ICE Café’s fundraising year helps to raise over £5,000 for the Butterfly Appeal

From sky diving to running a half marathon and from a charity quiz to tips from diners the ICE Café has helped to raise more than £5,000 for charity with a year of activities.

The business on the Rougham Industrial Estate decided to support the Butterfly Appeal for 2019 with a host of events.

They included a staff charity quiz, a sky dive, a half marathon in London, a Christmas jumper day and money donated by customers who gave tips after visiting the cafe.

In total a stunning £5,061.07 was collected for the Butterfly Appeal, which is being organised by the My WiSH Charity and which supports the work of the West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds.

Most of the money came via generous customers over the year donating tips to the appeal and the sky dive, which was carried out from the Beccles Aerodrome, in October, by company drivers Andy Moss and Bryan Bluett, customer support manager Paul Bluett, warehouse manager Dylan Mitchell and a couple of other supporters, raised £2,003.

And the owners of Infusions Group, which runs the Infusions Culinary Experience (ICE), John and Lou Jackaman, took part in the Royal Parks Marathon, also in October, collecting £600 for their efforts.

Sarah Stamp, operation’s director at the company, said the pair are new to running and treated the event as a “massive personal challenge” for them and were keen to raise money for the appeal.

The staff quiz, held at Moreton Hall Youth Club, attracted nine teams with a £50 prize for the winners which went back to the campaign with a total of £389 raised.

And a Christmas Jumper Day along with donations in tins at the café helped to further boost the funds.

The appeal is aimed at raising £340,000 to build a special area for end-of-life patients by creating the Butterfly Garden as an exclusive private area so patients can spend some of their final days or hours with their loved ones.

Sarah said: “We were absolutely delighted to raise this amount of money. My WiSH supports the events that we do and for us to support what is an important local resource for us is important. Not one of our team has not had experience with the hospital and it was a wonderful contribution to the cause.”

Sally Daniels, the My WiSH appeal manager,  said: “It has been a pleasure to work with the ICE Café over the past 12 months. They are a great team and were really enthusiastic about the appeal which is definitely shown in the amazing amount their raised.”

Pictured above is John Jackaman, the owner of Infusions Group with Sally Daniels.