Towpath cake stand brings in £4,000 for Lancaster hospice

Fundraising for St John’s Hospice has now become second nature for Julie and Natalie Duncan, who both work for St John’s when they are not baking cakes!

In April this year, encouraged by Natalie, Julie came up with her 2:6 Challenge (created by the London Marathon Event organisers to help save the UK’s charities) to bake 26 cakes and share them with passing cake lovers on the canal towpath near her home in return for donations to the Hospice.

Generously supported by staunch supporters of the Hospice and cake-loving residents from all over the North West region, Julie also received donations from as far afield as Torrevieja in Spain, Tauranga and Auckland in New Zealand and Western Australia.

The total escalated and Julie, a Quality and Governance Administrator, and Natalie, a Bank Nurse for the Hospice at Home service, were delighted to present their colleague Head of Inpatient Services Lucy O’Connor with a cheque for £4033.

Julie was thrilled to be able to raise money for St John’s Hospice following the cancellation of key fundraising events, while giving visitors to her canal side cake stand homemade goodies to break the monotony of the lockdown.

She said: “Now more than ever St John’s Hospice needs our financial support to enable its wonderful nurses and medical team continue to provide that outstanding care, compassion and support to its patients.”

Initially, due to lockdown guidelines, Julie had to produce enough cake to stock the stand single-handedly, but simply could not keep up with demand. In recent weeks it was the help of friends and volunteers who ‘grew’ the initiative from a small converted plant stand to a very impressive cake collection.

Julie said: “The whole cake bake has been such a wonderful experience for me. I’ve got to know so many amazing passers-by, met such incredibly generous characters and really feel, after being relatively new to the area, that I’m now part of this fabulous, vibrant, caring community.

“However, this wouldn’t have been as successful if it was not for the generosity, time, effort and beautiful baking that friends and hospice volunteers contributed so willingly. A massive thank you to everyone.”

Natalie first started raising money for the Hospice in 1993 when, aged eight, she gave a talk to the Brownies about her visits to St John's Hospice in the early 90s where her mum, Julie, was a volunteer at weekends on reception. Natalie sold hospice pens, Julie baked some cakes and, between them, they raised £72 in one night.

Coming soon: Weekend cake boxes to order (from the cake stand) in return for a donation to the hospice.