Anne Ganley

The Past, Present & Future

Dear Friends,

As you may know over the last 30 years I have given and supported many charities through my business and personally, and so far over that time we have given approx a million pounds to many various charities, however the hard part is now I am asking everyone to help me with my fundraising effort.

Most of us over the last 18 months have had a massive mountain to climb, with the state of the economy and now we appear to be in calmer waters but not quite at the end of the storm, I have decided to take on a challenge of literally climbing a mountain by trekking to the base camp of Mt Everest, the world's highest mountain on 30th April for charity.

Although the thought of 17 days out of the office is a challenge in itself, I can feel the adrenalin of anticipation already and I am so excited but at the same time a bit scared, and as this is a life changing challenge I thought what could be more fitting than for me to take this opportunity to raise some funds and support some charities who have been a part of my past, present and of the future.

Thankfully, I'll be surrounded on the trek by 20 friends and colleagues who I know will provide inspiration and support, but my real inspiration and motivation is raising as much as I can for 6 charities (for the purposes of this fundraising page the lead charity is Show Racism The Red Card, but all money raised will be distributed evenly between my 6 chosen charities)

The Present - St Benedict's Hospice & St Oswald's Hospice
St Benedicts & St Oswald Hospice
Many of you will know that I helped nurse my mam before we lost her to cancer and those last precious years with her would not have been filled with happy memories if it were not for the help and support from those at the hospice for my mam and me and my family.

The Past - The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army have been next door to us for 35 years and in that time I have always supported them. This gallant organisation works tirelessly to help people who have fallen on hard times.

The Future - Grace House Children's Hospice Appeal
We have as a company supported this appeal since the founder Kathy Secker first dreamed of building the first children's hospice in Sunderland for children who are not expected to reach adulthood and their families. The charity was launched when it was realised that the North East of England had the lowest number of hospice beds in the UK for children.

The Future - Brothers in Arms
The dream of the Brothers in Arms is to build a memorial wall adjacent to the existing war memorial in Sunderland which will be dedicated to the fallen of our area who have paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving for Queen and country. This new memorial will allow families, the forces and the general public to pay their respects and ensure all brave servicemen and women from the North East are never forgotten.

I do appreciate that times are very tough and fully understand if you cannot help on this occasion. I am funding my trip myself so you can be safe in the knowledge that any donation, no matter how small - would be gratefully received and a tremendous thank you for your kindness and generosity if you are able to support.

If you would like to support, you can do it via my Everyclick page everyclick.com/anneganley or by sending a cheque made payable to Anne Ganley's Charity Challenge to Thompson Building Centres, Commercial Road, Hendon, Sunderland, SR2 8QR.

I would just like to say thank you for taking the time to read this letter and if you wish to follow me on my trekking challenge you can do, just like that, on Twitter and Facebook.

Kindest Regards

Anne