Raindrops ladies raise thousands for hospice
A GROUP of dedicated fundraisers for Rainbows Hospice are retiring from their work after collecting more than £35,000 for the good cause.
Eighteen years ago, Pat Radley, of Mountsorrel, and Jeanette Marshall and Jean Lee, both of Sileby, formed Raindrops and started out with the modest goal of raising £1,000.
The name Raindrops came about after the group’s fourth Open Garden Event in 2007, when it rained all day.
Pat said: “We have enjoyed our many years of fundraising but feel the time is right to retire now so we made our final donation of £5,000 in October, this made the total raised by us over the years to £35,000.
“We, the Raindrops, met through our common hobby of going to regular weekly whist drives around the local villages. We would take jams, chutney and knitted items to the whist drives and sell them to the friends we met.
“We had been involved in fundraising for various other charities for several years before we decided to concentrate on Rainbows in 2002, a cause that was very dear to Jeanette.”
As well as the Open Gardens, the Raindrops group staged car boot sales, table top stalls and stalls at charity garden fetes.
Friends, family and neighbours donated things for them to sell.
Jean died in 2013 and due to ill health, the Raindrops have not been actively raising funds for the last four years.
Pat said: “We would like to thank everyone who has supported us and given donations over the years. We all feel proud of what we have raised for such a wonderful charity.”
Gary Farnfield, Rainbows
Community Fundraiser, added: “We would like to thank the Raindrops group for their wonderful support over the years.
“They have been fantastic and we appreciate everything they have organised for us. It costs over £6 million a year to run Rainbows and we simply couldn’t do that without the support of our fundraisers.”
■ You can make a donation on the Rainbows Hospice website at www.rainbows. co.uk.