Katy Holmes Trust

I’m proud to be a patron of the Katy Holmes Trust – a charity very close to my heart.
The Katy Holmes Trust is dedicated to finding a cure for paediatric brain tumours in memory of beautiful Katy Holmes who died after a 3 month battle in January 2012, aged 10, from a rare brain tumour. We have discovered that brain tumours are the BIGGEST cancer killer of children and people under 40 in the UK and yet poorly funded by Government who only give 0.7% towards research into them.
The Katy Holmes Trust aims to fund much needed and crucial research through various events throughout the year and donations to the Trust. Brain tumours are already the biggest cancer killer, just how much bigger can we allow them to become?

To find out more about the Trust or to donate please visit:
http://www.katyholmestrust.co.uk

The Kirsty Club

I have been a patron to The Kirsty Club for many years raising vital funds in order for the hospice to stay open.

A True Inspiration

The Kirsty Club aims to build a brighter future for Francis House Children’s Hospice in Manchester, England. The campaign is inspired by Kirsty Howard—a truly inspirational young lady who lost her brave battle in October 2015. Francis House is a loving home where the corridors are filled with laughter, and the rooms flooded with light. Diana, Princess of Wales, opened the Hospice in 1991.

Kirsty’s Appeal

Our first campaign—Kirsty’s Appeal—aimed to raise £5 million to underpin Francis House, and secure the long-term continuation of its’ care programme for terminally ill children and support for parents. At that time the annual running cost was £1.7m and the only financial help was £27,500 per year made up from five Health Authority’s. The enormous task of raising the remaining funds every year had become a huge burden. Salaries alone to guarantee experienced nurses and care team cost £800,000 per year. Our main concerns are always that we are unable to pay staff unsociable hours. There have been three bids to the National Lottery—all without success.

Kirsty and the Appeal team achieved their goal of raising £5 million at The Angel Ball on Saturday, 28th October 2006. The interest raised on this amount will help many other very poorly children in the future, but until financial contributions from the Government become worthy of this wonderful service provided we must continue, as Francis House needs to grow. Hence—The Kirsty Club.

Building a Brighter Future Through The Kirsty Club

The Kirsty Club aims to make the Hospice even bigger and better. This can then be dedicated to our very special little girl as an everlasting legacy to her bravery.

Like all things our hospice has to expand and grow to reach out and meet the needs of more families. Their needs are significant. The Kirsty Club will expand and provide a new facility for Francis House, which desperately needs to be able to offer more support for more families of children with a short life expectancy. This special extension will provide existing families with extra days of care, and enable the hospice to extend that support to some of the 900 families in our area.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

For more information please visit:
http://www.thekirstyclub.com

The Prince’s Trust

I work closely with The Prince’s Trust in order to raise funds for this important charity.

The Prince’s Trust gives practical and financial support, developing key workplace skills such as confidence and motivation. We work with 13 to 30-year-olds who have struggled at school, have been in care, are long-term unemployed or have been in trouble with the law.

We have helped more than 600,000 young people since 1976 and support 100 more each working day. More than three in four young people we helped last year moved into work, education or training.

Around one in five young people in the UK are not in work, education or training. Youth unemployment costs the UK economy £10 million a day in lost productivity, while youth crime costs £1 billion every year.

For more information please visit:
http://www.princes-trust.org.uk

Russell recently performed at a Carol Concert in December in aid of the Bob Champion Cancer Trust and helped raise £35k! This is an amazing achievement for everyone involved! Well done!

If you would like to read more about the trust please visit :
www.bobchampion.org.uk

 Russell performed at the Sage Theatre Gateshead last week for the Sir Bobby Robson Fondation.  The Foundation focuses on the early detection and treatment of cancer and the clinical trials of new drugs that will eventually beat it. Please visit www.sirbobbyrobsonfoundation.org.uk

Russell performed Barcelona with Faryl Smith and closed the evening with Land of Hope & Glory

All images by Timm Cleasby