Tag: Ashton-under-Lyne

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Hospice shops introduce new smoother system for furniture donations

To make the most of every donation, Willow Wood Hospice’s charity shops now have a new system for fast and free furniture collection.

It comes as the Hospice’s furniture donation vans have also been given a much-needed makeover.

Having looked a little worse for wear previously, the refreshed fleet have a clear and contemporary new livery with details of the updated donation process.

With the newly revamped vans hitting the road across Tameside and Glossop, the Hospice is rolling out a smoother system for swifter furniture collections.

Previously, donors had to call the Purchase and Donate (PAD) shop in Stalybridge to arrange a pick-up, but the process has now been streamlined to make it more efficient.

Now, anyone looking to donate furniture can contact Paul King, Warehouse and Logistics Manager, and his team directly.

You can take photographs of the item(s) you wish to donate and send them via WhatsApp on 07549 275158 with your name and address including postcode, as well as a description of the item(s).

If you don’t have WhatsApp, you can submit your photographs by filling out a simple form on the Hospice website at https://willowwood.org.uk/furniture-collection/

For those unable to send photographs, you can call 0161 669 4849 to speak to the team to arrange collection.

Our Hospice furniture donation vans were looking a little worse for wear. But fear not, because we’ve given them a much-needed makeover!

Paul said: “It’s essential that we have as much information as possible about the donation because we cannot accept everything and we would hate to waste anybody’s time in turning up to pick up an item that we would be unable to accept – e.g. a sofa without a fire label or furniture that we wouldn’t be able to sell because of wear and tear.”

The new process means the Hospice’s team can make the best use of the space at the Donation Centre in Ashton-under-Lyne, plan collections more effectively, and get donations into shops quicker than ever.

About the new system, Paul added: “It’s all about better stock distribution, smoother sales, and faster collections.

“This new system isn’t just making collections easier—it’s set to boost furniture sales and improve stock across all three shops! The PAD and Waterloo will continue to sell furniture, but without the added pressure of handling logistics, freeing them up to focus on providing the best possible service to our customers.

“Plus, we’ve simplified booking system, so it’s now easier than ever to donate! We introduced a WhatsApp function which is already been a game-changer, letting people send photos and a description of their donation for a quicker response.

“From first contact to collection, the whole process can now be wrapped up in as little as three days, depending on what suits the donor—making it faster, simpler, and more efficient for everyone!”

If you see the new-look vans out and about, tag Willow Wood Hospice on their Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn platforms.

The Hospice, based in Ashton-under-Lyne, provides specialist, compassionate and dignified care to patients from Tameside and Glossop with any life-limiting illness and those closest to them.

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Sixth Form students give their time to Hospice shops

Seven students from Ashton Sixth Form College have spent some of their time volunteering recently in our Willow Wood Hospice charity shops.

Ahmed Cali, Adam Dixon, Armaan Hussain, Oliver Hutchfield, Nathan Nyoni, Alexandra Serban and Maurice Owhonda Utchay generously gave their time to support our retail operations.

The seven of them, all second-year A-Level Business students, gave a combined 350 hours volunteering at The Purchase and Donate (PAD) in Stalybridge, as well as at our Waterloo and Ashton-under-Lyne shops.

The students had to complete 40 hours of work experience each as part of their course, but they all ended up doing 50 instead – between 24th February and 3rd March.

Ahmed and Maurice volunteering at our Ashton town centre shop

Adam, 18, from Dukinfield admitted he didn’t know a lot about the Hospice beforehand. However, he learned a lot more during his time volunteering, including that the income generated from our charity shops directly supports patient services at the Hospice.

Adam commented on his time working at The PAD in Stalybridge: “It was fantastic. It helped me improve my confidence and other skills like communication and time management.

“When the delivery van came in, I helped move all of the sofas and cabinets into the store, and I carried items from the store into the van to deliver to customers. I also put donated items onto shelves and helped customers when they needed support.”

The work of the students not only supported the Hospice’s shops, but it also gave them opportunities to build their skills and gain more work experience.

