Wednesday 4 January 2017

Organisers of an annual Shropshire hospital-to-hospital fundraiser today announced plans for their biggest event yet – amid hopes it could help them top the £100,000 mark for money raised for charity since it began.

The Butterfly Effect will take place between the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on Saturday 22 July 2017.

It will be the sixth hospital-to-hospital fundraiser which organiser Nick Holding has held, with around £82,000 raised for good causes since the event began in 2012. Entrants can choose to run, walk or cycle between the two hospitals to raise money either for the house charity or a charity of their choice.

Nick, a Senior Kaizen Promotion Office (KPO) Specialist working in transformation as part of the partnership with the Virginia Mason Institute at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) which runs RSH and PRH, said: “We’re hopeful that we will raise enough this year to have raised in excess of £100,000 for good causes throughout the six years of the event.

“The event is open to everyone so it would be great to see SaTH staff and people from the local community or further afield taking part. It’s now 2017 so why not sign up, get into training and start the new year with a bang.”

Entrants can choose to take part in:

  • 18-mile walks, runs or bike rides
  • A 35-mile bike ride
  • A 50-mile bike ride
  • 9-mile walks, runs or bike rides
  • 5K walks, runs or bike rides

The 18-mile and 35-mile events will start at 10am at PRH. The 9-mile events will begin at 12pm in Upton Magna and the 5K event and 50-mile bike ride will start at the Shropshire Conference Centre. All events will finish at the Shropshire Conference Centre at RSH.

This year’s house charity is SaTH’s Living Well With Dementia Appeal which aims to raise £2.6million to improve the facilities and environment for patients living with dementia at RSH and PRH.

Nick added: “This is our biggest fundraising event yet with the most events we’ve ever run and a chance for people to choose exactly what distance and time of event they want to do.

“It costs £10 to sign up, all of which goes to our house charity, and then people can choose to raise sponsorship for either the Living Well With Dementia Appeal or a charity of their choice.

“It’s a fantastic day which always attracts lots of people not just from SaTH but from across Shropshire, and even from other parts of the country. We’re hoping this year’s will be as big a success as previous events. To sign up and for more information please visit www.shropshirecharityevents.co.uk”

Julia Clarke, Director of Corporate Governance at SaTH, said: “’We are delighted this appeal has been chosen as the house charity for this always popular hospital-to-hospital fundraiser.

“With an estimated 6,000 people in our local communities living with dementia, and a quarter of our hospital beds occupied by patients with some form of dementia or confusion, it is really important that we provide the best experience possible for patients and their families.

“The Trust needs as many people as possible from the community to help us with this appeal.  So if you think you can help, no gesture is too small.  Your donations will help make our wards and outpatients areas dementia friendly (e.g. signage, specialist clocks, reminiscence items, cutlery, ward activities etc.), and the development of Dementia Cafes at both sites.  If you would like more information on this appeal please contact the Governance and Membership Office on 01743 261473 or members@sath.nhs.uk”

The Trust will also host its second annual fun day from 12pm on 22 July at the Shropshire Conference Centre with fun for all the family, followed by the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of its Board. More details of the fun day and AGM will be revealed in the future.

To sign up for The Butterfly Effect and for more information please visit www.shropshirecharityevents.co.uk