Top-flight auction prize helps to raise £5,000 for hospice

A top-flight auction prize of a 20-minute helicopter ride around Bury St Edmunds helped to raise £5,000 for a local hospice.

The ride donated by surfacing contractors, Toppesfield Ltd, was auctioned off for £1,000 at the Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club’s Spring Ball.

The Spring Ball with a three-course dinner, auction and raffle raised £10,000 overall, which will be shared between St Nicholas Hospice Care and The Haberden Trust, a charity which supports rugby activities in the local area.

Craig Germeney, Toppesfield, director, said: “The club’s Spring Ball was a great night out, well-attended and over way too quickly.  It’s important for Toppesfield to support the local community and the hospice is such a good cause, so when the rugby club that my sons go to asked for auction prizes for the Spring Ball, we were happy to help.”

Abby Mayes, St Nicholas Hospice Care’s corporate fundraising manager, said: “It’s great that the rugby club wishes to continue supporting the hospice. Five years ago they organised a Club’s Memorial Cycle Ride Challenge and raised £80,000. The Rugby Ball wasn’t such a strenuous challenge for supporters, club players and members but it was a great night out in aid of the hospice that cares for people living with dying, death and grief.”

Pictured above is the Toppesfield Ltd auction prize donation of a helicopter ride around Bury St Edmunds helps raise £5,000 for St Nicholas Hospice Care.