Fundraising news

Treetops pledge to support The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:59:00 GMT

Treetops Nurseries in Sutton and Cheam have been busy launching their new fundraising scheme as children at both nurseries spent a day making and decorating lots of delicious cakes and biscuits in a charity bake off, while staff joined them in wearing some fabulous costumes.

The whole day was a great success and the cakes went down a treat with the parents, who donated generously throughout the day. With the help of three other local branches in Cheam, Epsom and Teddington a total of £468 was raised on the day, so a big thank you to all who took part.

Ruby’s mummy Kelly said: “We can’t wait to be involved in more of the fundraising events at the nursery.”

Throughout the year Treetops will be planning numerous charity events to help support The Royal Marsden.

Olympic Torch comes to The Royal Marsden

Mon, 14 May 2012 02:20:00 GMT

Olympic fever reached The Royal Marsden when the iconic Olympic Torch was proudly showed off to staff and patients by one of the London 2012 Olympic Torchbearers.

Royal Marsden Cancer Charity fundraiser and supporter Alex Richardson, who is one of the carefully selected 8,000 Torchbearers for the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, brought in the Olympic Torch to show off to staff and patients.

Alex said: “It is an honour to be selected to carry the torch for my fundraising work for the hospital so it seemed fitting to show it off to everyone here. The Royal Marsden is a wonderful place so it was lovely to bring smiles to patients’ faces when they had their photo taken with the torch.”

Teachers raise £2,000 with cycling challenge

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:16:00 GMT

Ronnie Ehren, Jonathan Smeeton and Nick Harvey, staff members from Invicta Girls Grammar School in Maidstone, Kent completed the KM Big Ride on 1 April, cycling a total of 68 miles and raising over £2,000 for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

The team dressed up in in fairy costumes and rode bikes that were beautifully decorated by Amy Riley, a year 12 student. They received lots of comments from other riders during the day.

The school also organised a 'Torture the Teachers' event which raised £530.

Rugby teams score big at Richmond

Wed, 02 May 2012 04:23:00 GMT

A charity rugby event took place on Friday 6 April at Richmond Rugby Club to raise money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. A group of friends organised the event as one of their friends is being treated at The Royal Marsden and they wanted to raise as much as possible for the charity.

The event has already raised over £20,000 and they hope to hit their target of £25,000 very soon.

Thank you to all our Brighton and London Marathon runners

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:06:00 GMT

We are so grateful to our 100 runners for their amazing support, not only for their dedication in spending months training but also for all their hard work raising money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

We are delighted to have raised over £115,000 so far through these two events.
Find out about other runs and marathons you could do

Year 10 student raises £2,000 after losing his mother

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:09:00 GMT

Rory Depree wanted to say thank you for the treatment that his mother received at The Royal Marsden. He asked people to sponsor him to run every day for a week from Box Hill School (where he is studying for his GCSEs) up Box Hill and back in his lunchtimes.

Friends at school and other pupils were so impressed that they helped too with a cake sale, a sponsored sleepover in the trees of the school’s high ropes course and a sponsored non-uniform day.

As a result of all of this, Rory raised £2,000.

BBC Horizon documentary on The Royal Marsden

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:48:00 GMT

Keep an eye out for Horizon on BBC Two at 9pm on Tuesday 10 April. This episode of the BBC’s flagship science programme focuses on the latest in personalised cancer treatment and was filmed at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research. In particular, it features two advanced types of cancer treatment funded by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity: the da Vinci S surgical system and the Cyberknife radiotherapy machine.
Watch again or find out more about the BBC Horizon programme
Find out more about personalised medicine

A Marsden March in Essex

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:33:00 GMT

Thirty members of the Romford and Dagenham Tae Kwon Do club, together with friends and family and a very fashion-conscious boxer dog, walked their own Marsden March on Sunday 11 March. Several of the club’s members have experience of The Royal Marsden’s terrific work so instructor Alison Edwards was very happy to organise a local walk.

Normally the club train in bare feet but on Sunday it was trainers and collecting tins rather than kick pads and body armour, and members are looking likely to exceed their fundraising target of £500 by a considerable margin – currently it is in excess of £1,300 and increasing.

