Plymouth’s Kingsman extend excellent support for children’s hospice

Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW) is extending its thanks to a men’s social dining club in Plymouth that handed over a £2,500 donation to CHSW earlier this year.

The money was raised by the Kingsman group at their Winter Ball at the city’s New Continental Hotel in January.

Around 130 people attended the event, organised by Kingsman founder David Barrett and his committee. They held an auction, raffle and ‘heads and tails’ game to raise more funds on the evening. 

Mike and Nicola Brown, the parents of 11-year-old Oliver, who died at the charity’s Little Harbour hospice in St Austell in November last year, spoke at the ball. The family also received a donation from the Kingsmans on the night.

Mr Barrett, who runs Tamar Fresh Ltd, said: “We were delighted to raise such a fantastic amount for CHSW and I hope that the feel-good factor that we got raising these funds is passed on to those families receiving them.”

The Kingsman group was set up to offer men a social dining group that wasn’t specifically about networking. Members started meeting once a month at Charlie Franks restaurant in Mayflower Street and the group now has around 75 members, with between 30 and 40 members meeting up each month at different restaurants around Plymouth.

Sarah Nuttall-Worsley, Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser for CHSW, said: “The Kingsman are such a lovely group of guys who have really got behind CHSW and the work that we do to care for local families.

“Last year, they raised £6,000 throughout the year and we are so grateful for their support as we rely so heavily on donations from the local community to keep Little Harbour running.”