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Bus Ad Campaign Just the Ticket for Hospice Fundraiser

May 12, 2010

The wheels of a publicity campaign promoting a major Birmingham hospice fundraising event this summer are well and truly turning following the launch of an eye-catching advertising blitz featuring BBC TV presenter Suzanne Virdee. 

Twenty buses serving routes around Birmingham have been adorned with the striking adverts in which Suzanne invites the City’s women to “stroll with her” for Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice’s Starlight Stroll on July 3.

The event is a 10-mile night-time sponsored walk for women and begins at 10pm at the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston, taking in Moseley, Kings Heath and Selly Park.

Suzanne, a keen walker, agreed to spearhead and take part in Starlight Stroll after she was approached by Birmingham St Mary’s fundraising team.

She said: “I’m delighted to be helping Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice in this way and hope that the bus adverts will attract more participants to what is sure to be a great night out in support of a brilliant local cause.”

This year organisers are hoping for 800 participants who between them will raise around £80,000 for the independent adult Hospice which provides around-the-clock palliative care to local people with life-limiting illnesses.

Hospice Head of Fundraising Caroline Taylor said Suzanne’s support for Starlight Stroll was already having an impact.

“Having Suzanne on board has been a massive boost to this year’s Starlight Stroll. In previous years our summer midnight walk event has attracted around 200 participants, but we are confident we can quadruple that figure this year, thanks to Suzanne and the bus ad campaign,” Caroline said.

The hunt is also on for 50 men to volunteer as marshals on the night to ensure safety.

The head-turning bus ads were designed by advertising firm CBS Outdoor and appear on National Express double-decker buses serving Birmingham routes.

Since its launch in 1979, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has cared for tens of thousands of people with life-limiting illnesses.

And with more than 50 percent of the Hospice’s budget reliant on public goodwill, community fundraising is crucial to ensuring its highly specialised services can continue to be offered to the people of Birmingham and Sandwell.

In addition to a 25-bed Inpatient unit, Birmingham St Mary’s boasts a 20-place Day Hospice and provides community care to people who wish to stay in their own homes. The Hospice, whose running costs stand at £6.3 million a year, also supports relatives with bereavement preparation, physiotherapy tuition and counselling in addition to many other services.

Its nurses, often referred to by patients and relatives as ‘angels’, are renowned for going that extra mile to ensure people with terminal illnesses enjoy the best possible quality of life.

Registration forms and details about volunteering as a marshal for the event, which costs £15 to enter, are available at www.bsmh.org.uk/starlightstroll, or from Fundraiser Charlotte Sudbury on: 0121 4721191.