Adam being interviewed at Ashton Sixth Form College by Ciaran Greenwood during his placement with the Hospice’s Communications team

Adam further commented on his future ambitions, seeking entrepreneurial goals: “I want to start sharing, like going into investments and start going from there. So just get a job somewhere, save up money and start investing it into various businesses.”

He enjoyed it so much that Adam is continuing his volunteering at Willow Wood, working at The PAD on Fridays during his free periods at college. We wish him and the rest of our amazing student volunteers the best of luck in their future endeavours.

Willow Wood Volunteer Services Manager, Lisa Pye, had this to say about the students’ efforts: “We are very thankful for the amazing support that the students at Ashton Sixth Form College have given us. Volunteers are vitally important to help support the work that Willow Wood Hospice does. We’ve had fantastic feedback from the retail managers about all of the hard work they have done, and we hope they enjoyed it and taken something from the experience.”

If you want to learn more about the volunteering opportunities that are available at Willow Wood Hospice, please visit www.willowwood.org.uk/volunteering to express your interest.

By Ciaran Greenwood

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Waterloo News hops to it for Willow Wood

Our heartfelt thanks go out to the team behind Waterloo News, who have once again shown amazing community spirit by supporting our Bunny Hop fundraiser.

Established in 2019 to provide residents in the Waterloo area of Ashton-under-Lyne with local updates, Waterloo News is a Facebook page run by dedicated locals Dave Howarth and Lee Woods.

Before Covid, they took over the page with a mission to not only share local news but also support good causes in the community.

Their efforts are further strengthened by Emma Jones from Perry Jones Funeral Services, located just a stone’s throw from our Clearance Outlet and Donation Centre, and close to our Waterloo shop.

Together, this dedicated team has been key in gathering Creme Egg donations for our Bunny Hop fundraiser for three consecutive years.

This year, they collected an impressive 445 eggs, bringing their overall total to over 1,400 eggs – which is also testament to the generosity of the wider Waterloo community.

The sweet treats are given to every child taking part as a reward for hopping for the Hospice.

“The Hospice’s Waterloo shop is local to us and we want to support local businesses and organisations as best we can,” said Dave.

Emma added: “I’m very aware of the donations the Hospice relies on to keep going and it’s great that we can support an organisation that’s very local to us.”

We are grateful for their ongoing support, which makes a difference to our fundraising efforts. Thank you to Dave, Lee and Emma – you truly embody the spirit of community!

To learn more about our Bunny Hop fundraiser and how you can get involved, click here.

EGG-CELLENT: Pictured are Emma Jones (left) from Perry Jones Funeral Services and Dave Howarth from Waterloo News (centre) delivering some Creme Eggs to Kellie Moulton, our Waterloo shop manager. 

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Willow Wood Enterprise Challenge raises over £12k

Willow Wood’s inaugural Enterprise Challenge initiative has helped to raise over £12,000 for the Hospice.

The Enterprise Challenge awards ceremony, which was held on Thursday 13th March at Clarendon Sixth Form College, celebrated the achievements of the local secondary schools that helped generate vital funds for the Hospice.

The schools who took part were All Saints Catholic College, Ashlea House School, St Thomas More RC College, Fairfield High School for Girls and St Damian’s RC Science College.

Hosted by Tameside Radio’s drivetime host Cameron Kennedy, the event had over 100 people in attendance, including the Civic Mayor of Tameside Councillor Betty Affleck and her Consort Declan Fitzpatrick.

The ten awards were presented by event sponsors, local business mentors, and Hospice patrons and trustees.

During their campaigns, pupils formed their own teams, each receiving £25 seed money to kickstart their fundraisers. They managed to grow their seed money into a larger sum, as well as utilising their creativity and entrepreneurial talents. Some of the pupils’ ideas included a car wash, selling loom bands, putting on a cinema, and holding a disco.

The overall winners were the Faith in Action team at St Thomas More RC Science College, who fully embraced the challenge and managed their seed money and reinvestment to raise a fantastic amount by building a relationship with their mentors and promoting some healthy competition between schools.

