Team Hollies Sahara Trek

Monday, November 12th, 2018

As part of The Hollies’ 60-year diamond anniversary we have pledged to raise as much money as we can through the anniversary brochure honesty boxes and various fundraising events to support two amazing local charities; St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice and Tarporley War Memorial Hospice.

Mindy and I went along to St Luke’s to meet with the team and we found out about all the remarkable work the hospice does each day. Since 1988, St. Luke’s have been providing palliative care to local people, supporting them in ways which go beyond the scope and funding of the NHS. St. Luke’s offers a wide range of services to support people living with life limiting illnesses in Cheshire, relying heavily on donations in order to do so.

We discussed fundraising with the experienced St. Luke’s team and left bubbling with ideas and inspired to start fundraising. One event they mentioned was the St Luke’s Sahara Trek in 2019 – and call us crazy but we have signed up!!! We have even managed to recruit a few more and now have a Hollies team of 5 committed to doing the Trek; Mindy, Steph, Esta, Annie and myself!

A 50km trek across the Sahara Desert in October 2019. Sweltering heat by day (around 37 degrees!), freezing temperatures by night (around zero!), no toilets, no showers (just a pack of baby wipes!) no hair straighteners, no comfy bed – no 5-star Hollies luxury there! We’ll be scaling sand dunes whilst carrying our water and daily provisions, gaining an insight into the vast and diverse landscape of the Sahara, camping under the stars and learning all about the Berber way of life.

In order to go on the Trek, we must raise at least £8000 between us for St. Luke’s through various fundraising initiatives.

We’ve started our fundraising plan and have lots of exciting ideas – watch out for updates to see what we are up to and how you can get involved. Mindy kicked it off with a raffle raising £192.40 in one afternoon! Look out for more of our Pop-Up Raffles over the next few months!

Another bit of fundraising we have started is ‘Olivia Cooks for Charity’. Each Wednesday we invite all staff at Little Budworth to buy a hot lunch from the office for £3. After taking out ingredient costs, all the profits are going to both St. Luke’s and Tarporley War Memorial Hospital. In the two lunches so far we have made £98.66!!