A celebration of community spirit at our annual awards ceremony

It was a night to remember as almost 200 of our superstar supporters came together for our annual Community Spirit Awards. The red carpet was rolled out at the Grand Hotel Gosforth Park as our guests gathered for a drinks reception and a tasty buffet before the awards ceremony got underway at 7pm.

Our awards host, Davina Radford, Spiritual Care Lead at St Oswald’s Hospice, then kicked off the proceedings by sharing a video showcasing the work of St Oswald’s Hospice Focus on Living Service. The video introduced the audience to some of the people who use the Focus on Living Service and benefit from the funds that they have raised. Davina then told Rob’s story and asked the audience to think about the things that give us joy. Unsurprisingly, given the audience, travel, adventure, trying new things and hiking all featured!

We were delighted to award 140 medals and certificates during the course of the evening, which included everyone from marathon runners to bakers and jam makers, corporate supporters, young fundraisers, community groups and international trekkers!

There were also 7 very special Community Spirit Awards presented to a selection of individuals and groups who have gone above and beyond in their support over the last year.

Our first recipient was Holly Peretti, 14, who lit up Great Park estate in Newcastle in December, as she and her family created a dazzling Christmas-themed display at their home – and invited the whole community to drop by! Holly raised a massive £1222.40 to fund around 80 sessions of bereavement support for local people.

Our second winners were the Ponteland 41 Club, Ponteland Rugby Club and The Blackbird pub in Ponteland, who were all celebrating their 10th anniversary of fundraising for St Oswald’s Hospice by organising the annual Ponteland Wheelbarrow race. Held on new year’s day, this community event sees hundreds descend on Ponteland village to start the new year in style! The combined efforts of these groups has raised £10,000 for the hospice to date.

Next up was the incredible Charles McManus, 18, who took on a multiple-marathon challenge in September which involved him running to every station on the Tyne and Wear Metro network – 125km in total – in just one day. Charles, supported by friends and family who ran sections of the route with him, completed his challenge after a gruelling 17 hours. Charles was raising money in memory of his dad David, ending with a total of £6,800 which he chose to split between St Oswald’s Hospice and The Brain Tumour Charity.

After a quick interval, our fundraiser Kirsty took to the stage to pay thanks to Lynx Precast, our event sponsor. Although Managing Director Andy Teasdale and his team were unable to be there on the night, Kirsty shared the ways they have supported the hospice to date including casting the plinths that our Shaun the Sheep sculpture sat on during the 2023 art trail across Newcastle!

Michael Green and Tracey Henton are Community Champions from Morrisons superstores in Killingworth and Cowgate and were the recipients of our fourth and fifth awards. Their stores went above and beyond with fundraising as part of Morrisons’ national Charity of the Year partnership with Together for Short Lives, with each store raising over £50k each. This put them in the top ten fundraising Morrisons stores in the country!

The sixth award of the night was presented to Joanne Errington, who was part of our 2024 Vietnam Hill Tribe Trek team. Joanne went above and beyond with her trek fundraising, organising a range of events with support from friends and family, She quickly surpassed her target figure, ending up raising an incredible £12,000!

The seventh and final award of the night was awarded to our very own event host and hospice Spiritual Care Lead, Davina Radford. Davina has been at the heart of many fundraising events over the years, she’s now an honorary member of the team! Davina is well known to so many of our supporters, patients and families and she is always so supportive towards the work of the fundraising team. As well as helping to make our events a success, she always brings the glam factor with her sparkly outfits!

Fundraising Manager Danielle Harvey then took the opportunity to introduce some new ways to get involved in fundraising for St Oswald’s Hospice including The Big Hike, a guided 20km walk along Hadrian’s Wall in May this year and our brand new 2026 trek to the Indian Himalayas! There was a real buzz in the room as people were excited to find out more!

As the event closed, thanks and well wishes were extended to all who have supported St Oswald’s Hospice, especially over the last year.

Reflecting on the event, Chief Executive at St Oswald’s Hospice, Steph Edusei said, “It’s been fantastic to welcome so many people and to celebrate their achievements. The evening captured a real sense of community and joy, and we’re so proud and grateful to everyone who has given their time, their talents and their commitment to supporting our patients and their families.”

A big thank you to Jane and her team at Gosforth Park Hotel for hosting us and looking after us so well and our event sponsor Lynx Precast. And of course, biggest of thank you’s to all of our supporters for your brilliant fundraising to help ensure St Oswald’s Hospice is here both now and in the future for all those who need us across our communities in the North East.