Tag Archives: Trinity Hospice

Alfie Boe and Trinity Hospice

Alfie Boe fans love to keep up with all things Alfie and one of the things that they often ask about is the charities he supports.  Alfie is either an ambassador or patron of several charities but one that is particularly close to his heart is the Trinity Hospice, located on the Fylde Coast.  Serving both adults and children, Trinity relies on fundraising to find all the £5 million annual costs.

Alfie became a patron several years ago after being approached by the fundraising team to see if he would consider becoming an official supporter of the hospice.  Alfie of course hails from Fleetwood – just up the road from the hospice – and press officer Shirley Morgan says they “were absolutely thrilled when we got not only a ‘yes’ , but the news that he would become a Patron”.  Since then, Alfie has supported Trinity with public messages of support which generates a lot of interest both locally and around the world; an example of this is the Trinity Tea Parties of the last couple of years in which Alfie urged everyone to “put the kettle on” raise money.  This aspect of Alfie’s support is crucial as donations increase dramatically whenever Alfie supports them publicly.  There is an increase in activity, which can be traced back to Alfie supporters who are a fabulously loyal bunch.  Many fans see it as a way of giving something back to a performer who brings them so much joy, and Trinity are very grateful for their generosity.

Aside from the public messages of support, Alfie also takes time to support Trinity in less obvious ways.  One such way was about a month ago,  when Shirley Morgan had a call from the nurses at the hospice to say that one of the patients – a long time Alfie fan – had become very ill, and her family had been talking about how much Alfie’s music had meant to her. She had even named her medicine pump after him! It was a Friday lunchtime, but Shirley called Alfie’s team at Vector, in the hope that a few words of support from Alfie could be passed along to the patient.  In Shirley’s words, this is what happened next:

I knew it was a big ask because he was due on stage in Carousel that night – but his team said they would see what they could do. I had to leave work a bit early to drive my son home from school, but as I stepped through my front door at 6pm my phone pinged. It was a message from Alfie’s team, and I immediately thought I must write it down and get it back to the hospice as soon as I can. But when I opened the email and looked more closely I realised it was actually a video, recorded for our patient that afternoon by Alfie, sending love and support. He said he would be thinking of her as he was on stage that night. I downloaded it onto my iPad and went back to the hospice. I wish I could tell you how much joy it brought, not just for the lady in question, but also for her family, who were at her bedside. If only I could have caught it on camera – she simply could not believe that he had gone to so much trouble and that she had him, talking directly to her, in her room, just as he was going on stage in London. It’s a moment I won’t forget. Sadly, she died a few days later. Her family gave me permission to share the story with you; until now we haven’t told anyone, but they want people to know how much it meant and what an amazing memory it has given them.

I don’t know about you but when I first heard that story I shed a tear or two, and I know I speak for all of you when I say a huge thank you to the family of the lady concerned and best wishes going forward.

As mentioned earlier, Alfie’s fans love to support his chosen charities so stay tuned as there will be more news about Alfie and Trinity in the next few weeks.

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Alfie Boe Says Time for Tea with Trinity

When Alfie met Sarah, according to his autobiography, he was making a cup of tea, so who better to back the start of Trinity Hospice’s annual Tea Party campaign?  Of course, Alfie Boe is the patron of the Fylde Coast’s hospice, which also encompasses the children’s hospice, Brian House and he is very supportive of the continuous fundraising efforts needed to keep services going each year.  Since Alfie became patron, Trinity has seen a marked increase in donations from outside the local area and their press officer, Shirley Morgan, says that “we couldn’t have a better patron; we really appreciate the global audience he brings and to top it all, he’s such a nice guy.”

Shirley also shared a little bit of fundraising trivia with me: when analysing their social media reach for 2015, the message with by far and away the most reach and engagement was the tweet in which two Classic Quadrophenia tickets were auctioned off.  A massive 17,000 people were reached by that one tweet!  The closest tweet reached 9,000 people so it perfectly demonstrates how much Alfie’s support means.

Annually, £5 million is needed to fund the hospice and in the last two years, over £30,000 has been raised by tea parties.  That’s a lot of tea and cakes! So what does that money provide in terms of services?  What difference do our individual donations actually make? Well, £10 provides art materials for someone to make a memory box for their loved ones, £150 runs Brian House for one hour, £500 provides eight bereavement sessions for a family and £1,500 means that a child can stay over the weekend, providing much needed respite care for both the child and the family.  All donations are another step closer to the overall target of £5 million.

