The Pendle Powerfest Team are over the moon to be able to support Seven Hospitals with £500 toy donations each from profits from this year's Pendle Powerfest.

This exceeds anything we could have dreamt of when we started planning in August 2016.

 

Thank You to everyone who has helped in any way, it will really make a difference to more children than we will ever know.

 

The Hospitals are:

• Royal Blackburn Hospital (with some passed on to Burnley Urgent Care)

• Royal Preston Hospital

• Airedale General Hospital

• Manchester Children’s Hospital

• Alder Hey Children’s Hospital

• Derian House Children’s Hospice.

• Northampton Hospital

• Plus we will also be making a donation towards a much needed Defibrillator for Barrowford.

​

On Sunday 2nd July Pendle Powerfest will be heading off on their Horsepower Heroes Convoy to take toys to local hospitals.

 

Due to the success of this year’s show the team will be donating £500 each to Royal Blackburn & Burnley, Royal Preston, Airedale General, Manchester Children’s, Alder Hey Children’s and Northampton Hospitals and Derian House Children’s Hospice.

 

Setting off from Barrowford, an eclectic mixture of cars and bikes will head off to visit Royal Blackburn, Preston and Airedale Hospitals creating a rolling motorshow for the children and families to enjoy. Other venues will receive donations at a later date.

 

“We asked our exhibitors to volunteer their services for the day and we have had a great response” said organiser Chris Walker.
“With record visitor numbers and revenue from our event in May, we couldn’t be happier with the end result. To be able to complete this year’s cycle by actually handing the toys over to more hospitals than we would have dreamed will be fantastic for the whole team who have worked so hard.”

 

The convoy’s first stop at Royal Blackburn Hospital will deliver much needed toys to their children’s wards complimented by the £500 donation to ensure a sustained supply of entertainment to those children unfortunate enough to end up in hospital. This will be presented to a member of the nursing team at a mini-motorshow in the hospital’s grounds. Children and families will be encouraged to come and see the vehicles and brighten their day. Some of these will then be fed across to Burnley Hospital. The team will then move on and repeat this at Preston and Airedale Hospitals throughout the event with some vehicles and a few surprises joining along the way.

 

The idea for this was inspired by the entertainment manager Lee Tombling’s late sister Amy’s idea of providing toys in children’s wards out of her own pocket. The team took on the challenge of servicing as many hospitals and hospices in the local area as they could plus Northampton where Amy had been a regular visitor. All of the donated toys will carry a sticker with the words “Simply Amy” on them in recognition of her idea.

 

“We had such a great response in toy donations at our Booths collection point plus help from Giddy Goat Toys in Didsbury that our little meeting room is overflowing already!” said Chris.

Pendle Powerfest is run by a team of volunteers who spend a long time planning and organising something they feel is unique to the area. Made up of people with diverse backgrounds and interests they tirelessly work towards making the day out appeal to everyone and raise lots of money for their chosen causes.

 

Newest volunteer Debby Preston: “I think Powerfest is a feast for Petrol heads. The organisation has a dedicated team of volunteers who are committed to fundraising and do their utmost to bring together a professional show.”

“As for the upcoming convoy, I am sure it will be a sight to be seen, delivering joy and many hours of fun for those children who are unfortunate to be in need of hospital treatment. SANTA HAS NOTHING ON US!”

 

Pendle Powerfest will also be donating £500 towards a new defibrillator for Barrowford as a way of hopefully saving local people’s lives.