St George's Hospital Charity
 Summer Newsletter

Dear Supporter,

It has been a busy period filled with changes at St George’s Hospital Charity. We are now catching up and bringing you a bumper edition packed with lots of news, including our London to Brighton Flash Sale.

We are incredibly proud of the work that we have accomplished, and we couldn't wait to share it with our wonderful supporters, like you.

Firstly, we bid farewell to our Chief Executive, Amerjit Chohan, after five fantastic years of growing the Charity. You can learn more about Amerjit's remarkable achievements here and to read some of his reflections click here.

We are delighted to welcome our new interim Chief Executive, Alex Botha, who will ensure a smooth transition while we recruit a permanent Chief Executive. Alex brings with him a wealth of experience.

May

In May, the gardens at St George's bloomed into a stunning display of colours as the tulip bulbs, funded by one of our grants, blossomed.

Visitors were captivated by the beauty of the grounds, and we even wrote an article documenting this enchanting transformation.

We also launched the spring phase of our Time for a Change children's appeal with a brilliant Gala Dinner on May 13.

The event, held at AFC Wimbledon's Cherry Red Records Stadium, raised over £300,000, bringing the total fundraised or pledged for the appeal to an impressive £2.25 million out of our £5 million target.

June

At the beginning of June, during Carers Week (6-12 June), we shared a news story highlighting the impact of the Young-Onset Dementia carers support group.

Based on a survey conducted with both carers and patients, the results were eye-opening. You can read the news story by clicking the link below.

On Tuesday 20 June, we launched our third annual Arts Week with a diverse program of events, exhibits, workshops, music, and performances at both St George's and Queen Mary's Hospitals.

Find out more about the week's highlights and watch our new film about our first cohort of Resident Artists by clicking the button below.

Additionally, we celebrated Volunteers Week (1-7 June) by recognising and appreciating three of our incredible volunteers who play a vital role in our organisation.

Read about Nicky (pictured), Jan, and Trixie and the role they play in supporting the work of St George's Hospital Charity.

In response to the recent Nuffield Trust report on record levels of NHS staff sickness in England, we highlighted the Charity's investment into staff wellbeing over the past 12 months.

July

July kicked off with a bang as we celebrated the 75th birthday of the NHS on Wednesday 5 July.

We organised various activities and events at St George's and Queen Mary's Hospitals to commemorate this special occasion including hosting tea parties across the wards and departments, presenting about the work of the NHS in local schools and taking over local park runs.

We’ve raised over £2K with more donations set to come in, so keep an eye out for the final total.

London to Brighton Cycle 2023 Flash Sale

We recently launched our London to Brighton Flash Sale. We've slashed our registration fee by a whopping 90% - which means you can join #TeamGeorges and sign up to take on the London to Brighton Cycle for just £5.50!

What do I have to do?

There's only two things you need to do when taking on the London to Brighton Cycle as part of Team George's.

1. Commit to raising £300 for our #TimeforaChange Appeal
2. Cycle the 55 miles from Clapham Common to Brighton.

About London to Brighton

Starting at Clapham Common you'll cycle through south west London before you reach the quiet country lanes of Mitcham, Carshalton, Chipstead, Banstead and Haywards Heath.

After cycling through the beautiful south east countryside you'll take on Ditchling Beacon a challenging mile long climb to the top of the South Downs, where you'll be treated to breathtaking views.

Then it's time to head into Brighton, you'll cycle past the stunning Royal Pavilion before being greeted with cheers as you cross the finish line.

The event organiser, Skyline Events, will provide mechanical support along the fully signposted route, which has lots of breaks.

Hear from Louise Hunter, mum of Hugh, about why you should sign up for London to Brighton Cycle ride in support our children's appeal

Thank you for your continued support and dedication to our cause. None of this great work that we’re sharing and celebrating would be possible without your support.

We look forward to sharing more updates and success stories with you soon.

Warm regards,

Sarah McCullough,
Director of Fundraising and Communications
St George's Hospital Charity

Our April Newsletter

Dear Supporter,

I hope you all had an enjoyable Easter Break and to our Islamic supporters, Eid Mubarak.

On Tuesday, 28 March, Naz Legacy Foundation and St George’s Hospital Charity hosted their first-ever Interfaith Iftar in Tooting, which was sponsored by Islamic Relief UK. Local councillors, faith leaders, and residents attended the event, which highlighted the role of charities in society.

The Royal Mahal Banqueting Suite provided a stunning backdrop for the evening, with the event’s theme being “Tooting Stories”, highlighting the invaluable role of charities in society. The evening included Ramadan reflections from Imam Khubeeb, a meal, and a powerful spoken word performance by Kaira Brown.

