A vote of thanks from Macmillan Cancer Support
As we say goodbye to last year’s Charity of the Year Macmillan Cancer Support, we have been celebrating our most recent total of £21,810 donated to this good cause. Nursery owner John Massey and members of the Ashwood team posed in the nursery show garden on Friday with our fund-raising total proudly displayed. We were also delighted to welcome members of the Dudley Committee for Cancer Support to a meeting of Ashwood Gardening Club on Friday night.
A wonderful evening saw John deliver his new lecture ‘My Inspirational Mentors and their Plants’ to members of the gardening club and invited guests. This was followed by a presentation by the charity with Jill Harris, Treasurer of the Dudley Committee for Macmillan Cancer Support, giving a heartfelt vote of thanks and presenting John with a photographic collage of some key events in our fund-raising year.
Jill said, ‘All of the money that Ashwood has raised is to be used locally, supporting an exciting new project in Dudley: Macmillan Specialist Care at Home delivered in partnership with The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and Mary Stevens Hospice in Stourbridge. This is a two year pilot, aiming to enhance care and treatment for people in Dudley with specialist palliative care needs or who are at the end of their lives.’
Most of Ashwood’s fund-raising came from John’s Garden Open Days and Hellebore Tours (the entire proceeds from entrance charges were donated) and fine weather on these key events in 2015 had ensured good visitor numbers. Various other events in The Gift Shop (Moorcroft Pottery Evening and A Taste of Christmas) also contributed a donation. In addition, The Tea Room and nursery staff participated in the Biggest Coffee Morning in the World on September 25th, helping to boost the total by £644.11.
John said, ‘I chose Macmillan Cancer Support for the Ashwood Charity of the Year 2015 because I really value the important role they play in the care of cancer patients and their families. I believe that Ashwood’s fund-raising should be used locally and I’m delighted that the money we raised helped the Macmillan Specialist Care at Home project in Dudley.’
‘Opening my garden for charity is a wonderful way to raise money for charity and as always Ashwood’s many customers and friends have been so generous in their support.’
John also announced that the new Charity of the Year 2016 is to be High Flyers, a local day group for young adults with learning difficulties, based in Wombourne, Staffordshire.