Charities to be supported
We will be fundraising for the following charities at different venues, on the dates given. Click on the date to see where the performance that night will be.
Please follow links to their websites if you would like to find out more, or would like to donate.
Autism Unlimited – Weds 1st Dec
Autism Unlimited (was Autism Wessex), based in Christchurch, was founded in 1968. The charity supports children and adults with a diagnosis of autism and associated difficulties, and their families.
Services provided include Portfield School, a specialist school for children aged 3-18 as well as a new and exciting experiential learning programme for young adults aged 19-25 through Futures Unlimited. Residential settings provide homes for adults needing 24 hour care whilst Aspire, a seven-unit property in partnership with a housing provider, offers more independent living. Community Support Services delivers nearly 6,000 hours of support a week to autistic adults. Community Connections currently works with individuals, families, parents and carers living with autism locally to set up new groups and services to meet identified needs.
Lewis Manning Hospice – Thurs 2nd Dec
Lewis-Manning Hospice Care is a charity established 28 years ago, providing extraordinary care to patients and their families facing a life-limiting illness across Poole, Purbeck, East Dorset. We offer a range of free hospice care services aimed at helping people to live well through their illness, closer to home. These include: Day hospice, Creative arts & wellbeing support, Lymphoedema clinic for cancer patients, Better breathing clinic, Family bereavement & support
Every year we support nearly 500 local people and we develop new services, based on patient need and identified gaps in the area. To do this we need to raise over £1.6m every year. Without these funds we could not exist. Our important work increases people’s physical and social well-being, reduces isolation and loneliness, supports people to stay in their homes longer, and alleviates the huge pressures on family and carers.
Somerford ARC – Fri 3rd Dec
Somerford ARC is a community centre that aims to improve the economic, social and environmental well-being and quality of life of people in the Christchurch area, especially the residents of Somerford.
Macmillan Caring Locally – Sat 4th Dec
The Macmillan Unit at Christchurch Hospital is a Specialist Palliative Care Unit and Hospice for patients in South East Dorset and South West Hampshire. The charity, Macmillan Caring Locally, works in partnership with the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to provide the services at the Macmillan Unit and in our community.
The Water Lily Project – Sun 5th Dec
The Water Lily Project is a registered Christian charity that predominantly supports vulnerable women in crisis. This may be a temporary crisis such as an acrimonious divorce, bereavement, illness etc. Or it could be something more long term such as mental health issues, self-harming, domestic violence and abuse, addiction or financial difficulties.
British Heart Foundation – Mon 6th Dec
British Heart Foundation: More than half of us will get a heart and circulatory condition and your support means that we can fund more life saving research to keep hearts beating longer. We are celebrating our 60th anniversary this year.
The Food Bank Christchurch – Tues 7th Dec
Christchurch (UK) Food Bank provides 3 days worth of emergency food to individuals and families struggling or in crisis within our local community. CFB is a Christchurch Fellowship of Churches Initiative in partnership with Faithworks Wessex.
Christchurch and Bournemouth RNLI – Weds 8th Dec
Christchurch and Bournemouth RNLI: raising funds for the training and equipment of the RNLI Lifeguards on the beautiful beaches around our bay. There have been lifeguards on Bournemouth beaches since 1965; they have been recruited, managed, trained and equipped by the RNLI for nearly 20 years. To support them, go to:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Christchurch-Bournemouth-RNLI-lifeguards-2021
Dorset Children’s Foundation – Thurs 9th Dec
The Dorset Children’s Foundation is an independent local charity dedicated to improving the lives of disabled children living within our community. We provide mobility equipment, therapies and medical expenses not provided by The NHS. 100% of all donations go to a disabled child, with nothing taken out for admin or wages.
Community Soup Kitchen – Fri 10th Dec
We are a registered charity based in Christchurch providing hot nutritious food, clothing and other much needed essentials to the homeless and the vulnerable in our local community. We also support, help and signpost to other relevant agencies.
Rotary Club of Christchurch Charities: – Sat 11th Dec
ShelterBox
ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity established in 2000 in Helston, Cornwall, UK, that provides emergency shelter and other aid items to families around the world who have lost their homes to disaster or conflict.
Helping Young Minds – Sun 12th Dec
Helping Young Minds is a registered charity which was founded in 2020 and is based at the Mad4Dance centre for Dance and Wellbeing in Christchurch. The charity aims to help and support children and young people in the local area with their mental and emotional wellbeing through activities, guidance, information and support.
