Handbag charity event raises £750
(left to right) Alex Murch - RBS, Michelle Hunt - Heartbeat, Sadie Sharples - RBS[/caption]A fundraising event held in honour of Preston based charity Heartbeat has seen women from across the area donate a total of 46 handbags, pieces of jewellery and accessories to the cause.
The ladies night, which was held at the Mundo Tapas restaurant in the Guild Hall in Preston, raised £795 for the charity to be match funded with £750 from Royal Bank of Scotland.Organised by the banks employees, Sadie Sharples and Mandy Coupe, the event which took place on Thursday, June 30 2016 was attended by 50 women from the local area. The money raised was amassed from ticket sales for the evening along with a raffle.
As part of the event, all women attending the evening were asked to bring along a handbag, dress or accessory that they no longer use to donate for sale in the charity’s Preston site, where they created a pop up store.Heartbeat was founded in 1978 by Keith and Rose Redman who sadly lost their teenage daughter, Gillian, to heart disease. Keith and Rose recognised the need to develop support and enhanced rehabilitation for people affected by heart disease after the hospital discharge. This pioneering approach to cardiac rehabilitation has provided support to thousands of people over Heartbeat’s 38 year history.
Sadie Sharples, Relationship Manager at Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “Three years ago when Mandy and I first had the idea of holding a ladies night in aid of a local charity we knew that we wanted to do something a little different. Rather than just asking people to donate money, we wanted to create a fun theme and that is when we had the idea to request that as part of the evening, everyone attending should donate a handbag that they no longer use to help raise money for the cause.“We were thrilled with the results of the first event so decided to make it an annual occurrence and this years’ event has been another great success. The array of different bags that were donated will sell out in days I am sure! The ladies night was really well attended and people gave very generously. I’d like to thank everyone involved for their kind contributions.” Jill Rogerson, Chief Executive at Heartbeat, said: “On behalf of Heartbeat and the fundraising team, I would like to say a huge thank you to both Sadie, our relationship manager, and Mandy from Royal Bank of Scotland, for organising and hosting the event on our behalf; it was a very enjoyable and innovative event. Raising funds for our vital work is always a challenge but it is made easier through the generosity of some of our corporate supporters.”
