Two friends with a passion for fundraising have presented staff at Prospect Hospice with a cheque for £5,092.94, raised at an ornate Halloween party at the Chiseldon House Hotel.

Julie Hennessy and Mandy Martin organised the spooky spectacular back in the autumn, inviting friends and colleagues to the event that attracted an impressive array of raffle and auction prizes, including tickets for a London show and meals at highly-rated local restaurants. With the generous support of Mandy’s employer Thames Water, who match-funded all that was raised by the event, the friends smashed their original target of £4,000, adding more than a further £1,000 to their final total

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“It was a wonderful night of great live music and fancy dress,” said Mandy, “and I think it’s true to say that everyone had a really brilliant night. The venue was great and we were thrilled that so many people were so generous on the night.”

For Julie, the fact that they were raising funds for Prospect Hospice inspired people to be even more generous for the event. “The name Prospect Hospice is very powerful locally, and when we were asking local businesses if they would donate a prize for the night, we heard so often that people had a personal connection to the hospice. It feels as though, in Swindon, every person you meet has been touched in some way by Prospect Hospice.”

Prospect Hospice fundraiser Louise Brooks said: “It was such a pleasure to welcome Julie and Mandy to the hospice, so that we could show our thanks to them for raising so much money to care for our patients and support their families. We thank them, Thames Water for their match-funding, all the businesses who helped them and, of course, all their guests who clearly had a great time raising vital funds towards our work.”