Learners in pyjamas

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:16:00 GMT

Second year learners on a Children's Care Learning and Development course at John Ruskin College in Croydon organised a wear-your-pyjamas-to-college day. The learners spent the day walking around the college collecting donations for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

Research team wins prestigious global award

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 05:45:00 GMT

A multidisciplinary team from The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden has won a prestigious global award for its success at taking new cancer drugs from concept to patients. This is the first time the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Team Science Award has been won outside the US.

The team included researchers from the Oak Drug Development Unit which was funded by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
Read the full story at www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk

Netball at Holy Cross Convent School

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:50:00 GMT

Students from Holy Cross Convent School raised over £100 by taking on the boys in a fancy dress netball match. It was a closely fought match and the winners were definitely the pink feather boas!

Thank you to Marsden March walkers and supporters

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:17:00 GMT

A massive thank you from everyone at The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity for taking part in our second Marsden March and for making it such a memorable day. We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did – and hopefully your blisters aren’t too sore and your legs aren’t aching too much!

We have collected photos here, quotes from walkers here and the best tweets of the day here. We're also asking walkers to tell us what they thought in this short survey.

If that’s got you all excited, you should register your interest for The Marsden March 2013.

Miles for Miles

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:13:00 GMT

Students at Christ’s Hospital school in Horsham are walking, jogging and running miles to show their gratitude to The Royal Marsden, where one of their friends, Miles McCulloch, has been receiving treatment for lymphoma since Christmas Eve. All manner of pupils, from serious athletes to ‘wheezer-geezers’, have been clocking up the miles in this extended race. The final total of miles covered will include the the school steeplechase, to be run on 20 March. They've already smashed their target on JustGiving and there’s still time to go.
Find out more at www.christs-hospital.org.uk

Barton Willmore is workplace fundraiser of the year

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:41:00 GMT

Congratulations to Barton Willmore on their JustGiving Award for Workplace Fundraiser of the Year. The planning and design consultancy created an event called Barton Wheelmore which saw over 80 members of staff, friends and clients take part in a cycle relay connecting their ten UK offices. So far they've raised £23,000 for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and Maggie's Cancer Caring Centre, and they hope to break their £25,000 target by the end of March.
Read more at justgiving.com

Sainsbury's makes good with the goods

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:29:00 GMT

Thank you again to Sainsbury’s Cobham who made us their charity of the year and have so far raised over £4,000. Their latest display of generosity was £200 of Christmas gifts: books, games, DVDs, chocolates and mulled wine. Some of these were given to young patients at the hospital and some were raffled off to raise money.

Rotaract raisers reach £1,000

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:47:00 GMT

Insight, the Rotaract Club of Littlehampton, raised £1,000 with a Presidents’ Night party in historic Arundel and by volunteering in the charity shop run by the local Rotary Club.

Members of Rotaract visited the Sutton hospital in January to hand over the cheque and to look around the new Oak Centre for Children and Young People.

Reigate Grammar School keep on fundraising

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:49:00 GMT

Reigate Grammar School has been running all sorts of fundraising activities. They sold Royal Marsden Cancer Charity products at the school's Christmas prodcution of The Producers (pictured), baked and decorated gingerbread men to sell to pupils and staff, and some teachers grew moustaches during Movember.

Giant toblerone raises £263

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:20:28 GMT

Amy Bulled, who works at Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe in Crawley, has raised a mouth-watering £263 with just a giant Toblerone. Customers at the shop bought raffle tickets in an attempt to win the chocolate bar which is nearly a metre long and weighs 4.5kg. The money has been given to the JustGiving page in memory of James Aldis.

Superstars weave a little magic

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:26:00 GMT

Homefield School in Sutton has supported The Royal Marsden for many years. In September the Homefield Superstars after-school club's theme was witches and wizards and the boys wanted to make some real potions and spells.

Sue Moylan who runs the club tells us, "We found the 'wish well, wish often' spell and we decided to dedicate it to the children in The Royal Marsden. We lit a candle daily, recited the spell and made special wishes for others, but not ourselves. When the parents came to pick the boys up we asked them to put their spare change into our spell tin. The boys were so enthusiastic about doing this, and so eager to help weave a little magic to help those less fortunate than ourselves. I am so proud of my superstars."

