A Night for Bella raises nearly £3,000 for hospital

A Hinckley mum is delighted after a fundraising night in aid of Birmingham Children’s Hospital manages to raise almost £3,000.

Mother of two Ashleigh Astill hosted ‘A Night for Bella’ last month to raise vital funds for the children’s hospital to give back to the staff who are providing ongoing care for her little family.

Ashleigh’s youngest daughter Bella, who is now nine-monthsold, was born with a Cleft lip and palate and has so far undergone two of four operations at the hospital, with her third planned around April this year.

“The evening was a huge success,” says Ashleigh.

“We nearly doubled what I wanted to raise for the hospital, I was not expecting to raise £2852.11, everyone was so generous.

“Raising money for the hospital means so much to me and my family because the hospital have helped and supported us so much since we found out about Bella having a Cleft lip and palate even before she was born and without people fundraising in the past, we wouldn’t of had the research and funding for specialist equipment that there is now.”

With around 200 people attending the event and raising money for the cause, Ashleigh has been able to donate to the hospital’s Cleft team and children’s areas to help continue with funding and buying specialist equipment for children like Bella.

“I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved in the charity night, organising on the day, all the people that donated raffle and auction prizes, those that donated their services, those that brought tickets, everyone that came on the night, those who donated, the staff at One Stop Barwell for the cake sale and everyone who helped to advertise the event,” adds Ashleigh.

“Bella is now nine months old, she’s climbing and crawling all the time and she is doing really well.”