds if not thousands of pounds for good causes.

“Also, with DMU being a university with numerous charity based initiatives, I feel it is ingrained in our experience at DMU to give something back to the community and help out valuable causes.”

Mr Unwin also explained the process in deciding upon a naked calendar as the way to raise money.

“We decided that as a society we wanted to raise some money for charity and an idea we did originally have was to do a sponsored walk up Snowdon in Wales.

“However, we as a committee decided on doing a calendar and we made it clear that any involvement in the calendar was optional due to the sensitive nature of it.”

The calendar can be purchased at http://sadsuk.org.uk/newsite/ for £6, by clicking on ‘more’ and then ‘products’.

LOROS DJ charity night hits Leicester tomorrow

LOROS are set to put on the “ultimate” charity night this Saturday, December 3.

In co-operation with a local DJ, LOROS are set to put on a musical night to raise money for their services and hospices in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Local DJ and event organiser, Adam Watts, 26, said: “The whole reason I put this event together is because LOROS helped my granddad before he died.”

The event will take place from 7.00pm until 12.00am at New Parks Social Club, on Battersbee Road, tomorrow.

The night will include four DJ’s playing music from throughout the years, with a special focus on reggae, house and R’n’B, as well as your traditional charity raffle.

Adam will be one of the four performing DJ’s under his alias, DJ Wattsy, and is set to put on a specialist set full of “exclusive mixes, remixes and house mash ups”, whilst the fellow slots will be filled by his friends.

Adam said: “They’re mates of mine who DJ at mobile discos as well as run their own, and they’re all across Leicester and Nottingham, I asked them if they wanted to join me and they wanted to do it.”

Tickets are £5 for adults, and children can attend for free, all proceedings raised will go straight to the charity. Advanced tickets can be bought from Dave’s 303 in Aikman Avenue.

LOROS specialise in helping people living with cancer and other terminal illnesses, and provide free support to adult patients and families, such as Adam’s.

They currently have over 28 charity shops in the county, their own LOROS lottery and over 1100 volunteers.

Despite not working for LOROS directly, Adam is known across Leicester for the various fundraising events he puts on for various charities.

Adam said: “I did one last year, which was for cancer research. I usually do them once a year, or whenever I can, what dates are available in what venues.

“I’m not setting any goals, I’m just helping people raise money and doing the best I can, and it helps put my name around with these charity events.”

However, Adam did state that if the event was a success that he would do another one for LOROS in 2017.

 

 

By Mollie Mansfield

Caring Leicester climber takes on charity challenge

By Bethany Smith

A student from Leicester managed to raise over £600 for charity after climbing the highest mountain in the UK on Saturday.

Robyn Redmond, 21, along with two friends took to Ben Nevis to raise money for Kidney Research UK after becoming inspired by her mother’s six year battle with kidney disease.

She said: “To participate I needed to aim to raise £500 and as of now I have raised £676.39 and people are still donating even after I’ve done it which is really awesome.

“It’s the best feeling ever to do something amazing like that and to raise money for such a good cause at the same time, there’s no feeling like it. My mum was very proud.”

Twelve climbers, including fellow fundraisers, made their way up the 4,409ft mountain and back in an impressive eight hours.

Miss Redmond, who had no previous training, said: “It wasn’t easy, but to be fair I thought it would be so much harder. It’s just a long walk up a steep hill, but it does get so tiring because you’re walking for so long.

“We had an hour at the top and about 30 minutes worth of stops on the way up and down, the guide said that it was pretty good timing.”

Despite having never carried out anything like this before, Miss Redmond is hoping to continue fundraising in the future.

She said: “Now I’ve done it I want to do so much more, I’d love to do something crazy like Kilimanjaro, but that’s a really big step.”

To donate to her cause, visit https://www.justgiving.com/Robyn-Redmond or to get involved in a fundraising event for Kidney Research yourself, go to http://www.kidneyresearchuk.org/get-involved

Over 3 million people in the UK are suffering from kidney disease, Kidney Research UK is the leading charity that is dedicated to finding a cure and treatment.

The charity aims to provide 50 new research projects each year with 77 pence out of every pound being invested into research, and 23 pence going towards helping raise more money for the organisation.

They also aim to provide vital health information and advice to those at high risk of kidney failure, kidney patients, their families, carers, as well as medical professionals and researchers.

For more information go to https://www.kidneyresearchuk.org/about-us