13 Jan 2023 Community

Team Serenity reach major fundraising milestone

Since their inception in 2017, Team Serenity have raised an amazing £40,000 for The Kirkwood with their various fundraising efforts. As the group hit this major fundraising milestone, we wanted to help them celebrate and highlight the truly wonderful work they do as a group and community of people. 

Team Serenity's members are mainly based in villages across Huddersfield, including Emley, Almondbury, Kirkburton and Denby Dale. As well as sharing a passion for raising funds, the group's hard working members are dedicated to raising awareness about the services we provide, particularly in areas such as Emley, where local people aren't always aware that they can be referred to The Kirkwood.

Helen Woodhead, who was an integral part of Team Serenity's formation, explained: “The Kirkwood makes a difference to so many people’s lives and I think sometimes the people who live in the small villages of Huddersfield think that The Kirkwood isn’t for them. 

"We reiterate the message that The Kirkwood is for anyone who lives in Kirklees who is dealing with a life limiting illness and needs support. We are proud to be part of The Kirkwood movement and will continue to do all we can to raise funds and spread the word about the charity.”

To raise over £40,000 in just five years is no mean feat. Reaching such a lofty total has been achieved by organising a whole host of events, including an annual Ladies' Night which attracts hundreds of guests and raises thousands of pounds each year.

As the fundraising group hit the £40,000 milestone funds, everyone connected with have helped hundreds of families across Kirklees as we provide care to people who are dealing with a life limiting illness. 

Helen is rightly proud of the huge total raised by Team Serenity over the past few years: “We are extremely proud of what we have managed to raise for The Kirkwood, a lot of us have had personal experiences with the charity or have volunteered there for many years.

"We set the group up in the hope of putting on events that not only raise vital funds for The Kirkwood, but also help to raise awareness of its life changing services and the team that work for the charity."

Helen and Team Serenity work closely with our Community Fundraiser, Julia Owen, and Helen wanted to thank Julia for all the help and support she gives to the group. 

She added: “We have a fantastic relationship with The Kirkwood and the team there, especially Julia, who works in the Fundraising department. We have regular dialogue with her regarding our events and, without her help and support, we wouldn’t be able to make our events as good as they are.”

Team Serenity have hosted a number of events for The Kirkwood over the past year alone, as Helen comments: “We held our ladies’ night earlier this year which we raised £3,100 from. Ninety ladies had a fantastic evening as they wined, dined and danced the night away whilst raising funds for a good cause. Back in September we took part in the Emley Events Scarecrow Trail and we also hosted a Get Together event, which we raised a total of £1,022 from. 

“On Friday 1st April the group hosted a fun, fizz and fashion event at St Michael’s Church in Emley. The event sparkled with over ninety guests in attendance. A group of beautiful models strutted their stuff on the catwalk wearing outfits provided by Chain Reaxtion from Honley. 

“The catwalk was certainly an explosion of colour. The whole evening was a huge success and the grand finale saw all the models strutting their stuff down the catwalk to rapturous applause. The total raised for The Kirkwood was just over £2,000. This included a very generous donation from Chain Reaxtion."

Not content with their already amazing efforts, Team Serenity also raised £1,400 at the group's summer garden party. It has been a fantastic year for the group, who hosted over 10 events in total across the year.

If that wasn't enough, members of the group also took on a big knitting project, creating toppers for Chocolate Oranges - which supporters could purchase from them for just £5. 

She explained: “We created the knitting project in August, and we are just getting to the end of that now. We have been given plenty of chocolate oranges and bought several of them ourselves, we are hoping we have raised a good amount from the sale of these with the funds going straight to The Kirkwood. We have had people as far away as Switzerland who have been knitting for us and so I just wanted to say a huge thanks to all those people who have either knitted a topper for us or bought a chocolate orange and, through that, donated to The Kirkwood.”

“Once again, a huge thanks to everyone who has helped us to host our events or taken part in them across the year.”

Everyone connected with The Kirkwood are proud of the hard work, dedication and time the group has put into organising their events and raising not just funds, but vital awareness of our services over the past six years.