Rory and Fellsider ladies raise funds for Eden Valley Children’s Hospice

Rory gave a talk to the Hilton and Murton Fellsiders Ladies’ Group at the Hilton Institute last Friday 9 March, raising £300 for the Eden Valley Children’s Hospice. He spoke to an audience of approximately 70 parishioners on his experiences walking across Afghanistan, and took questions from the floor before being presented with a painting of Murton Pike.

He said: “It’s wonderful to be able to support the Fellsiders in this way, and it has been an excellently organised evening with a brilliant turnout. We had a good discussion afterwards around our foreign policy and the current state of affairs in Afghanistan. Obviously things are extremely fragile there at the moment, and so it was good to be able to talk about matters with such a well-informed local group. I’m delighted that we managed to raise some funds for both the Children’s Hospice in Carlisle, and for the necessary renovation work to the Institute, and it has been a great pleasure to be involved.”

The Fellsiders Ladies’ Group was formed by women who had previously been members of the Murton-cum-Hilton WI, which closed in 2006.  The group is open to women of any age who reside in the fellside parish.  The annual subscription of £10 is used to subsidise the cost of coach travel on days out, and meetings are held on a monthly basis, with open meetings where partners and husbands can attend, along with trips to the theatre, walks during the summer months and visits to places of interest.  Guests are welcome at a fee of £2.  Whilst the WI struggled with membership numbers, the Fellsiders regularly have 25+, and a light supper is always provided.

Annual fundraising events takes place to support local charities such as Hospice at Home, Macmillan Nurses, the Mountain Rescue and the Children’s Hospice in Carlisle.  The Fellsiders, along with other people in the parish, are currently fundraising to restore and repair the village Institute.  In April the Ladies’ Dinner, open to members and any other ladies in the parish, is held at the Golf Club.

Eileen Ormrod of the Fellsiders group said: “We are very grateful to Rory for his talk.  Everyone has spoken most enthusiastically about the evening: there are times when everybody wonders when the speaker is going to stop, but we were sorry when he finished!  There was also positive comment about his answers: straight to the point and no waffle.”

Picture attached: Left to right: Tina Wragg, Alan Ormrod, Eileen Ormrod, Rory Stewart MP and Marilyn Evans, who has also travelled in Afghanistan.