Paul, who was the Faith in Action team’s student leader, said on stage: “As a team, we planned two concerts, numerous sweet treat stalls and a sponsored run. We are extremely proud of raising over £1,200 to support the amazing work of Willow Wood Hospice. We want to thank all of Willow Wood and our sponsors Denton and Audenshaw Rotary, as well as Miss Hague and Mr Smith for supporting us.”

The main sponsors were Energy and Carbon Reduction Solutions Limited and the Union of Catholic Mothers in Stalybridge (St Peter’s and St Raphael’s Church) sponsored the awards evening.

Team sponsors and mentors were Inology IT, Denton and Audenshaw Rotary Club, Droylsden Glass, and Viking Office.

The awards and their winners were as follows:

  • Pioneer Fundraising Award – Ashlea House School
  • Innovation Award – St Damian’s RC Science College
  • Creative Arts Award – All Saints Catholic College (Year 11)
  • Market Insight Award – Fairfield High School for Girls
  • Sponsors Choice Award – All Saints Catholic College (Year 7)
  • Digital Impact Award – Ashlea House School
  • Strategic Investment Award – St Thomas More RC College (Faith in Action)
  • Social Enterprise Award – St Damian’s RC Science College
  • Endurance & Dedication Award – All Saints Catholic College (10W)
  • Overall Enterprise Challenge Award – St Thomas More (Faith in Action)

The guest speakers were Assistant Principal of Tameside College, Carl Shaw, and founder of Create & Craft Workshops, Cait Senior, who both gave inspiring speeches targeted to the young people in the audience.

St Damian’s RC Science College choir delivered an outstanding performance both before the ceremony and during the interval.

All of the schools and their pupils were celebrated for their incredible contributions to helping raise money for the Hospice.

Speaking about the event and how it went, Lucy Ta’ati, Community Fundraiser at Willow Wood Hospice, said: “I think it went really well, and it just shows when people come together – the participants, the staff at the schools, our lovely sponsors, trustees and patrons, and of course our fabulous host Cameron Kennedy – we can really make something special.

“I would like to thank everyone involved for their support – including Clarendon Sixth Form, Bhavna Parmar and Pam Mistry from The Innovation Hub at Tameside College, and Tesco Glossop and Tesco Stalybridge for donating refreshments.”

Community togetherness and support is of vital importance, and is a significant factor for raising awareness of the Hospice, based in Ashton-under-Lyne.

On this topic, Lucy added: “I think it’s massively important, and not just from a fundraising point of view. People out there need to know what services are available to them. It’s good for people to know that we’re there, we’re present in the community and people who are fundraising for us as well.

“It’s good for them to know that they are appreciated because without our third-party fundraisers and people helping us and supporting our events in the community, we wouldn’t be able to continue providing those services.”

Any teachers or leaders interested in their secondary school or youth group taking part in this year’s Enterprise Challenge can express their interest by visiting www.willowwood.org.uk/events/enterprise-challenge

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Willow Wood Day at Ashton United

Ashton United Football Club has organised a dedicated ‘Willow Wood Day’ to support the Hospice.

Their matchday on Saturday 29th March against Hebburn Town will be turned into a fun day at Hurst Cross with raffles, auctions and activities to enjoy – all while raising vital funds for Willow Wood Hospice.

Volunteers from Willow Wood will also be there with collection buckets and to provide more information about the Hospice to spectators.

Ahead of kick-off at 3pm, the club will open at midday on the day. There will be a darts competition event in the clubhouse and a raffle which will be drawn at half-time – with prizes including a signed Ashton United FC shirt.

There are also three hospitality packages still available for four people at a cost of £120 plus VAT – these include matchday tickets and pie and peas.

The club will be donating all profits from the match to the Hospice based in Ashton-under-Lyne, which provides specialist, compassionate and palliative care to patients from Tameside and Glossop with any life-limiting illness.

The co-chairmen of Ashton United have had a personal connection to the Hospice and wanted to support Willow Wood as part of the club’s ongoing work to support good causes in the community.