Local resident Jay Bhatt shared his experience of the lifesaving care his children received from the paediatric team at St George’s Hospital. His heart-warming story touched the hearts of everyone present, reminding us of the importance of supporting our local hospital and the medical staff who work tirelessly to save lives.

Later in the evening, spoken word artist Kaira Brown shared her piece “Our Tooting Story”, which highlighted the significance of improving the lives and experiences of children in Tooting.

In other news...

Our children's appeal, Time for a Change, kicks off its second year Gala Dinner on May 13. We hope this event will take us to the £2.5m mark - halfway to our target. We'll update you in our June newsletter.

Finally, we wish all our London Marathon runners the best of luck this weekend. Our team of cheerers will be there to support you on the route!

Best wishes

Amerjit Chohan,
Chief Executive

St George's Hospital Charity

Our March Newsletter

Dear Supporter,

Next week St George’s Hospital Charity is collaborating with Naz Legacy Foundation to host our first-ever Interfaith Iftar sponsored by Islamic Relief, on Tuesday 28 March at the Royal Mahal Banqueting Suite in Tooting, and we’d love for you to join us.

Ramadan is a significant month in the Islamic calendar, where Muslims all around the world fast from dawn until dusk. The fast is broken each evening with a meal called Iftar, and it is customary for Muslims to share this meal with family and friends.

Our Interfaith Iftar event is an exciting opportunity for people from different faiths to come together and gather at The Royal Mahal Banqueting Suite to share food, share stories and share thanks with their local community.

Find out more about the event and secure your free ticket by clicking the link below.

In other news...

Last weekend we hosted our fourth annual Abseil for St George's at the Pelican Hotel and early indications suggest it's been another hugely successful year.

As someone who has an innate fear of heights, the thought of it still terrifies me. However, I applaud our amazing fundraisers and supporters who not only took on this challenge but went on to smash their fundraising targets. We'll report more on this event in our next newsletter.

Speaking of acrophobia (fear of heights), most of you will know that I have signed up for Skydive for St George's with our Group CEO, Jacqueline Totterdell, to fundraise for our Time for a Change appeal. You can donate to my JustGiving page here.

If you're up for the challenge, you could join Jacqueline and myself - sign up via our website.

Best wishes
Amerjit Chohan,
Chief Executive

St George's Hospital Charity

Your support helps us make a difference!

Dear Supporter,

I hope that you’re having a great February so far. This month, we have the great privilege of showcasing some of the grants that the Charity has awarded and the impact that these projects have had, where it’s been possible to do so.
 
It’s thanks to your incredible support over the past year that we’re able to fund some new innovative and life changing projects in our hospitals.

These investments go a long way to improving the lives and experiences of our patients, their families and loved ones, and of course the brilliant staff that work so hard at St George's Trust. These include the Pinckney Parents room, funded by the Charity and made possible through a generous contribution, from The True Colours Trust, through their Breathing Spaces Grants Programme.
 
There is only one parents' room shared between Pinckney and Frederick Hewitt children’s wards, which supports around 30 families whose sick children are being cared for by multiple different teams including medical, surgical, and high dependency oncology doctors and nurses. This space enables families to leave the bedside and have a break from what can be a lengthy and traumatic experience with their sick child in hospital.
 
There are times when the team may have to support a family meeting with the authorities and other members of the multi-disciplinary team or deliver bad news to parents or carers. This room is invaluable in providing a quiet, private space in which parents can take some much-needed time out following these meetings which often involve difficult conversations.
 
Thanks to our grant, the room has been redecorated and refurnished making it an inviting and comfortable space for parents to retreat to during what are often very difficult times. 
 
We also funded the installation of a new outside staff gym following the closure of the gym located next to the hospital. Evidence shows the positive impact of physical exercise on mental and emotional wellbeing, so it was essential that staff had somewhere to exercise on site.
 
These are just two examples of the difference our grants are making to patient and staff experience, all of which is only possible thanks to your support. In this edition of the newsletter we’ve included a few other stories of grants that we’ve awarded and I hope you feel as proud as we do, of the difference that you are making.

Supporting Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton

As well as St George's Hospital in Tooting, the Charity endeavours to support the wider community served by the Trust including Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton. Our Arts team have worked hard to expand their programme to Queen Mary's and will launch their new Arts Afternoons next month - click the link below to find out more.

Thanks to incredible fundraising effort from a former patient and her loved ones meant we were about to buy a CardioWall for the Wolfson Rehab Unit.

Fibre Optic Lights for Paediatric Patients

Working with the Capital Projects team