A new partnership between The Harpur Trust and the Bedford Hospital Charity & Friends (BHC&F) has been announced.
The partnership will be supporting the hospital charity’s latest fund raising appeal – ‘£1m for Bedford A&E’.
Recognising that there would not be much opportunity to hold fundraising events for the appeal, the Charity approached The Harpur Trust early on in the appeal to ask for their support.
Not only did the Trust wish to support the Charity by funding a back-lit picture for the ceiling of the new paediatric A&E unit but also to set up a joint working group to give ‘match funding’ up to an amount of £30,000.
This matched funding arrangement has been running since October 2021 and has included all community events since then.
Covid has meant that the official announcement of the support was held off until today (February 10, 2022).
At the unveiling ceremony of the new ceiling, Lucy Bardner of The Harpur Trust commented: “The pandemic has underlined the Harpur Trust’s belief that the people of Bedford all have a part to play in improving life for all our residents, and a desire to do so.
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“We hope this match funding scheme encourages people to realise that when we all get together, we can make a massive difference, starting with the amazing hospital we all rely on. We’ll even match contributions made by our staff through our GAYE scheme!”
Ken Williams of The Bedford Hospital Charity & Friends went on to say: “This ground breaking partnership means that for each £1 raised by the Charity the Harpur Trust will contribute the same amount towards the ‘£1m for Bedford A&E’ appeal. It is very exciting news that our two long established organisations have come together to help provide an outstanding A&E department for the people of Bedford and surrounding communities.
David Carter, CEO of the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are so very grateful to these two excellent local charities who have joined forces to support Bedford Hospital and the community we serve. Our sincere thanks to you both.”
