Children’s Bereavement Centre at Newark to be featured charity at Southwell Racecourse's Ladies Day

The Children’s Bereavement Centre at Newark has been chosen as the featured charity for Ladies Day at Southwell Racecourse.

Volunteers from the charity will be at the racecourse on Sunday, August 14, promoting and collecting for the worthy cause.

Mark Clayton, of Southwell Racecourse, said: “We’re delighted to have chosen the Children’s Bereavement Centre for our charity of the year.

“The charity worked so hard through to pandemic to continue providing vital services to local families. We’d like to help support them now by giving them an outlet to fundraise at one of the biggest events of the year.”

The Children’s Bereavement Centre supports children and young people, aged three to 18, and their families who are suffering life-changing trauma due to the death or terminal illness of someone important in their lives.

Despite restrictions and difficulties, last year the centre helped 923 families across Nottnghamshire and Lincolnshire receive the support and guidance they need at what is probably one of the most difficult times in their lives.

Every 22 minutes in the UK a child is bereaved of a parent. To raise awareness of this statistic, the centre is running a Challenge 22 campaign during 2022, encouraging people to do 22 things to raise money for the cause.

While offering such a vital service, the charity relies on fundraising and a huge part of the centre’s income comes from individual fundraisers or donations.

And every little helps. For example, £4 pays for a memory book for a child to put all their memories and photographs of the person they have lost; £6 will supply a comfort bear for a child; and £10 pays for a child to attend an activity or workshop.

“Support for the local charity is greatly appreciated at any time, but never more so than 2022, after a challenging two years of fundraising,” said Kate Baxter, the centre’s chief excutive.

“A huge thank you to Mark Clayton and all the team at Southwell Racecourse for giving us this opportunity and we are really looking forward to working with them and we are all keeping our fingers crossed for the sunshine

“If you are going to the event, please pop by our gazebo to meet our team and don’t forget to buy a raffle ticket — we have some amazing prizes to be won. “

Ladies Day race-goers should look out for the charity’s team of volunteers who will be at the racecourse throughout the day holding bucket collections and selling raffle tickets.

Thousands will be at the racecourse for the Advertiser Ladies Day, one of the highlights on the district’s social calendar.

Tickets are now on sale, including specialist packages from www.southwell-racecourse.co.uk/whats-on/advertiser-ladies-day-ft-dj-martin-kemp

As well as a full race card, the event also features a post-race DJ party set by Martin Kemp.