Charity Fun Day raises more than £18,000

More than 300 people walked, ran or cycled to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) on Saturday as part of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust’s (SaTH) annual Charity Fun Day.

This year’s fundraiser – known as the Butterfly Effect – kicked off proceedings at 8am on Saturday 22 July and raised approximately £18,500 for 23 different charities, with the majority of that going to SaTH’s Living Well With Dementia Appeal.

The Charity Fun Day continued with a Summer Fete at The Shropshire Conference Centre at RSH, with all of the money raised during the afternoon going towards the Trust’s Living Well With Dementia Appeal.

The Butterfly Effect is the sixth such fundraiser with a total of more than £100,000 being raised for charity since 2012.

The first cyclists left RSH at 8am on a 50-mile circular bike ride. They were followed by cyclists taking part in a 35-mile bike ride from the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford to RSH and an 18 mile bike run from PRH to RSH.

Runners and walkers entered distances of 18 miles (PRH to RSH), nine miles (starting in Upton Magna) and a circular 5K walk starting from RSH.

Nick Holding, who organised the Butterfly Effect and works at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust which runs RSH and PRH, said: “It was an absolutely fantastic day with more than 300 people taking part in the event.

“The atmosphere was superb all day and it is fantastic to think that this event has now been running for six years and in that time we have raised more than £100,000.

“The event has become a really popular fixture in the calendar and a great social experience bringing lots of people from across our hospitals together with members of the public for a brilliant day of walking, running and cycling.

“We’re still waiting for donations to come in but so far we believe the day raised in the region of £18,500, with the majority going to the house charity ‘Living Well With Dementia Appeal.’

“Thank you to everyone who took part to make it such an excellent day.”

Julia Clarke, Director of Corporate Governance at SaTH, added: “Our hospitals are a big part of the local community and I am delighted by the success of this year’s Charity Fun Day. We wanted to make the event bigger and better for all the family and I think we certainly achieved that.

“We launched our Living Well With Dementia Appeal at last year’s Fun Day. The money raised will provide a number of benefits for patients to improve ward and outpatient departments so that they are dementia-friendly.

“We don’t yet know the exact amount of money that has been raised for the appeal but what we do know is that registration fees for the Butterfly Effect alone topped £3,000.

“I am really excited to find out exactly how much we have raised but in the meantime I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part in the day.”