Ladies lunch is a recipe for fundraising success

STAFF from East Cheshire Hospice swapped their uniforms for high fashion outfits for the annual Ladies Lunch held recently in Prestbury.

Sarah Dale, Jill Harding and JoanMarie Williams took to the catwalk to join other models parading fashion from three supporting fashion shops – Damand in Congleton, Willow in Alderley Edge and Knutsford and Fuzzy Goose from Cheadle Hulme.

Around 115 ladies attended the everpopular annual lunch at the Bridge Hotel in Prestbury helping to raise around £7,000 for the hospice.

As well as the fashion show, they also enjoyed a two-course lunch, shopping from 14 different stalls, and music from pianist and singer-songwriter, Sally Caitlin.

The event was so successful that a further Ladies Lunch is now pencilled in for Tuesday, September 12 at Mottram Hall.

“We are delighted that demand is so high for these lunches that we are having to hold more than one a year,” said events manager at the hospice, Jessica Ruth. Jessica puts much of the success down to the hard work of some of the hospice volunteers who worked behind-the-scenes for several months in the run-up to the lunch.

“These events are so popular but require a lot of hard work behind the scenes,” she said.

“Three volunteers – Sharon Ronnie, Ginny Blunt and Jo Dalton – worked for weeks to pull this all together and we can’t thank them enough.”

Further information on the next Ladies Lunch in September will be on the hospices’ new website soon.