The Donna Louise Hospice fundraisers set up pop up Trentham shop to tell the story of the butterflies fundraising project
Fundraisers from The Donna Louise Hospice for Children & Young People will be popping up at Trentham Gardens next week to tell the story behind the breathtaking ‘Taking Flight’ butterflies installation.
Taking Flight contains 5,000 specially crafted ceramic butterflies which are being sold to raise funds for the hospice.
“Almost 2,000 butterflies have been sold so far, raising over £50,000 to support the children, young people and families who rely on The Donna Louise, and we are hoping to sell many more during the busy school holiday period,” said Nathan Walton, Director of Income Generation & Marketing at The Donna Louise.
One major benefit of buying a butterfly is that purchasers get a free visit to Trentham Gardens, worth £12. The vibrant blue butterflies have been crafted by two major names in the ceramics industry, Wade Ceramics and Johnson Tiles and the whole project was supported by more than forty companies from Staffordshire and South Cheshire.
Every penny raised from sales goes to support the hospice.
Fundraising staff from The Donna Louise will be at Trentham Estate on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with a pop up shop. This will be located near to the entrance to Trentham Gardens, close to the Edinburgh Woollen Mill store.
Nathan continues, “We will be meeting shoppers, telling them the story of the making of the butterflies and explaining why this fundraising campaign is so vital,” “The Taking Flight installation is the culmination of two years of planning by staff at The Donna Louise and a dedicated group of people from the business community, who have worked hard to bolster our fundraising efforts.
“Children’s hospices get less than 9% of funds from the Government, via the NHS, and rely on fundraising for the remainder of their costs. The Donna Louise, therefore. relies hugely on donations from the local community, and projects, such as The Butterflies, are vital to making our services sustainable.
“We hope to sell all 5,000 ceramic butterflies by the time the installation is taken down in November. Each butterfly will then be carefully packed away and prepared for distribution, ready to fly to their new owners.”
To buy a butterfly, please go online to www.thebutterflies.org.uk, each purchase includes one free day admission pass to Trentham Gardens, to view “Taking Flight” from the 25 May to 3 November 2019.