So, how can you support Trinity’s Tea Party in 2016?  Hold a tea party and donate by clicking here.  Don’t forget to mention that you’re an Alfie Boe fan and it’s a tea party donation.

If you’d like to join in a virtual tea party, just click here to join the Official Alfie Boe Facebook Fan Group and details of the event will be posted shortly.  See you there!

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Win Classic Quadrophenia Tickets via Trinity Hospice!

With just four days to go until the world premiere of Classic Quadrophenia starring (as if you didn’t know) Alfie Boe, there’s a chance to win a pair of tickets to see the sold out show!

In his role as patron of Trinity Hospice, Blackpool, Alfie has donated the tickets as part of the hospice’s 30th birthday celebrations – nice one Alfie!

Auction now closed.

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Exclusive: Alfie Boe Supports Trinity Hospice’s Tea Party Fundraiser

As patron of the Fylde Coast hospice, Trinity (which includes the children’s hospice, Brian House), Alfie Boe is very committed to supporting it’s fundraising efforts.  This time last year, Alfie launched the first ever Trinity Hospice Tea Party which raised a staggering £20,000 – that’s a lot of tea and cake!

Now, in 2015, the hospice is hoping that the second year of the tea party campaign will yield just as much, if not more, funds to support the daily running costs of both hospices.  £5 million is needed annually to fully support the work that the hospices do and while £20,000 might seem a very small part of that, it still goes a very long way.  To illustrate, £10 provides art materials for someone to make a memory box for their loved ones, £150 runs Brian House for one hour, £500 provides eight bereavement sessions for a family and £1,500 means that a child can stay over the weekend, providing much needed respite care for both the child and the family.

In the face of these essential funds, it is just as essential that the charity’s patron supports the fundraising campaigns. I recently interviewed Alfie about Classic Quadrophenia and Les Mis and also took the opportunity to ask about Trinity.  Alfie was really pleased that his fans have been so supportive of Trinity and urged

everyone to go ahead and support this wonderful charity – have a cup of tea and enjoy yourselves.

If you want to support the Trinity Tea Party, just have a tea party, bake some delicious cakes and enjoy!  Alternatively, why not enjoy a virtual tea party with friends on social media?  I attended one such virtual party last year (the brainchild of the lovely Margie) and we had a fabulous time.  Whatever you end up doing, visit the Trinity website (click here) or tweet @trinity_hospice and tell them what you’re doing.  It makes a real difference.

To get an idea of the difference Alfie’s fans make to Trinity, I spoke to Shirley Morgan from the hospice team recently and she was overwhelmed with the level of support from Alfie and his fans across the globe.  Although most donations are from the local area, Shirley mentioned a substantial amount of donations from outside the area and many of these can be traced directly back to Alfie Boe fans.  Shirley said that the hospice

couldn’t have a better patron; we really appreciate the global audience he brings and to top it all, he’s such a nice guy.  But I don’t know if he even drinks tea!

So, Alfie, do you drink tea?

To make a donation to Trinity (with or without a tea party) click here.  If it is a tea party donation, don’t forget to say so!

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Alfie Boe Supports Trinity Hospice Hoodies

Alfie Boe’s charity work has been documented here before, especially his work with the Trinity and Brian House Hospice’s on the Fylde Coast.  The hospice’s latest fundraiser is a Trinity Hospice hoodie, available in three colours:

trinity hoodie

Click on the hoodie above if you want to be like Alfie and get one – if you are outside the UK they would  have to add a few pounds for overseas postage, depending on the destination.  Shirley Jones, from Trinity Hospice said:

Alfie has a navy blue one, but we have aqua and pink. He very kindly signed a hoody for us to offer in a prize draw for our staff at the hospice who couldn’t get along to the launch at HMV.

What a lovely chap he is too. He had a photo taken with every single person in the queue at HMV and had a genuine interest in everyone. Lots of people here have bought tickets for the tour.

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Charity Begins At Home for Alfie Boe

As Alfie Boe performs at his third charity concert (Caudwell Children’s Butterfly Ball, Symfunny and the Annual Hootenanny in aid of Utah Children’s Center) in as many months, it gives us a chance to look at the role celebrities play in the lives of the charities that they support.

