Macmillan's Plant Fair Is Blooming Success

Sun shines on beautiful riverside garden as Chiswick committee raises £7,500 for charity

The Chiswick Committee of Macmillan Cancer Support held a very successful plant fair on 13 May in a beautiful riverside garden, raising an amazing £7,000. The sun shone and over 600 people came to buy plants, books, jams, marmalade and homemade cakes, and sat overlooking the Thames whilst enjoying coffee, teas and fancy cakes. Tombola with fantastic prizes, including restaurant vouchers and theatre tickets was a great success, contributing to the impressive final total.

Organised by gardening journalist Constance Craig Smith, a firm supporter of Macmillan, and Frances Hall of the Committee, the Fair was a wonderful event.

Gay Search, one of Britain’s most celebrated television gardeners, gave two container planting demonstrations. Gay is well known for her work with the late Geoff Hamilton, and for her groundbreaking series 'Front Gardens' on BBC2. She had many interesting and useful tips to impart.

Five days later, the Chiswick Committee was hard at work again organising the Annual Summer Tennis Tournament at Hartswood Lawn Tennis Club (31 Hartswood Road, Stamford Brook, W12 9NE). The day was perfect and there was fierce competition between 24 players, which resulted in winning prizes for Margaret Evans and Carolyn Wigoder and for runners-up Margaret Bailey and Sue Gareh. The committee produced, as always, a delicious lunch. The day raised a further £1,900 for Macmillan.

And there is more.... the committee will prepare their legendary canapés for Macmillan’s Annual Garden Party, to be held this year in a secret walled garden in Chiswick (the venue to be revealed to those who buy tickets) on Tuesday, 29 June from 7.00 – 9.00. The W5 Wind Quartet will once again provide musical diversions during the evening. Price of tickets is £40 per person (£75 for two) and includes Champagne, of course, as well as canapés. Please contact Sue Hagon, 4 Willmington Avenue, London W4 3HA (020 8994 0710) for tickets.

OTHER FUNDRAISING EVENTS PLANNED

29 June Garden Party in a secret walled garden in Chiswick
01 July Macmillan Sainsbury Flag Day
08 Sept Autumn Tennis Tournament at Hartswood Tennis Club
For information please contact Moira Broom on 8994 2497
24 Sept The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning
15/16 Oct The Macmillan Tesco flag day

If you are interested in any of the above events, please contact Carol Woolner on 020 8994 4711

The money that the Chiswick Committee has raised will go towards funding a new palliative care senior nurse specialist post at the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (comprised of Hammersmith, Charing Cross, St Mary’s, Queen Charlotte’s and Western Eye Hospitals). This role will be to:

• Allow adequate and equitable palliative care provision across all geographical sites of the Trust
  • Establish the profile of palliative care within the new organisation and make it an integral part of cancer services
  • Support colleagues (Macmillan and other) in the site-specific cancer services, and actively participate in their MDT working (most MDT’s currently not attended by palliative care team)
  • Increase patients/carers/professionals’ access to palliative care support
  • Provide more senior and authoritative palliative nursing advice and support
  • Develop leadership and career progression within palliative nursing
  • Establish the palliative care service within outpatient oncology departments, which are currently not covered
  • Support the tertiary referral palliative oncology patients who may be far from home, and experiencing a complex clinical ‘journey’, and better liaise with their local services
  • Become more pro-active in patient care, moving away from crisis/last minute referrals
  • Establish effective working with the newly opened ‘Maggie’s Centre’ on the Charing Cross Hospital site

May 25, 2010