ALLC Supporting Charities

Our members can be very proud of our record in supporting local charities as well as Arnold School. Over recent years the Arnold Ladies' Luncheon Club has been very generous, especially so because the donations result from the profit of our raffle draws.

In May 2009 and May 2010 we had “pink themed” lunches, with ladies suitably dressed in various shades of pink! Resulting donations to Breast Cancer Research have amounted to over £450 including, in 2010, the speaker’s fee.

In January 2008, we had a very moving talk about the charity “Feet First” when the speaker’s fee and the raffle raised £215; this was followed by a cash collection of £488.86, all donated to the charity. Many of the speakers have requested that their fees should be sent directly to their chosen charities which include: Derian House, Sue Ryder Care, Pear Tree Special School, Haiti Disaster Emergency Committee, Blackpool Wyre & Fylde Society for the Blind, Brian House, Home Start Fylde and Help for Heroes.

We have donated £252 to MSUOTC Officers’ Mess. We also were delighted to give cheques of £200 to the Blackpool Children’s Clothing Fund and £150 to Home Start. Trinity Hospice, The Salvation Army, Icher, British Heart Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis and the NSPCC each received £82 in 2009. In January 2010, ALLC supported Stuart Lane on his cycle ride for the Dallaglio Cycle Slam, which was featured as part of Sports Relief for £124.07. The raffle profits are seasonally distributed to fund various items at Arnold School. Since 2006, these have been £573.70 for the 2nd XI hockey kit, £389.85 for a Sony Hard Drive Camcorder for the PE department, £269.90 for a mobile cookery centre & cooking accessories for junior pupils, £534.62 for senior school gym mats and £350 towards an illuminated basketball scoreboard.

Earlier this year, two guinea pigs, their cage and various accessories were donated to children in Year 6 after they gave a presentation to the committee giving the reasons why they thought having guinea pigs was a great idea! A new venture for us has been the “Shopping Bonanza”, which enabled us to give a donation of £350 to Trinity Hospice, raised from the stallholders' fees. We hope to be able to repeat this at our 2010 November Lunch for “The Children’s Adventure Farm Trust”, so that children from the North West are able to enjoy free adventure breaks and activities in Cheshire. Further information on this charity is available from http://www.childrensadventurefarm.org/.

The Arnold Ladies’ Luncheon Club has a long tradition of caring for the local community and supporting Arnold School and will continue to do so in future.