A lifesaving charity and an organisation which works with young people across the borough have received welcome boosts thanks to the West Lancashire Mayoress’s Charity. Over the last year with the help of their hard-working Charity Committee, the past Mayor Councillor Paul Greenall and Mayoress Louise raised £7,600. One of the last duties they performed in their ceremonial chains was to present cheques for the funds they had raised.The North West Air Ambulance received £4,000 and Ormskirk and District Scouts received £3,000. (The amounts are different as some donors gave to a specific charity.) Councillor Greenall said: “We are really pleased to have raised so much money for these very worthy causes in the current difficult economic climate. We didn’t set ourselves a target and we wanted to concentrate on our civic role as the main focus of our Mayoral year.”
Louise Greenall said: “We work full time and have a young family so the fundraising committee took on a lot of the responsibility. We are very grateful to all the committee members for their hard work, particularly Maureen Fazal and Jenny Holmes who have been with us from the start, and the new Mayoress Beverley Ashcroft.”
The money was raised from a number of events. Highlights included a charity meal at the Blue Mallard in Burscough, a vintage tea party at West Lancashire College and the Civic Dinner at The Lancashire Manor Hotel.
Colin Prescott, chairman of the Ormskirk and District Scouts HQ Development Committee, said: “We are very grateful to the Mayor and Mayoress for raising this money which will go towards our goal of building a new headquarters. The donation will be a big help because it means the HQ development fund is now over £50,000, and we can apply to large funding organisations such as the National Lottery.”
The Skem Men-Aces Football Team, a food bank based at Digmoor Community Centre and the Ormskirk Food Bank, based at the Boiler Room in Ormskirk, also received £200 each. Councillor Greenall and his wife Louise came into contact with them during their year in office and were very impressed by the work they do in West Lancashire.