14 Apr 2022 Community

Nancy Smith owner of the Cellar Bar raises funds for The Kirkwood

One of The Kirkwood's fantastic supporters, Nancy Smith, who runs The Cellar Bar in Batley, has raised over £7,000 for the charity since 2019 and is determined to continue her good work.

Nancy Smith is a passionate believer in our charity and believes The Kirkwood are a vital part of the Kirklees community. Although she’s never experienced the care and support offered by The Kirkwood first hand, Nancy hears and sees on a daily basis how much The Kirkwood is loved.  

She said: "The Kirkwood is so important to our community, people who come into my pub all the time say what incredible people work for the charity. Without The Kirkwood, we as a community would be worse off.  

"I didn't realise at first the amount of services The Kirkwood offer. That's truly one of the most remarkable things about the charity. We as a pub feel proud to raise funds for such a great cause."  

Back In September of 2019 – before the pandemic – Nancy contacted Joanna Doherty, who is part of The Kirkwood's Fundraising team. Nancy explained she had been fundraising for Macmillan and had raised £10,000 for them, but now wanted to do something for The Kirkwood.  

Nancy had lots planned for 2020, including a music night and a cricketer’s march from Headingley to Scarborough, set to arrive for the start of the Cricket Festival due to be held on the North Yorkshire coast. Although these events had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, Nancy continued her fundraising efforts as soon as restrictions were lifted and the pub was allowed to reopen. 

At one point, Nancy was selling handmade peg bags and knitted Christmas novelties, but her biggest seller by far have been her homemade sausage rolls (she tells us they are delicious)!  

Nancy has recently held a ‘Psychic Supper’, which raised £665, and their annual fundraising event raised £2,775! She also supports our Batley & Birstall group by selling their knitted Easter chickens, and has already raised £600. This Summer, she is also planning to hold a Jubilee Street Party to raise money for us! 

In total, Nancy has raised £7,155 since 2019. Considering the bulk of that time has seen the majority of the country going through numerous lockdowns, it's quite an achievement! 

On the fundraising effort so far, she said: "We have been in the pub for six years now and initially we raised funds for Macmillan, but we have since switched to raising money for The Kirkwood. We've had some fantastic help from Joanna in the Fundraising team, she's brilliant.  

"We sell football scratch cards which help raise funds for The Kirkwood. We also have a discount scheme where if you buy a loyalty card for £10 that money goes to The Kirkwood and the customer gets a discount on their drinks. Due to us being on an ale trail we get a lot of the locals doing this which is just amazing. We also sell eggs and we do the Easter Chick fundraiser too.  

"The annual fundraiser which we recently held in March went brilliantly, we had such a good night with an unbelievable attendance. When things like that go so right it just makes you smile." 

Nancy would like to thank the following people that have helped her raise funds so far this year. 

All the Cellar Bar customers

The Cellar Bar staff

Zucchinis Italian Restaurant.

Dewsbury Rams

Batley Bulldogs RLFC

R.H. Binks & Sons Butchers

Sue Horsfall at Aspen Holistic Therapy

Wendy Davison at Fox's Biscuits

Freya Peterson and Nicola Waters

Stuart Gledhill

Angie Mason

Julie Smith

Mikey's daughter Leah for the lovely pamper hamper

Lloyd Fellows at Groundforce

Carlsberg Marstons Beer Company for all their kind donations to raffle and auction.

She would also like to thank for the fantastic music provided on her annual fundraising night, John McSeveney, Abby Laura Oldroyd and Mikey Sav of Abby & The Howling Whippet.

Everyone at The Kirkwood would like to thank Nancy and her team at The Cellar Bar for their dedication to raising funds that help to Support Life for people affected by any life limiting illness in towns and villages right here in Kirklees.