Masterpiece Midsummer Party raises over £840,000 for Marie Curie
Press release published
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Ambassador for Marie Curie Heather Kerzner hosted the Masterpiece Midsummer Party on July 2, raising over £840,000 for the charity. The Masterpiece Midsummer Party concludes the annual art fair Masterpiece London, of which Marie Curie was this year’s charity beneficiary. With Masterpiece London at the Royal Hospital Chelsea as a venue, the Midsummer Party was attended by Royalty and celebrities alike, including Sarah Ferguson with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Ronnie Wood, Caprice, Donna Air, and Marie Curie Ambassador Hugh Grant. Marie Curie Nurses and volunteers were also in attendance, encouraging guests to bid and donate. Funds were raised through ticketing, a silent auction, a live auction, raffle ticket sales and pledges from guests. Marie Curie Head of Major Gifts and Special Events Lucy Sargent said: “We want to thank everyone who donated so generously, and thank Masterpiece London and our host Heather Kerzner for making the event a shining success. The money raised will help to fund 42,000 hours of free nursing care for terminally ill people in their own homes.” Last year’s Masterpiece Midsummer Party was in aid of Clic Sargent. –ENDS– |
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Marie Curie is one of the UK’s largest charities. Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, it provided care to more than 35,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its nine hospices last year and is the largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS.
Funding
Around 70 per cent of the charity’s income comes from the generous support of thousands of individuals, membership organisations and businesses, with the balance of our funds coming from the NHS.
Marie Curie Nurses
The charity is best known for its network of Marie Curie Nurses working in the community to provide end of life care, totally free for patients in their own homes.
Research
The charity provides core funding for three palliative care research facilities; the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at University College London, the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool and the Marie Curie Palliative Care Centre at the Wales Cancer Trials Unit (Cardiff University). The charity also supports palliative and end of life care research through its project grant funding streams, the Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme (administered by Cancer Research UK) and the Dimbleby Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Fund. Both research programmes aims to tackle the funding and knowledge gap in palliative and end of life care research, which in turn will benefit patients, families and carers.
The right to die in place of choice
Research shows around 63 per cent of people would like to die at home if they had a terminal illness, with a sizeable minority opting for hospice care. However, more than 50 per cent of cancer deaths still occur in hospital, the place people say they would least like to be. Since 2004 Marie Curie Cancer Care has been campaigning for more patients to be able to make the choice to be cared for and die in their place of choice.
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