Supporter Stories

Lauren Young organised a Zumbathon in support of Warwick Hospital's Special Care Baby Unit after they cared for two of her grandchildren, and she was very impressed with the team. She got in touch with her Zumba instructor and pulled off this brilliant event that raised over £500 for the SCBU team, who were incredibly grateful.

A group of SWFT collegaues, family and friends and supporters signed up for the SWFT Charity Skydive in 2019 and jumped 13,000ft from a plane (safely strapped to a professional, of course) to raise money for their chosen wards and departments. Every single jumper immediately wanted to do it all over again, and a great day was had by all. If you fancy ticking this one off your bucket list, keep any eye out for our future Skydive events! 

Rebecca and Simon Givens raised a fantastic £745 for The Bluebell Birth Centre. The couple held a party at their home to celebrate the imminent arrival of their baby boy, and asked for donations to the charity in lieu of gifts. Beccy also designed and sold some amazing ‘Pregnancy Hearts’ through her company Say It With Type, featuring motivational quotes to help women through their pregnancy. 100% of the profits went to the charity.

The Physiotherapy Department received a generous gift of a new leg press machine from a grateful ex-patient.

Alan Johnson received treatment with the Physiotherapy team at Warwick Hospital in 2017. Mr Johnson heard that the team needed the new piece of equipment and asked his Masonic Lodge whether they would consider gathering enough funds for a new leg press.

Following Mr Johnson’s request, £250 was donated from Jephson Lodge, £200 from the Round Table and £1350 from Warwickshire Masonic Charitable Association. The ex-patient and his wife Hilary also donated £200 to make up the £2,000 for the leg press to be purchased.

A Warwick-based lawyer and mum ran the London Marathon to raise money for the Special Care Baby Unit and new midwife led birthing centre.

Nisha Williams raised £900 after her daughter, Elina, was born prematurely at Warwick Hospital in August 2016.

Nisha said: “My daughter and I received much-needed care and support from the staff at Warwick Hospital during this happy but difficult time. We want to help raise funds to say thank you and hope that it will help to ensure that other families receive the same high level of care”.

The money has gone towards special baby cribs and stands rather than standard plastic cots in the new birthing centre as well as upgrading furnishings in the Special Care Baby Unit.

“I got involved with the Stratford Hospital £1 Million Appeal back in 2014 due to my connections within the local community, thanks to both my personal and business contacts in and around Stratford upon Avon.

The appeal struck a chord with me as it was specifically connected to providing a new facility for cancer and eyes services within the South Warwickshire area.

My Mum, who is very much alive, had breast cancer when I was a young child.  This means that I now have to be monitored annually at the Helen Clarke Suite at Warwick Hospital.  The need for more state of the art cancer facilities in Stratford was clearly apparent and very important to me.

My youngest son has also had issues with his eyes and we’ve had regular appointments at the Machen Eye Unit at Warwick Hospital.   When I realised that a new facility would be available on my doorstep it was yet a further incentive to get involved in the appeal and help to make a difference locally.

I became part of the Community Fundraising Committee and we set out to work together as a small team to engage as many areas of the local community as we could, encouraging them to support the appeal with fundraising activities.

I was very involved in helping at most events throughout the appeal but in particular was the lead organiser for the very successful Movie Nights and Golf Day.
Reaching the £1 million target became a real passion and I was absolutely thrilled when we achieved our goal in February 2017.

Since the hospital has opened, you can really see what a difference the fundraising has made to the overall look and feel of the hospital. It feels completely different to a normal clinical environment and I am really proud that thanks to community support we have facilities like this locally.”