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Residents at a Hethersett sheltered housing complex have raised over £4,000 in the last three years for the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) charity.

The latest cheque for £1,465 was presented by Woodcote residents to David Went, EACH’s Community Fundraiser for Norfolk, as part of their Christmas build-up. A further donation of £52 took the amount raised this year to over £1,500. Our photo shows Marion Waterson presenting the cheque to David Went with fellow residents looking on.

The money has been raised by 28 residents through a variety of methods including weekly donations, raffles and a spare change jar which alone raised £110.

One resident, Irene Williams, has donated all her bingo winnings for the year.

“We like to support the children. It would be silly of us to support Help The Aged as it might be viewed as being rather selfish,” joked fund co-ordinator Marion Waterson

Residents also support the charity by regularly visiting EACH’s shop in Wymondham where they purchase their Christmas cards.

“This is a wonderful thing you are doing and it’s lovely to see the older generation supporting children. Support such as yours allows us to go from strength to strength. We are looking to extend our premises at Quidenham to create additional family accommodation,” David Went said.

EACH runs three hospices in East Anglia at Quidenham, Milton in Cambridgeshire and Ipswich in Suffolk.

Residents were able to celebrate after the presentation by pulling crackers donated to them from a private party at Park Farm Hotel. Meanwhile there has been plenty of Christmas spirit around as children from the village infants and junior schools were due to visit the complex to sing carols. Residents were also due to make the short journey to the Infants school to see their Christmas play. This season also saw Hethersett and District Churches Together planning to sing carols at the complex.

December 2006 story


Marion Waterson presents the £1,000 cheque to David Went on the right and on the left is pictured with some of the Woodcote fund-raisers.

Kind hearted residents of a Hethersett sheltered housing complex have been saving throughout the year to help a Norfolk children’s hospice. Residents from Woodcote have been putting away money each week and just before Christmas presented a cheque for £1,000 to Quidenham Children’s Hospice. The collection was overseen by resident Marion Waterson who explained the motivation behind the scheme: “Some of us visited the hospice and saw all the good work they do and wanted to help them.” The result was that, this year, the Woodcote residents have raised over £1800 for Quidenham which is one of three children’s hospices in East Anglia run under the banner of the East Anglian Children’s Hospice (EACH) charity. In addition to the weekly collection of 50p from 27 residents, Woodcote raised £387.50 from a summer fete, £308 from regular raffles, £40 from teas and coffees and £65 from a private donation. Just five days before Christmas, Marion presented the latest cheque for £1,000 to David Went, EACH’s community fund-raiser for Norfolk. “This is an absolutely wonderful donation. It is lovely that you have seen Quidenham and what we do for the children and their families. Your donation will pay for three days worth of our work. So three days next year will be your days,” David told the residents who range in age from 65 to 97. Woodcote manager Tony Smith was also full of praise for the residents’ achievement: “To find a group of older people prepared to do something for somebody else is very heart-warming. They have been very generous,” he said. Marion explained that the fund-raising had started last year with the proceeds from teas and coffees at the complex being sent to the charity. This had been developed this year with regular raffles and the other fund-raising efforts. “We will certainly be continuing next year,” said Marion who works closely and gains considerable support from the EACH charity shop at Wymondham. “Manageress Becky keeps new teddy bears for us and lets us have them for our raffles,” she said. David Went told the residents that it costs £4 million each year to keep the hospices going of which £3.5 million is raised “by people like yourselves.” EACH provides respite care for up to 320 families every year. Hethersett has been very active in raising money for the charity in 2006 with funds also coming from the Open Gardens scheme in the summer and a special breakfast at the Queen’s Head in the Autumn.