These days, it is de rigeur for celebrities to be seen supporting any number of charities, although the level of support varies greatly. Some celebrities are only involved with a few charities which they support both publicly and privately and sometimes they lend their name to a lot of charities; this may just mean showing up to a star studded function.  However, celebrity is very much worth the effort of interesting them in the first place.  Or it is if you have the right celebrity.

Famous names can generate a huge amount of interest for a charity, provided they are well matched to the cause.  For long term support and to keep up media and public interest levels, a celebrity with a personal connection to your cause may well be the best match.  This is all the more important if your charity is not what may be termed a “fashionable cause”.  An example of this is the hospice movement; this suffers from both being part of what the public sees as a large organisation able to generate huge amounts of funding, while the reality is that each individual hospice unit needs to do their own fundraising.

The Trinity Hospice for adults and children based on the Fylde Coast has Alfie Boe as their patron and their press officer, Shirley Morgan, says that “It’s just amazing having Alfie and his team behind us and we have found so many benefits.  What’s also really obvious is the affection his fans have for him as a person.”  Shirley kindly agreed to answer a few questions about the effect having a celebrity patron has had on her charity.  Alfie became a patron after being approached by the fundraising team to see if he would consider becoming an official supporter of the Hospice.  Alfie of course hails from Fleetwood – just up the road from the hospice – and Shirley says they “were absolutely thrilled when we got not only a ‘yes’ , but the news that he would become a Patron”.

Showing the importance of engaging the correct celebrity, having Alfie as Patron helps Trinity in many ways.  They were able to feature in his official Storyteller tour programme last year, which gave them the kind of national exposure they usually only dream of!  In addition, Alfie supports them with public messages of support which help generate a lot of interest and certainly lead to people getting involved. As a hospice, the fundraising team need to raise over £5 million a year to keep the doors open. Unusually, Trinity has both adult and children’s hospices on site and funding is a constant pressure.   Shirley goes on to say that donations increase dramatically whenever Alfie supports them publicly,  “there is an increase in activity, and I know that Alfie’s fans are a fiercely loyal bunch.  He lent his support to our recent Trinity Tea parties, which was raising money for a much-needed refurbishment. He encouraged people to ‘put the kettle on’ and they certainly did. We had Trinity Tea parties happening across the globe, and it was lovely to think of his fans getting behind our fundraising efforts in that way.  Similarly, Alfie’s Angels donated $2,460.10 (a familiar number!!) to mark his birthday. Many fans see it as a way of giving something back to a performer who brings them so much joy, and we are very grateful for their generosity. A group of Alfie fans bought our supporter bracelets when they were launched. The first ones went to Alfie just before he performed here in Blackpool in 2013 and it just took off from there – we were shipping them to the US, Canada and many parts of Europe. The bracelets have the message ‘Some lives are too short’ and I know that resonates with many people”.

Although Trinity Hospice is not Alfie’s only charity, it is definitely the one nearest to his childhood home.  As Alfie and his family now live in Utah, is is perhaps fitting that he has chosen another local charity to support.  Tonight, 13th June, Alfie is performing at the annual fundraising gala of The Children’s Center, Utah.

Alfie originally came to be involved with the centre  through a childhood friend of his wife, Sarah.   The Communications Director, Courtney Garay tells us more: “Sarah Boe’s childhood friend [a supporter of the centre] reached out to Alfie and Sarah to share her passion for The Children’s Center and they were kind enough to take a tour. From that moment, they both offered to help spread our mission; provide comprehensive mental health care to enhance the emotional well-being of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families.”

Annually, the centre needs $1.3 million to ensure families are able to access services regardless of income.  To help with this, Alfie offered to provide a concert at the annual gala, and no surprise,  a lot of  enthusiasm and awareness was generated as a result. $400,000 is expected to be raised on the night.

Although Alfie is not a household name in the US yet, he is popular and well known in Utah, particularly after he appeared with the Motab Choir in 2012 and as such, this is a wise choice of celebrity for the Children’s Center.  As noted above, the best long term gains can be made from celebrities with a personal connection to the cause.  This is evident here when Courtney Garay says “Alfie has also generously procured musical instruments for the children who are in our Therapeutic Preschool Program, a program for children 2-5 years of age who are failing in a regular school setting.”

For further information on Trinity Hospice click here