A spokesperson for the club said: “Ashton United FC, in conjunction with our charity arm Ashton United in the Community, work with many partners in the Tameside area to support good causes and promote health and wellbeing in our local community.

“Willow Wood Hospice are dependent on fundraising events and donations to survive and therefore we decided we would like to do something special to help.

“We have all been affected by family members requiring care and in fact Johnny Burke, the father/grandfather of our Co-Chairmen David and Jonathan Burke, who incidentally holds the record for the most appearances for Ashton United was recently cared for in Willow Wood before he unfortunately passed away and so this became even more personal for them and the club.

“We hope that by donating all profits from our game against Hebburn Town on Saturday 29th March we can make a real difference.

“We now need the support of local people, whether they support Ashton United or not, to come along to the game, get involved in the things that are going on and make the day a massive success.”

The Hospice says it is grateful for the support of the club, which will help make a difference.

“We would like to thank our friends at Ashton United for dedicating this special matchday to support us,” said Joanne Lees, Willow Wood’s Partnership Development Lead.

“It is a fantastic opportunity for us to help spread the word about what we do and raise awareness about the essential services we provide. We hope as many people as possible can attend and raise vital funds to support hospice care.”

Tickets for the match are £12 for adults, £8 for over-65s, students and concessions, and £1 for under-12s. They can be bought on the gate on the day or online in advance at ashtonunited.co.uk

Anyone interested in the remaining hospitality packages can contact andyc@ashtonunited.co.uk

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Janet retires after 17 years of service

We have said a heartfelt farewell to Janet Delaney, who is retiring after an incredible 17 years of dedicated service to Willow Wood Hospice.

Janet has been an integral part of our Retail team, working across multiple shops including Droylsden, Hyde, Stalybridge, Glossop, The PAD and, most recently, our Distribution Centre (now the Clearance Outlet and Donation Centre).

Janet’s favourite role has always been sorting, where her expertise and hard work has made a huge difference to our operations.

When asked what she’ll miss most, Janet – Distribution Centre Assistant – said it will be our amazing volunteers, who have provided her with so much support over the years.

On what was her final working day on Tuesday (10th December), Janet was presented with a card, flowers and a beautiful cake courtesy of her colleagues.

Paul King, our Warehouse and Logistics Manager, shared: “Janet will be missed by so many. We can’t thank her enough for her years of dedication and service.”

We wish Janet all the best in this exciting new chapter of her life and she will always be part of the Willow Wood family.

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Exciting new beginnings for our Distribution Centre

We’re delighted to announce that the transformation of our Distribution Centre into a vibrant new Clearance Outlet and Donation Centre is complete.

The grand opening on Saturday 12th October was a fantastic success, surpassing all expectations.

Under the stellar leadership of Manager Paul King and his dedicated team – Daniel, Janet, Richard, and Declan – the ground floor has been beautifully converted into a clearance centre packed with discounted furniture, clothes, toys, and more, while eBay sales continue to thrive on the first floor.

Special thanks go to Head of Retail, Pauline, and the incredible volunteers, including corporate teams who worked tirelessly alongside us.

From clearing and stocking to painting and refurbishing the garden, their efforts made it all happen. Together, they also delivered thousands of leaflets across the community to spread the word!

The shop, on Langham Street in Ashton-under-Lyne, is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 4pm, and donations are always welcome.

Let’s continue celebrating this exciting new chapter!

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Donate school uniform and support Willow Wood

Our supporters Ladysmith Shopping Centre are holding a ‘School Uniform Exchange’ to offer families free school uniform, with the option of donating to the Hospice as their charity partner this year.

The local community is encouraged to drop off any used or new school uniform items at the Hospice’s shop, based at the centre in Ashton-under-Lyne, during its opening hours of Mondays to Saturdays 9am to 4pm as soon as possible.

The ‘Uniform Exchange’ shop will be open at the former Simply Clothing store at the Ladysmith Shopping Centre on Friday 30th August and Saturday 31st August from 10am to 3pm on both days – before the new school year begins in September and staff will be on hand to assist.

