Fundraising events to be rescheduled
Further to the press conference from our Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday afternoon Woking & Sam Beare Hospices have taken the decision to cancel or reschedule all hospice led fundraising events that were scheduled to take place over the next 4 weeks taking us up to 16th April. The statement by the Prime Minister clearly advised that everyone should avoid gatherings and crowded places, such as pubs, clubs and theatres.
We have given this statement a great deal of consideration and we have come to the conclusion that this advice is directly applicable to all of the events that we deliver such as those in golf clubs, churches and businesses and wherever there is a gathering of people and therefore to continue with them as planned would be ignoring this request and in turn we would be putting our community at risk.
We will review the situation again on 16th April and we will then decide if we can continue to deliver and promote events taking place in the subsequent months after that date.
This decision directly affects what we call ‘hospice led events’ which are all events that the hospice are leading on the delivery and promotion of. Wherever possible we will be liaising with individuals who are delivering their own supporter led events to give them advice on how they should proceed during this period of uncertainty in what is an ever changing situation. Ultimately however in the case of supporter led events, it will be the prerogative of those individuals that are planning them as to whether they feel they can continue or need to cancel or reschedule.
This is a challenging time for all organisations, businesses, groups and individuals and as a charity the cancellation of these events will have a financial impact on us, however we recognise that the safety of our community must be our main priority. We would however like all our supporters who would have ordinarily attended an event during this time to consider making a gift to the charity in lieu of attendance.
You can do so quite easily by visiting our donation page online:
https://www.wsbhospices.co.uk/support-us/get-involved/donate/
Alternatively we welcome all ideas and encourage our supporters to be creative within the constraints we now face as to how you may wish to support us at this time. For example by following the rules around safe distancing you could do your own virtual sports events (cycling, running walking at home and/or in your local area), you could use Facetime or Skype to still host a Care for a Cuppa event. All of your ideas are very welcome, please do let us know what you would like to do.
With regards our hospice led events planned for the summer and autumn months, including the Midnight Walk, the Dragon Boat Race, the Outdoor cinema and our Walk to Remember we will be sharing further details on our plans for these events in due course once we have reviewed the situation on 16th April.
many thanks for your ongoing support Phil Wormley, Director of Fundraising.
If you have any queries please do contact the Fundraising team;
T: 01483 881752 E: [email protected]