The well-known Farnham bridge partnership of Helen Mitchell and Tony Philpott took up the challenge of playing 100 bridge hands on-line in a single day in aid of the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice. On May 27th, Tony and Helen undertook and achieved their challenge. They started play at 8am, with their opponents for the first 4 boards Douglas Wright & Manda Kimbery, 3 Counties Bridge. They completed play just before 10pm - quite a marathon! The last 4 boards were played against Chris Lewis, chairman of the Bourne bridge club and myself representing Farnham bridge club, and were recorded using Zoom, enabling us to toast Helen and Tony on their outstanding success. Tony and Helen's initial hope was to raise £1,000 for Hospice funds. As of 28th May, the donated total stands at over £6,000, plus gift aid, which will bring the total to over £7,000. The generosity of the Farnham bridge community, friends & family, and BridgeClubLive players has been quite amazing! This far, far, exceeds any bridge charity event ever run in our area! The funds raised for the much-loved Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, in these special times of need, are truly vital. Currently almost all upcoming Hospice events have been cancelled and many bridge events, community events and personal challenges such as marathons have been postponed. Hospice care continues but with additional measures in place to protect staff and patients. This includes PPE, social distancing, providing support such as counselling via telephone and very sadly limiting the people who can come into the Hospice. Needless to say this is a very difficult time for all Hospice clinical staff, patients and volunteers. £6,000 would, for example, pay for 6 week's care from one of the Hospice inpatient nurses, who will be caring for up to 5 patients, providing relief from pain and difficult symptoms in a peaceful environment. Gift aid and additional donations will further add to this. The fundraising page will remain open for a few more days. The generosity of the bridge community really will make a difference in these challenging times!
May 29, 2020