The Saturdays give Marie Curie their number one spot
Press release published
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Top UK girl group The Saturdays have started their New Year on a charitable note by helping Marie Curie Cancer Care to recruit volunteers for its Great Daffodil Appeal. The girls held a photoshoot to appeal for people to turn their free time into free nursing care by volunteering to collect for the charity’s flagship fundraiser which takes place in March. Una, Mollie, Frankie, Vanessa and Rochelle also announced that they would be doing their bit to help out too by collecting for the appeal at surprise venues across the UK in March. Rochelle from The Saturdays, said: “We sang at one of Marie Curie’s Christmas events last month and were all really struck by the story one of their nurses told about their amazing work. This inspired us to support Marie Curie further by getting out there and collecting money for its Great Daffodil Appeal in March. It’s going to be great fun but we need other people to sign up as volunteer collectors so we can all smash the appeal target of £5.5 million for this fantastic cause. “Home is where the heart is, so it feels great that we are supporting a charity whose nurses make it possible for people to be looked after at home when their time comes, surrounded by everything they love.” Although the Great Daffodil Appeal does not take place until March, the charity needs to recruit over 20,000 volunteers to make it a success. The aim is to have as many collectors out across the UK during the month, encouraging people to give a donation in return for a daffodil pin. All money raised will allow Marie Curie nurses to provide more free care to people with terminal cancer and other illnesses in their own homes or the charity’s hospices. People who have any time to donate can join a local team of volunteers by calling Marie Curie Cancer Care now on 0845 601 3107. The Saturdays will be backing the charity through a range of exciting events and campaigns in 2011, so watch this space for more news. -ENDS- |
Contact information
Marie Curie press office
- 0844 893 2101
- media@mariecurie.org.uk
Updated
Notes to editor
The Saturdays are one of the UK’s top girl groups. Formed in 2007, they made their recording debut in 2008 for the record label Fascination Records, a sub-division of Polydor Records. They have released three albums and scored eight UK Top Ten singles. In February 2011 the band will be playing all over UK in The Headlines Tour. The group have sold over 2 million records to date.
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 31,000 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 has two centres for palliative care research, The Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at University College London and The Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute in Liverpool.
It also funds seven fundamental scientific research groups which investigate the causes and treatments of cancer. This research was previously carried out at the Marie Curie Research Institute in Oxted, Surrey. The programmes are now located in universities around the country, and will receive funding from the charity until 2012.
Supporting the choice to die at home
Research shows around 65 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 has been campaigning for more patients to be able to make the choice to be cared for and die at home.
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