Fundraising and Events
OUR LATEST COMMUNITY PROJECTS
OUR YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND COMMUNITY GROUP IS BACK FOR 2023!
Relaunched in March 2023, our free community lunches for elderly and vulnerable people have returned! Run from Manchester Rugby Club in Cheadle Hulme (SK8 7NB), we meet once a month for an afternoon of fun, great conversation and more often than not, lots of dancing! Here are our next dates:
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All lunches are on a Wednesday from 1:00-3:30pm
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June 21st
July 19th
August 16th
September 20th
October 18th
November 15th
December 6th
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To join us, please contact me on 07500 871 732.
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RAISING MONEY FOR CHELWOOD FOOD BANK
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During COVID, we were unable to run our community group at the rugby club. That didn't mean we couldn't support our community in other ways. I know many of you local to Stockport will know of Chelwood Food Bank and the incredible work they do to support families, elderly and vulnerable people in our community. But how much do you know about the day to day running of it?
It costs £25 for a food parcel for a family of four for THREE DAYS WORTH OF FOOD.
To include toiletries and household cleaning products, that increases to £35.
This doesn't include all of the luxury items we treat ourselves to, these are essential items that help people get by day to day.
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Chelwood get ZERO support from supermarkets. As an independent charity, they are not entitled to any surplus stock or donations from supermarkets and the large donation bins you see outside the stores are going to contracted national charities. Chelwood support on average 120 households per week. This increases to around 150 at Christmas time and increases again in January. This year with the cut in universal credit, rise in energy bills, fuel and food prices and risk of redundancies following the end of furlough, they are anticipating that numbers will increase further.
Chelwood is run by volunteers and an incredible lady called Linzie who puts her time and heart into supporting the local community as much as possible. Chelwood have also been donated an incredible porta cabin to give them a more permanent home from the hall they used but this is currently unfurnished.
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Thanks to your incredible donations, we were able to help them furnish the cabin for the volunteers sorting the donations and families attending and to also stock the shelves! We also made a huge contribution to their ever emptying stock with items needed by our community.
ZUMBATHON FUNDRAISING EVENT FOR GROVE PARK! SAVE OUR CLUB!
Our most recent fundraising event was very close to home. As many of your know, our fitness home at Manchester Rugby Club gets a lot of financial support from community events and donations as well as the running of the function rooms. During the Covid19 pandemic, the club have had to use all of the money they had available to them to stay afloat, meaning the money that had been raised and set aside for the repairs of the roof has now gone. Water is flooding into the building throughout and the cost of the repairs currently stands at £35,000. They have set up a GoFundMe page, have had the mini and junior rugby players taking part in some epic fundraising events but are still falling short of the money needed. The club is also being used as a huge lifeline for the community, offering the highest amount of Covid19 vaccinations each week in the local area. This club means so much to our community through sport, social events for the elderly, family functions and our fitness classes. It has been our home for the last 11 years and we came together to support our much loved club!
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Congratulations to all of the ladies who took part and thank you to everyone who has been so generous in their donations! We raised a fantastic £1081.28!
Throughout the past 11 years, we have come together as a community to raise awareness and raise money for causes and charities in need of support. To date, you have raised more than £13,000 by donating your time and money and dancing away for hours on end without a break! None of this would have been possible without the incredible community spirit and here are just some of the events that have taken place over the years!
Millie's Trust Zumbathon
Our Millie's Trust Zumbathon took place at Event City in Manchester where we raised just short of £3,500 for the charity! This was a fantastic event on a huge scale!
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Manchester Children's Hospital
It was a pleasure to be part of this Zumba event for the Children's Hospital raising money for a much needed cot to allow parent's to spend more time with their baby.
You've Got A Friend Community Group Fundraiser
This event was the last Zumbathon we took part in before lockdown, raising much needed funds for our community group. We never anticipated that the group would be so popular and being completely non-profit and running with the support of some incredible volunteers, we held this event to make sure we could keep our group going!
Genesis Nightingale Hospital Appeal
Supporting crucial funding for the research and treatment of breast cancer, this event held at the Forum in Wythenshawe raised a huge amount of money after a solid three hours of Zumba without a break!
Shine for Cancer Research UK
Not only did we raise more than £6,000 for this charity, I then went on to take part in the Shine night walk with my family in memory of my dad, which was the full length of a marathon around Manchester City Centre!
Even our fabulous mini, junior and senior rugby players have put on their dancing shoes and taken part in our Zumba fundraising events! This club is one huge extended family!
In March 2020, we all took a step out of our comfort zones and moved to online classes. We had no idea how long we would be apart for or how we were going to make it work. We also gained a huge amount of skills in IT and even though it has been a tough year, we have come out of it as a stronger community and with knowledge we never thought we'd need or gain! Here is a clip of me talking to BBC Radio Manchester about how we adapted online at the start of the first lockdown.