Fundraising at West Suffolk Crematorium

Fundraising at West Suffolk Crematorium – by Royna Hill (Manager)


About a month ago I came across a leaflet describing the Tea Parties that are held every year to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care. As they do such a fantastic job, and we were in the middle of a heatwave, I thought it would be a good idea to have a Garden Tea Party at my home and invite family, friends and colleagues.

We started with a nice donation from my Managing Director and invested in some items to sell to raise funds. I visited Risby Fruit Farm, where Dave very kindly sold me around 40 mixed hardy fuschias at a very discounted rate. I found some little galvanised-type pots from my daughter’s wedding to put the plants in and they were ready to sell.

I then visited Westley Fruit Farms and explained about the Tea Party and they sold me some punnets of strawberries at a knock-down price – all ready for strawberries and cream at the party.

Nick Armstrong, from Armstrongs Funeral Service, gave us a donation, which I used to buy items for a couple of hampers that I could then raffle.

Philip Fuller, from Southgates of Newmarket, lent me a gazebo to create our cake tent.

Myself, Vicky and Jacqui at the crematorium baked cakes, as did my sister.

Sunday came and the weather stayed fine. We guessed how many sweets were in the jar, sold raffle tickets, had a bring and buy sale and served Afternoon Tea to our guests. The cakes and plants that weren’t sold were brought into work the next day and were sold for a donation. My sister took cakes to her work also and raised money from donations.

I have had a call today from Pat at L. Fulcher who are also giving us a donation.

So I am pleased to say, that from a very small idea, we have raised £300 to date. It is worth doing and if everyone did something similar each year, lots of money could be raised.