Fundraiser Marianne Barber and her family and friends have recently raised an outstanding £2,650 for Solihull Hospital Charity.

Recently, Marianne Barber, her friends, family and staff at Astrum Commercial Cleaning all decided to fundraise for Solihull Hospital Charity. Their inspiration came after meeting up with Black Sabbath’s lead guitarist Toni Iommi at a Q&A at Opus Restaurant earlier this year. Iommi is patron of Ward 19 at Heartlands Hospital after his friend Geoff Nicholls was treated for cancer there before sadly passing away.

At the event, Iommi spoke about the new Haematology and Oncology Day Unit, in total the event raised a substantial £24,000 towards the new facility. After hearing of the new unit, Marianne and her partner Steve Barber decided to raise money for the same cause.
The two held a live music event at Diddington Farm in Solihull that they named ‘Didds Fest’. The event saw Steve’s band, Monster May and its members Dave Boucher, Colin Blaynee and Will Bower take to the stage performing classic rock and soul songs. The event raised a fantastic £2,650 by ticket prices, baking cakes, people participating in auctions and raffles and there was even a BBQ for those who were peckish!

Marianne said: “We received great support from Sam Howell who is Fundraising Manager at Solihull Hospital Charity. During our cheque presentation we were given a tour around the Haematology and Oncology Day Unit, it really helped us to see that our donation had gone towards funding for brand new chemotherapy chairs for cancer patients at the hospital”

Fundraising manager, Samantha Howell said: “Marianne held such an amazing event for an amazing cause. On behalf of the Charity I would like to say a huge thank you. Your donation has been able to provide the ‘added extras’ that go ‘over and above’ what the NHS can afford”.

To donate to the Solihull Cancer Centre please click here 

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