Colten Care celebrate a year of successful charity fundraisers

Residents and staff at family owned Colten Care, are celebrating after raising £32,000 for good causes in the past year.

The total means that the fundraising work Colten Care has done in the past six years, has provided £140,000 to local and national voluntary organisations and charities.

Activities manager at Colten Care, Karen Burdon commented: “The chance to help people less fortunate than you is something our residents and team members are only too happy to grasp. It’s another way we can support the communities we serve locally and the big national charities that also do great work locally.”

Each one of their 19 homes in Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire are encouraged to nominate a main charity to help every year, leaving the chance for any other charities to be supported too.

Activity organisers, care workers and other team members at Colten Care’s homes enable residents to contribute to their chosen charities in a meaningful way, such as: making arts and crafts to sell at fundraising events and suggesting ideas for sponsored walks and quizzes.

Poole based, Canford Chase reported the highest total raised of all homes, raising £3,800 for their charities, including: Macmillan Cancer Support and Youth Cancer Trust.

While Mudeford based Avon Reach in Dorset, was the second highest fundraiser, raising £3,350 for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, RNLI and others.

Staff and residents at Belmore Lodge home in Lymington raised £1,600 for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, Dementia Drop-in Centre, MacMillan Cancer Support, Children In Need, Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal and the RSPCA.

Staff wore bras on top of their clothes to highlight the air ambulance’s textile recycling campaign 'Bag a Bra'. The campaign encourages people to donate, bras, shoes and other textiles to be resold and recycling in West Africa, creating a further source of income for the air ambulance service here.

Among the groups other homes, in 2015:

• Castle View in Dorchester raised £2,700 for the Weldmar Hospice Care Trust, Dementia Awareness Week, Race for Life, Macmillan Cancer Support and the Children’s South West Hospice;

• Newstone House in Sturminster Newton raised £2,370 for CLIC Sargent and the North Dorset Women’s Refuge;

• Fernhill in Longham, Dorset, raised £2,365 for charities including Children in Need, Autism Awareness, Memory Walk and Race for Life;

• Braemar Lodge in Salisbury raised nearly £1,912 for Age UK, Children in Need, British Legion Poppy Appeal, Macmillan Cancer Support and Red Nose Day;

• Amberwood House in Ferndown, Dorset, raised £1,800 for the John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation, Comic Relief, Macmillan Cancer Support and Children in Need;

• Avon Cliff in Bournemouth raised £1,428 for the Royal British Legion, Comic Relief, MacMillan Cancer Support and Children in Need;

• Linden House in Lymington raised £1,200 for the Alzheimer’s Society, Red Nose Day, Macmillan Cancer Support and Children in Need.

Furthermore, the group doubled its fundraising efforts for Children in Need, raising £3,900.