Fountain-to-fountain walk for CyberKnife

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:56:00 GMT

On 25 October 2011, Terry Ingle of Skelmersdale Masonic Lodge No.1599 and Mike Shelley and Mary Nudds of the Stevenage Leisure 50 Walking Club and the North and East Hertfordshire Ramblers walked 30km (18.6 miles) for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

The Walk started at Welwyn Garden City fountain and passed through many Hertfordshire villages on the way to Letchworth Garden City fountain. Supporting the three walkers was Ken Smith who had donations from family and friends.

Between them they raised a total of £1,111.

A very big thank you

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:15:00 GMT

It’s been a fantastic year for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Thanks to our supporters:

we installed the ground-breaking CyberKnife radiotherapy machine which started treating patients in July
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge opened the Oak Centre for Children and Young People in September
building work continues on the new Centre for Molecular Pathology, which is on track to open by the end of 2012.

These new facilities will make a huge difference to the 40,000+ patients treated at The Royal Marsden each year, and none of this would have been possible without your support. Thank you.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year from everyone at The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

RBS Resourcing runners raise £3,000

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:10:00 GMT

A team of seven from RBS Resourcing took part in a run on Sunday 27 November, rasing an impressive £3,000.

The runners were Chris Oglethorpe, Peter Moffat, Mike Maddick, Jim Richardson and Christine MacKenzie (left to right in the photo above), and Victoria Gale and Alex Shepherd (not pictured).

Topping out ceremony at Centre for Molecular Pathology

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:30:00 GMT

Progress on new Centre for Molecular Pathology in Sutton has reached a major milestone with a topping out ceremony this week.

Professors Stephen Johnston and Stan Kaye of The Royal Marsden and The Institute for Cancer Research tapped in the final block at the highest level of the building to complete its frame.
Read more at www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk

Order your star for Celebrate a Life by Friday 2 December

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 09:18:00 GMT

Every year at The Royal Marsden we place thousands of stars on our Christmas trees – each one remembering and celebrating the life of a loved one. If you would like to dedicate a star in honour of a person who is special to you, you have until Friday 2 December to place your order. You can:

The name of your loved one will be written on a star and hung on your chosen tree for all to see. We will also send you a special gold lapel badge as a mark of our thanks for supporting us this Christmas.

We will make every effort to list all names in the Order of Service but we cannot guarantee that names received after 2 December 2011 will be included.
Find out more about Celebrate a Life

20-mile walk for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:04:00 GMT

Lower Sixth students from Salesian College in Farnborough, led by Joe Byrne and Will Debenham, walked 20 miles to raise money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity in memory of Alex Bolt.

It was a great day, with many students, family and friends of the College walking together around the sports field. The walk began bright and early at 8.30am and everyone was across the finish line by 3.40pm.

Poppy's cake sale

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:58:00 GMT

Poppy Jacobs, a pupil at Rupert House School in Henley, organised a cake sale to raise money. She baked all week and other children donated home-made cakes which she sold at break time and after school, raising £240.

Poppy has now raised more than £350 selling cakes and taking part in a sponsored run. Her uncle was treated at The Royal Marsden for leukaemia.

Patient receives letter of support from HRH The Duchess of Cambridge

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 15:16:00 GMT

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge has written a personal letter of support to Fabinan Bate, a patient of The Royal Marsden, after he met the Duke and Duchess on a visit to the hospital.

The Duchess met Fabian, aged 9, and other patients when she and her husband officially opened the new £18 million Oak Centre for Children and Young People last month.

Marsden March registration now open

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:31:00 GMT

The Marsden March, our annual sponsored walk between The Royal Marsden’s hospitals in Chelsea and Sutton, takes place on Sunday 11 March 2012.

Registration is now open at www.royalmarsden.org/march.

Following the fantastic success of The Marsden March in 2011 we have doubled the number of places available. There are now 3,000 places on the full 14-mile walk and 1,000 places on the shorter 5-mile walk.

