Thank you to everyone from Careline, Betty’s Sewing Box and Ashbourne Singers who bought a raffle ticket to win the stunning throw made by our very talented volunteer Jocelyn Dacie. Congratulations to Sharon Amy from Ashbourne Singers whose winning ticket was drawn last Friday by Careline volunteer Coral Hodges. We’re really grateful to Jocelyn for donating the throw, which we know took many hours to make. You have have all helped us to raise a fantastic £100!

Many thanks to the fantastic Shrovetide Dance Committee for their generous donation  – it means a great deal to us to be supported by such an iconic Ashbourne organisation.

We so grateful that having already made a donation after last summer’s Duck Race, they chose us again as one of three very worthy recipients to benefit from the proceeds of their annual dance. It really is much appreciated.

If you’re a bit of a brainbox or just love taking part in a quiz, then please save 6pm on the 2nd of April 2017 on your calendar !

Our fundraising quiz will be taking place at the Bowling Green Steak House, 2 North Ave, Ashbourne DE6 1EZ. Each team will be made up of 4 players, so make sure that your brainiest friends and family put the date in their diaries too – it’s going to be lots of fun! More information to follow soon…….

Did you know that Careline turns 20 this year? We’ve got lots of things planned to help us to celebrate our momentous anniversary, so please keep an eye on our Facebook and web pages for up-to-date information on how you can join in too!

Careline  would like to say a huge thank you to the community for continuing  to support us this year.

Early in 2016  the Ashbourne Telegraph published an article explaining that the majority of our funding had been cut and in it we asked for support to help keep the service running. And that’s exactly what you, the community have done!

So many individuals, volunteers, local societies, organisations and businesses have stepped forward to help and for that we are so grateful.  We would particularly like to thank:

Ashbourne Lions

Ashbourne Shrovetide Dance Committee

Ashbourne Singers

Marks & Spencer

Waitrose

The Trustees of the Mrs Elsie Exton Trust

The Old Trust of Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School

Ashbourne Methodist Church

Dovedale Dash

Brailsford & District Ploughing & Hedgecutting Society

Rotary Club of Uttoxeter

Uttoxeter Lions

Uttoxeter Knights

Inner Wheel of Uttoxeter

to name but a few.

We would also like to thank all those people who have been involved in our fundraising events either in volunteering their time or as a guest – you  have contributed enormously to ensuring that we are able to maintain our regular telephone befriending calls to the elderly and most vulnerable members of our society.  This time of year is particularly difficult for many older people with the days being so short. Research tells us that loneliness and a lack of social interaction can be as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day; in addition  more than  half (51%) of all people aged 75+ live alone in the UK and nearly a fifth of those people spend zero hours with other people on a typical day.

We are still searching for that elusive  large scale funding, but thanks to all of our supporters we are able to continue running the service for the foreseeable future.

With very best wishes for 2017

The Staff and  Trustees at Careline.