Severn Hospice cancels flagship fundraisers for second year running

Major crowd pullers the Pontesbury Potter in March, Telford Town Park’s Colour Run in June and Shrewsbury’s Dragon Boat Festival in July will not go ahead due to the amount of preparation needed to put them on.

The decision means the charity is dealing with another financial blow as it already has a fundraising deficit of more than £500,000.

Severn Hospice, which cares for families in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales living with incurable illness, says it will not risk the health of supporters – or commit to the financial risk of organising its mass participation events – while so much uncertainty remains around mitigating the pandemic.

Between them, the popular events attract thousands of participants, spectators and supporters and raise around £300,000.

The hospice’s director of income generation Norma Ross said: “As difficult a decision as it’s been to make, we know it’s the right one. On every level, this is such a disappointment as events are not only fantastic fundraisers for us they are a vital connection with our community.

“We knew we were ending the financial year with a fundraising deficit of more than £500,000 and now we face starting the next one already behind ourselves,” she said.

“Our supporters are amazing and have not forgotten us despite all they themselves are facing, and we’ve had help from government and other funding sources, as well as looking at our own costs, but I can’t pretend we don’t face an ongoing challenge."

The latest lockdown has meant the hospice has also lost vital income from its high street shops which have all been forced to close for a second time. Annually, the shops contribute around £1 million to the hospice’s care funds.

The charity had been covering its fundraising gap by using its reserves.

“We can’t stop caring, the pandemic has not stopped people needing us, so we are continually looking at what else we can do to minimise its impact on us and to help our supporters.

“We are so fortunate to have such commitment from our supporters, it really does make a difference now more than ever, and we are doing all we can to help them help us," she added.

It’s latest fundraising initiative – ‘Challenge Yourself’ – has already seen people commit to real and virtual Land’s End to John o’ Groats journeys, skydives, mountain ascents, marathons and multi-mile and multi-day runs and walks.

The hospice shut its 28 charity shops last March because of the coronavirus pandemic, and had been losing £100,000 a week – a large proportion of the hospice's income normally comes from the sale of clothes, books, toys, furniture and more.