PIRATES' SPONSORS RAISE £12K FOR CHARITY

POOLE Pirates and their sponsors are celebrating the latest success of a memorable 2014 season – raising more than £12,000 for Julia’s House.

The Dorset children’s hospice, the speedway club’s official charity partner, benefited from the inaugural Poole Pirates-Julia’s House Business Fundraising Challenge. Pirates promoter Matt Ford donated an initial £500 to provide £50 seed money for 10 of the club’s sponsors to grow in aid of the charity during the speedway campaign.

The fundraising initiative proved a big hit as the companies raised a combined total of £11,575, with a further £660 raised from an end-of-season auction.

Matt announced “We were all absolutely thrilled to make such a valuable contribution to the work of this much-deserving charity.

“Julia’s House does such tremendous work for local children and their families. Together with our sponsors, everybody at Poole Speedway is proud to support their crucial care.”

Ian Wadley, community fundraiser at Julia’s House, said: “We are hugely grateful for the brilliant support we have received from Matt, Poole Speedway and the club’s sponsors.

“Government funding accounts for just 7.5 per cent of the £3.9million we need to raise in 2014, so fantastic community partnerships such as this are absolutely vital to Julia’s House.”

Steve Wells of DWP Housing Partnership topped the fundraising charts with a sponsored fancy dress cycle race which raised £6,109. The other businesses to raise money as part of the challenge were Meridian Lifts, Wessex Marine, Sunrise Service & MOT, FIS Chemicals, Alan & Thomas Insurance Group, Utility Advice Bureau, Aerosolutions and Ego.

The partnership also saw Julia’s House benefit from complimentary meeting sponsorship and free adverts in the Poole Speedway programme