Chestnut Tree House Business Award Winners
To mark their 10th birthday , Chestnut Tree House decided to host a glitzy awards ceremony at South Lodge near Horsham to recognise those businesses that have supported them .
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Opening the Chestnut Tree House Business Awards , patron Julie Graham spoke of her nervousness on first visiting the children ’ s hospice . She had expected somewhere quite sombre but had been pleasantly surprised by how upbeat it actually is .
I had a similar experience when I visited last year . The children I met were making masks , telling scary stories and showing off the insects they ’ d captured in an afternoon themed around ‘ Where The Wild Things Are ’. With a ball-pit , loads of opportunities for imaginative play and a specially adapted swimming pool , Chestnut Tree House feels more like an adventure playground than a hospice , yet it provides the very best specialist care .
Seeing life-limited children and their brothers and sisters having such a good time , I left thinking this was one of those obvious important causes that melt all opposition . Yet despite being the only children ’ s hospice in Sussex , Chestnut Tree House gets less than eight percent of funds from central government . Costing £ 6,850 a day to run , this leaves the charity reliant on the generosity of local people and businesses to raise nearly £ 3million each year . This is where the business awards came in .
Presenter of Juice 107.2 ’ s late night “ Love Inn ” and Chestnut patron Ambrose Harcourt , told the assembled supporters about many amazing fundraising projects , from Steve White ’ s marathon swims , Churchill Square ’ s Christmas Giving Tree and a British Airways party featuring fire engines and a visit from Dick and Dom . Sussex seems also to harbour an insatiable appetite for cakes with staggering amounts of money made through baking .
Listening to all the effort put in by so many people Mayo Wynne Baxter ’ s voluntary team of ‘ Chestnut Champions ’ were especially proud to win the last award of the night – that of Outstanding Corporate Supporter .
Ambrose Harcourt said “ Mayo Wynne Baxter ’ s Chestnut Tree Champions staff engagement programme has created a whole legion of supporters who are passionate about fundraising , volunteering and spreading the word about Sussex ’ s only children ’ s hospice .”
Fundraising events have included a Land ’ s End to John O ’ Groats bike ride , raffles , baking competitions and sponsoring black tie balls and lunches that have raised over £ 1million . One of the team ’ s more unusual ideas saw them giving guests the chance to retake a bad shot at our annual golf day by selling £ 5 mulligans to raise £ 700 .
The Chestnut Champions also engage with our 12,000 clients to raise awareness of Chestnut Tree House using social media and Re : Magazine . Donations are made to incentivise clients to complete satisfaction surveys and the Family Footprints campaign gives £ 25 to Chestnut Tree House for every Will written under this scheme .
Big congratulations to all the Chestnut Champions and to everyone who runs marathons , bakes cakes , donates raffle prizes , rides bikes over stupid distances , dresses down and plays golf badly enough to need 10 mulligans . An extra congratulations to our ‘ Chief Chestnutter ’ Amy Pulling who gets everyone organised and makes it all happen .
By Vicky Welstead