The Listening Ear – Mon 13th Dec
The Listening Ear provides one to one counselling within school settings to children and young people aged 5-19 residing in and/or attending school in the BCP Council area. We support children and young people with a range of issues including, but not limited to, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, adverse childhood experiences, anger management, trauma, alcohol & drug misuse, and abuse. We provide a confidential and safe space where they can express their feelings, explore the impact of their choices, and learn techniques to help manage their emotional and mental wellbeing.
Julia’s House – Tues 14th Dec
Julia’s House is not a typical children’s hospice. We provide practical and emotional support for families caring for a child with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition, providing frequent and regular support in their own homes, in the community or at our hospices.
Somerford Youth and Community Centre – Weds 15th Dec
Somerford Youth and Community Centre provides services and activities to local people with a focus on those who are disadvantaged and deprived. A lot of our work focuses on providing activities for young people to help them improve their confidence and self-esteem and to enable them to develop key life skills by creating opportunities to enable them to have positive futures in life. We also run projects for all age groups such as our community gym and our community food project, The People’s Pantry which is a membership scheme that provides families who experience food poverty with weekly food which they can come and choose for themselves.
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity – Thurs 16th Dec
Established to make a difference to every patient and every condition that is treated at our hospitals and provide added value to provisions made though NHS funding. By working with the community and businesses we help provide a better environment, extra equipment and training to help improve the health and wellbeing of both our patients and our staff.
The Regent Centre – Fri 17th Dec
The Regent centre provides a professionally run venue for the performance of theatre, music and film for Christchurch and surrounding areas. The development and expansion of the venue is achieved by fund raising and grant applications.
Christchurch Community Partnership – Sat 18th Dec
The CCP exists to combat social isolation across the age demographic in our community of Christchurch. We do this in two ways – by directly delivering services, and by influencing other organisations and agencies to work collaboratively to identify and fill any gaps, and to avoid duplication of services.
Also including Christchurch Angels: We are an award-winning voluntary befriending service for residents in the Christchurch area who need short-term help in times of difficulty or crisis.
https://www.christchurchcommunitypartnership.org.uk/angels.html
Marie Curie Fundraising: Christchurch & Highcliffe – Sun 19th Dec
The UK’s leading end of life charity, Marie Curie is here to support everyone in the UK through all aspects of dying, death and bereavement. Last year in Dorset, our team of 78 staff delivered over 57,000 hours of specialist care to 1,730 patients in their own homes, allowing families to get a much-needed rest and enabling them to be more than just a carer. To be a husband, wife, partner, daughter, son or friend, again.
https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/local/groups/christchurch-and-highcliffe-fundraising-group
Hengistbury Head National Coastguard Institution – Mon 20th Dec
Watchkeepers are “eyes along the coast” for HM Coastguard. NCI Working for you. We maintain a watch from Barton-on-Sea in the east, through Christchurch and Poole Bays, and 12 miles out to sea round to Bournemouth pier in the west. The Headland is 36 metres (118) feet high and separates Christchurch bay from Poole Bay.
Friends of the Red House Museum – Tues 21st Dec
The Friends of the Red House Museum was established in 1951 by a group of people who wanted to play an active part in the life of their museum. We play a vital role in raising funds for The Red House Museum, to support the ongoing care of the museum’s historic gardens and the enrichment to people’s lives through access to the local heritage. Over the years interest in the Friends has grown and it has become a vibrant organisation. The Friends also play an essential part in the Red House Museum by volunteering to work in the garden and in other areas of the museum, such as documentation, transcribing and oral history recording.
https://www.hampshireculture.org.uk/red-house-museum-and-gardens
Cystic Fibrosis
We provide information and support to help everyone with CF to live life to the full.
Dorset Community Foundation – Weds 22nd Dec
In this last year we have awarded more than £1.2 million in grants to charities, groups and individuals across the county. Our donors and funders trust us to use their money where it can make the most impact because our expertise and knowledge of where the need exists in Dorset is unrivalled.
Because we are not cause specific, we can consider funding any area of disadvantage as long as it is Dorset-based. To find out more about us, how to donate and the grants we have available, see:
Bournemouth Blind Society – Thurs 23rd Dec
Believed to be Bournemouth’s oldest independent charity, Bournemouth Blind Society works across the BCP area supporting blind and partially sighted to lead active and independent lives. We do this by providing the following services: Emotional Support, Community Support, Sight & Hearing Resource Centre, Befriending and Social Groups.
Ashley’s Birthday Bank – Fri 24th Dec
Ashley’s Birthday Bank was set up at the end of 2014 and registered as a charity in April 2015. We provide two types of services: Firstly we provide underprivileged children (up to the age of 16) with a birthday and Christmas present to ensure they do not go without on these special occasions. Secondly we provide a crisis service for families who find themselves going through a financially difficult time or who have escaped domestic violence, neglect, human trafficking or abuse.