Tom Cruise & Prince of Wales support London’s Air Ambulance Charity gala, plus more celeb news
Melanie May | 14 February 2024 | News
The London’s Air Ambulance Charity gala also saw Sister Sledge provide the entertainment. Elsewhere, Penelope Wilton and Greg Wise are supporting The Good Grief Trust’s Good Grief Umbrella Day, and Stephen Fry has helped Missing People raise awareness of what’s it like for people when someone they care about goes missing.
Tom Cruise & Prince of Wales support London’s Air Ambulance Charity gala
London’s Air Ambulance Charity’s largest ever single fundraising event took place on 7 February, raising a record £1.2 million for its ongoing appeal, “Up Against Time”. The campaign is the largest in the charity’s 35-year history, and aims to raise £15 million to fund two new helicopters by Autumn 2024.
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The gala was attended by the charity’s royal Patron, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales who met with doctors, pilots and paramedics from the service. The event, held at Raffles London at The OWO, was hosted by Tania Bryer and Mark-Francis Vandelli and attended by VIP guests including Tom Cruise and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta. Sister Sledge provided the entertainment.
Penelope Wilton & Greg Wise support Good Grief Umbrella Day 2024
The Good Grief Trust had the support of Patron Dame Penelope Wilton DBE, and Greg Wise its Ambassador for Good Grief Umbrella Day 2024 this month.
The charity launched #GoodGriefUmbrellaDay, on February 10th, to coincide with National Umbrella Day. The new national campaign is to raise awareness of the 900+ tailored bereavement services under its umbrella. To show support, individuals can buy their own Good Grief Trust umbrella, or a Good Grief Trust umbrella pin badge from the Good Grief Trust shop.
TV presenter Laura Hamilton supports new year charity shop challenge with The Children’s Trust
A Place in the Sun presenter Laura Hamilton teamed up with The Children’s Trust last month to inspire local shoppers in Surrey and Kent to ‘Dress to impress for less’ this new year, with prizes up for grabs.
From 15-29 January, shoppers were challenged to put together an outfit from a treasure trove of pre-loved items in The Children’s Trust’s charity shops and sharing a photo of their creation on Instagram. Hamilton then chose one lucky winner and two runners-up to each receive vouchers to spend in any of The Children’s Trust’s 14 charity shops in Surrey and Kent. First prize was £100 worth of charity shop vouchers, second prize a £50 voucher and third prize a £25 voucher.
Stephen Fry supports Missing People with awareness raising audiobook podcast
Back in January Stephen Fry revealed he had narrated a new audiobook podcast, ‘The Missing Lines’ by upcoming author M.S. Singh. Announcing his involvement across his social media channels and supported by widespread advertising, he encouraged his fans and followers to listen to the new story, promising a dark mystery about the ruthless world of county lines drug running.
However, the book suddenly cut off after 2 minutes and 48 seconds, leaving the next nine chapters in silence. Fry revealed this was no mistake through an Instagram post announcing that the audiobook was produced in partnership with charity Missing People, to bring to life what happens when a person goes missing and everything known comes to an abrupt stop.
LFC Women’s Missy Bo Kearns becomes official LFC Foundation ambassador
LFC Women’s Missy Bo Kearns has become an ambassador for LFC Foundation, the club’s official charity.
The midfielder recently spent time in the community seeing the work of LFC Foundation first-hand, including a visit to St Andrew’s Community Network to meet the staff and help deliver food donations. She also visited a Premier League Primary Stars session at St Michael’s Primary School where she spoke to the children about her journey in football so far, before taking part in a fun football session. LFC Women’s home fixture against Arsenal on Sunday 28 January was used to highlight and celebrate the work of LFC Foundation through pre-match activity, matchday programme content, and the attendance of local school children who benefit from the LFC Foundation, who were flag wavers ahead of kick-off and took part in a half-time penalty shoot-out.
Her Majesty the Queen joins St John’s Foundation to mark its 850th anniversary
Her Majesty The Queen recently joined Bath based charity, St John’s Foundation, to mark their 850th anniversary. Her Majesty began her visit to Bath by meeting St John’s almshouse residents for tea and cake in the charity’s chapel, St Michael’s Within. Her Majesty then made her way through the centre of Bath to arrive at Bath Abbey where she was greeted in the courtyard by over 600 school children from five of the local schools that St John’s works with.
Within the Abbey, over 600 guests gathered for a Service of Celebration that paid tribute to the history and impactful legacy of St John’s Foundation over the last eight and a half centuries. Attendees included many of the charity’s direct beneficiaries, including older adults residing in the charity’s almshouses and local school children supported by its initiatives. Following an address which outlined St John’s future ambitions, CEO David Hobdey invited Her Majesty up to unveil the charity’s commemorative 850th plaque. The plaque will be laid within St John’s city centre courtyard. Her Majesty, as Duchess of Cornwall, became Patron of St John’s Foundation in 2009.
Rory Cellan-Jones becomes Cure Parkinson’s Ambassador
Ex BBC tech correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones has joined Cure Parkinson’s as an Ambassador. Cellan-Jones was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2019, and since then has worked to raise funds and awareness of the condition, including through the launch last year of a podcast about life with Parkinson’s. This began its third season on Saturday 10 February.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.