Peninsula Group’s Surprise £1million Fundraising Announcement will be “Making A Difference” at Children’s Hospital

GENEROUS supporters of Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity made a surprise announcement – pledging to donate £1million!

The substantial amount pledged by Peninsula Group is even more staggering, given that it was announced at a special party to celebrate the Salford-based company raising £2million for the Charity.

Peninsula and Charity staff were gathered at the company’s headquarters on Friday to celebrate the £2million milestone with a Christmas party when the surprise announcement was made.

Peninsula Group

While the first £2million was specifically for the Charity’s iMRI Appeal, the next £1million Peninsula Group want to raise will be for general funds at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. This means it has the potential to touch the lives of all the 280,000-plus children that visit the hospital each and every year, regardless of where in the hospital they’re treated.

But while the new Making A Difference fundraising drive for £1million will benefit hundreds of thousands of patients who come from across the North West and beyond, it was one little girl in particular who inspired the new pledge.

On a recent visit to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Peter Done, Founder & CEO of Peninsula Group, met 10-year-old Ava. Ava has been a patient at the hospital for most of her life. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of two which gave her a 20-30% chance of surviving 5 years or more.

Peninsula Group

In fact, Peter was so dazzled by little Ava, who shares the same name, age, and personality traits as his own granddaughter, that he decided then and there to launch a new campaign to support the thousands of children just like Ava who are cared for at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

I’ve got a very personal connection with Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, as do many of the team here at Peninsula Group. It’s a cause that’s so close to our hearts.Peter Done, CEO and Founder at Peninsula Group

"I’ve been honoured to meet some of the young patients cared for by the hospital and I’ve seen first-hand the incredible things the hospital achieves each and every day. The invaluable support given to 280,000 families every year - not just in medical terms, but emotional and practical support too - shines a light of hope on what will be some of the most challenging days of their lives.

“We know what a difference our support has made to the iMRI Scanner Appeal, and now we want to push forward and make an active difference to the lives and futures of other children just like Ava. We hope the business community will join forces with Peninsula Group in our quest to do everything we can to help this amazing charity do what it does best: make life better for the hospital’s patients and their families.”

“Hitting the £2million target was such a fantastic achievement and I’m so proud of each and every Peninsula Group staff member who helped us reach our goal and is here today to celebrate with us. But now we want to get started on that next £1million and take our total to £3million. This will be a great way to kick off 2023!”

To help raise the next £1million, Peninsula Group will encourage other businesses they work with to “Make A Difference….Together”. Peninsula Group will lead by example and encourage other corporate supporters to do their own fundraising for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity, which Peninsula will match-fund pound for pound.

Peninsula Group’s generosity seems never ending! The announcement they wanted to pledge an additional £1million, just after finishing raising £2million for the iMRI Appeal, is just incredible. We couldn’t believe it.Tanya Hamid, Interim Director of Charities at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity

“We’re very proud to have them on board as corporate partners and look forward to seeing them at many of our 2023 events so they can continue Making A Difference to our patients.”

The Charity’s £5m iMRI Appeal will help the hospital to purchase state-of-the-art intra-operative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (iMRI) equipment which will revolutionise surgical care at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.

Every year, thousands of children and young people from across the region attend Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital – part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust’s family of 10 hospitals – for specialist neurological treatment.

Sadly, many will require complex brain surgery for a range of debilitating and even life-threatening conditions including brain tumours, traumatic brain injuries, problems with the central nervous system and epilepsy.

The specialist team of children’s neurosurgeons at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital rely on MRI scans taken before surgery to guide them to the area of the brain requiring treatment. Sometimes a child needs to be scanned during surgery, which means the risky process of moving a child (still anaesthetised on the operating table) out of theatre and through the hospital corridors to be scanned in another part of the building.  Yet it isn’t until another MRI scan is taken after surgery – perhaps days later – that surgeons can see if the surgery was successful, or if any damaged tissue or tumour was left behind and further invasive surgery is needed.

The iMRI machine cuts out this process by offering scans during the surgery, giving surgeons up-to-date images as the operation is being carried out.

“The iMRI will revolutionise brain surgery here at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and help us to save even more children’s lives. “When I do that very first scan with the new equipment I will think of every single fundraiser who made it possible, and in particular Peninsula Group for their generosity and kindness.”Prof Stavros Stivaros, Director of Neuroimaging at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital

Peninsula Group managed to raise a phenomenal £2million by encouraging staff to take part in several challenges – including Great Manchester Run 10K and Half Marathon, the Charity’s own Humphrey’s Heroes Abseil, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, interdepartmental football tournaments and skydiving.  Each staff member’s individual fundraising efforts were match-funded by the corporation. The business has also match-funded and sponsored a number of Charity events including this month’s Christmas Carols in the City and a special ball held in 2019 to mark the hospital’s 10th birthday of being at the Oxford Road site.

Further funds have been raised in-house with the team organising fun days at the office including dressing up days, bake sales, a static bike challenge in the office and various social events.  Employees have also signed up to make regular donations via payroll giving.

Peninsula Group staff are excited to come up with new ways to raise the additional £1million, which will support the treatment, research and care projects the Charity funds at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. These can include the purchase of specialist equipment to diagnose and provide treatment of young patients more quickly and easily, creating as child-friendly an environment as possible and funding pioneering medical research to increase our understanding of children’s illnesses and the optimum way to treat them.

“I’ve met some of the children this money will help, and I know it will be able to make a significant difference to the hospital. This is such a worthy cause, and I can’t thank Peninsula’s staff enough for everything they’re doing.”Antony Cotton, Charity Patron and Coronation St actor

To find out more about Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity visit rmchcharity.org.uk  

ENDS

For more details, please contact Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Press Officer Emma Wright on [email protected] or call 0161 701 5114, or Peninsula’s Associate Director of Group PR and Comms Miriam Payne on [email protected] or call 07929 711809.

Notes to Editors

Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity provides resources to make a difficult time a little bit easier for children and their families who use Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. 

Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital treats over 280,000 patients every year.  They come from all over the North West of England and from other parts of the country for some highly specialised treatments.  

Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity is part of the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) Charity.  Registered charity number 1049274. 

The other hospitals which make up Manchester Foundation Trust Charity are: North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Saint Mary’s Hospital, Manchester University Dental Hospital, Withington Community Hospital, Trafford General Hospital and Altrincham Hospital.

To find out more visit www.rmchcharity.org.uk

You can also follow Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About Peninsula

Since 1983 Peninsula has been providing professional services to small businesses across the UK. We started small ourselves, just a few people in a room. So, although we've grown over the years, our values remain the same. We know what small businesses need because we are still a small business at heart.

Today our services go beyond employment and HR to cover health and safety management, insurance, employee wellbeing, and much more besides. Whatever we do, the service is always provided by a handpicked team of experts, so you can be sure you're getting the best.

All of which means more peace of mind for you, and more time for you to concentrate on what you do best: growing your business.

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