Please join us for what promises to be a great day. Last year we raised a fantastic £824,000 with just 2,000 walkers – can you help us to make this our first £1 million event?
Find out more about The Marsden March

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge open Oak Centre for Children and Young People

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:24:00 GMT

The new Oak Centre for Children and Young People at The Royal Marsden's hospital in Sutton was officially opened by TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. HRH The Duke of Cambridge has been the President of The Royal Marsden since May 2007.

Hundreds of people, including staff, patients, and the local community, waited to catch a glimpse of the royal couple. Upon arrival, they were greeted by The Royal Marsden’s Chief Executive Cally Palmer and Chairman Ian Molson.
Read more at www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk

House of Fraser raises nearly £700,000

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 08:12:00 GMT

House of Fraser has raised nearly £700,000 for The Royal Marsden’s Oak Centre for Children and Young People.

The money was raised via a number of nationwide awareness and fundraising initiatives, including staff competitions and a percentage donation from customer gift cards.
Read more at www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk

CyberKnife now in use

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:05:00 GMT

CyberKnife, the very latest in radiotherapy technology, is now installed and up and running at The Royal Marsden.

The hospital is one of the first London NHS Trusts to install the latest model of CyberKnife, which became operational and began treating the first patients last week.
Read more at www.royalmarsden.nhs.uk

Fundraising at St Martin’s Primary School

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 08:03:00 GMT

St Martin’s Primary School in Dorking raised over £2,000 with a sponsored obstacle race. Class KS1 (about 100 children aged 4 to 7) had ten minutes to complete the course as many times as they could.

The school also organised a bingo night and a swimathon, and teacher Hannah Woollard took part in the London Marathon in April 2011.

At the end of the summer term, they presented us with a cheque for £6,508.01.

Sockathon at Brynteg School

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 08:01:00 GMT

Pupils, staff and friends of Brynteg Comprehensive School raised £1,500 by forming a 250m trail of socks in a ‘Sockathon’ held on Monday 11 July. Olympic gold medal winning cyclist and former Brynteg pupil Nicole Cooke donated socks for the event, as did fellow former pupil Kevin Ellis and Garw rugby hero John Devereux.

The event was inspired by the school librarian’s granddaughter Bethan Vacher, aged nearly two, who was diagnosed with leukaemia last August.

Royal wedding street party

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 07:59:00 GMT

Jack and Jill pre-school at Littlehaven Infants School, Horsham, held a street party to celebrate the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, with the children dressing up as kings, queens, princes and princesses.

There was a BBQ and a cake stall, and some people brought their own picnics and champagne to toast the happy couple. Children made crowns and wore jelly-sweet 'engagement' rings.

All the money raised, £109.88, was sent to the Royal Marsden.

Captain Chemo’s Crazy Day

Wed, 18 May 2011 07:58:00 GMT

Children and staff arrived at Downsend School Epsom Lodge dressed in an array of crazy outfits, including Captain Chemo t-shirts, and sporting brightly coloured hair, nails and faces for their annual ‘Captain Chemo’s Crazy Day’. Throughout the day each class, including the youngest nursery children, took part in either a sponsored walk around Alexandra Park or around the school grounds.

This year, Captain Chemo t-shirt sales raised £300 for the Royal Marsden.

Blenheim High School

Thu, 05 May 2011 07:57:00 GMT

Students have raised over £3,500 for The Royal Marsden. Megan White, a student there, was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma just before Christmas and her sister Charlotte went straight into action to raise money for the hospital.
Read more about this on Facebook

Windsurfing 4 Cancer Research

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:30:00 GMT

W4CR dropped into the new Centre for Children and Young People to hand over a cheque for £9,000. The charity promotes cancer awareness among windsurfers and raises money for cancer research, education and support.
Find out more at www.W4CR.org

Spelling bee

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:29:00 GMT

Led by staff member Andrew Baker, the boys at King’s College Junior School in Wimbledon kindly raised the most amazing sum of £3,634.61 by taking part in a sponsored spelling and tables event. The funds they have worked so hard to raise are in aid of the Centre for Children and Young People.
See the massive cheque on Facebook

Mad Hair Day

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:28:00 GMT

On Friday 19 March, Belleville Primary School held ‘Mad Hair Day’. Most of the children came to school with crazy hairstyles and donated £1, raising £848.49 in the process.
Read more at www.belleville-school.org.uk