Uniforms will be free to claim but people are encouraged to make a donation, however small, in support of the Hospice – which provides compassionate care to patients from the local community with any life-limiting illness.

Ladysmith says the initiative aims to ease the financial burden on families amid the cost-of-living crisis, promote sustainability and reduce textile waste.

It follows a Censuswide poll conducted for the footwear brand Wynsors, which revealed that 73 per cent of parents feel that purchasing school uniforms strains their household budget, with 37 per cent of parents admitting they need financial support for these expenses but are unable to obtain it.

“We believe that every child deserves to start the school year with confidence, and a proper uniform is an important part of that,” said Ian Pratt, a spokesperson for Ladysmith Shopping Centre.

“Access to school uniforms is also about equality, dignity and inclusion, ensuring every child feels positive and part of the school community.”

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Anniversary Ball raises vital Hospice funds

More than 200 guests enjoyed Willow Wood’s 25th Anniversary Ball, helping to raise over £26,000 for the Hospice.

Held at The Village Hotel in Ashton-under-Lyne last Friday (14th June), guests enjoyed welcome drinks, a sumptuous three-course meal and a live band before dancing the night away with a disco at the glittering event.

A raffle and silent auction with some fabulous prizes on offer, donated courtesy of businesses and supporters, helped to boost vital funds further.

CEO Tracy Minshull welcomed everyone to the ball and shared the experiences of her first 60 days in the role.

“It’s been fantastic and a real pleasure and honour to work for such a community organisation,” she declared.

She did not shy away from the challenges facing hospice funding nationally, explaining that collectively the sector faces a £77m deficit.

“We are a critical partner in the NHS. Hospices are part of the solution and everyone has a right to live and die with respect and dignity in a place of their choosing and hospices provide that opportunity and that unique service.”

Tracy praised the many other associated services the Hospice provides, adding it was one reason she wanted to come to Willow Wood so much.

She also highlighted the work of the bereavement, wellbeing and dementia services the Hospice provides.

In attendance at the ball was Greater Manchester Vice Lord-Lieutenant Sharman Birtles MBE, who has been a proud patron of the Hospice for many years.

She said: “I spend as much time as I possibly can telling the world about the good work that goes on at Willow Wood. It never ceases to amaze me about the work and the atmosphere there. It is a magical place that does wonderful work with wonderful people.”

She encouraged others to volunteer and help the Hospice, whether it be one hour, a week or one day.

“I have spent a good part of my life giving my time and there is nothing more rewarding and giving to something like Willow Wood can only enrich your life,” she added.

This year’s anniversary ball was sponsored by Ashton-based Scientific Sanitation Solutions.

Managing Director Wahid Ali said the company was committed to supporting the work of Willow Wood once they had visited the Hospice and found out more about the remarkable work undertaken.

“We saw the work that people are doing at Willow Wood and it resonates with us as a group and we are so proud to be aligned with Willow Wood.

“We are a humanitarian-based business and what we see Willow Wood doing is aligned with our own humanitarian work. It’s a very special, special thing for us.”

The business develops solutions in sanitation and agriculture.

Sales director Neale Samways, who has already undertaken a bungee jump for the Hospice, added: “It’s the little things that Willow Wood do that makes such a difference to people, and it’s the little things that we have implemented as a business that helps change lives, like the sanitation of water for instance.

“Our ethos completely mirrors the ethos of Willow Wood. They are a local organisation like us that are doing great things.”

The event has raised over £26,000, a fantastic total which will support patients from the local community in the Hospice’s care.

Sam Duncan, Director of Fundraising and Communications at Willow Wood Hospice, said: “Thank you so much to everyone who attended this year’s very special anniversary ball.

“The hospice and all its services couldn’t continue without the community’s support and we would especially like to thank Scientific Sanitation Solutions for their support and sponsorship of the ball this year.”

An especially busy year for the Hospice continues with many more special events planned, including next month’s Butterfly Memory Release, Martin Wild Golf Day and Willow Wood Does Strictly to name just a few.

To find out more, visit https://willowwood.org.uk/events/

You can see more photos from our 25th Anniversary Ball in our Facebook album here.