29 Apr 2025 Community

From leg waxing to bear naming Maariyah’s mission to support The Kirkwood

Pharmacy Technician Maariyah Ahmed has been making waves with her creative and heartfelt efforts to support The Kirkwood, raising an impressive £705 through a series of inventive fundraising events.

Working one day a week with The Kirkwood, Maariyah has seen first hand the dedication of the staff and the vital impact they have had on patients and their families. Motivated by news of funding cuts and the risk of job losses at the hospice, she felt compelled to do something to help.

“I wanted to do the fundraiser as I have seen the amazing work The Kirkwood do for patients and patients’ relatives, so I wanted to try to help them in any way I could,” Maariyah said. “It was horrible to hear that The Kirkwood are going through financial struggles. Hearing there was a risk of jobs being cut was awful to hear, as all the staff with The Kirkwood are amazing at their jobs and really help patients and families at an extremely difficult time.”

To raise funds, Maariyah organised four events across the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Calderdale Royal Infirmary inpatient pharmacies. Among the activities were leg waxing sessions, cake stalls, a “guess the baby” photo competition, and a name the bear game all of which brought together staff, laughter, and generosity.

“I hosted the Kirkwood Cuppa morning on the 26th of February at the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary In-Patient pharmacy and also had Calderdale Royal In-Patient Pharmacy involved too!” she explained. “I was the main organiser, but I had help from a few colleagues with the activities. We had a charity waxing where we had Devlin Silver being waxed by the lovely Madeline Coldwell, we had a guess the baby game that Christine Turner set up for us, we had a name the teddy game, and a bake sale where everyone brought in home baked and shop bought goodies for us all to enjoy! Over at Calderdale, we also had a charity waxing where Ian Harrison was waxed by Aimee Ellam and we also had a bake sale there too.”

The events were not only successful in raising funds, but also in lifting spirits and building camaraderie within the pharmacy teams.

“We've done a lot of fundraisers in the department, I definitely couldn't choose my favourite one!” said Maariyah. “But the highlight of the fundraisers is always seeing everyone in the department come together to help.”

Her line manager, Senior Pharmacy Technician Liz Preston, praised Maariyah’s efforts: “As her line manager, I am really proud of the effort she has put into this fundraising. It's also lovely for us in the pharmacy team to be able to get together and have a little bit of fun.”

Reflecting on her connection to the hospice, Maariyah added: “I used to work with The Kirkwood once a week, helping do controlled drug destructions, drug histories and locker checks. I think The Kirkwood is very important the amount of care they give to patients and patients’ relatives is amazing and they would not be able to get that care elsewhere.”

The money raised through Maariyah’s events will help support The Kirkwood in continuing its essential work: “It's lovely hearing the money I have raised could potentially be helping with patient care,” she said.

Thank you to Maariyah for her fundraising efforts, great work!