A devoted grandmother from Bury has raised thousands for charity following the premature birth of her twin grandchildren.
Nic Orrell and her family hosted their third, annual charity masquerade ball at the Last Drop Village Hotel in Bolton last month to raise money for those taking care of poorly and premature babies.
The ball aims to raise awareness of World Prematurity Day, a global event which aims to raise awareness of premature birth and its impact on families.
Nic was inspired to organise the event by her own experience of premature birth in her family, after her two grandchildren, Ava and Archie, now three, who were born at Royal Bolton Hospital three months early in 2019.
This year’s ball raised £19,555 which will be spilt equally between Royal Bolton Hospital NICU, Ronald MacDonald House Manchester, and Bliss UK.
Nic said that as well as raising money for an important cause, she wanted the chance for people to have fun and celebrate the vital work of medical staff working with ill children.
She said: “Obviously the ultimate goal is to raise money and awareness of the charities that we nominated this year “[but I really wanted people to let their hair down, really enjoy themselves and make it an annual event where those same people come back, and we continually keep building the ball.”
The amount raised this year was almost double what was donated in 2021, and Nic has raised £35,000 since the first ball was held in 2019.
The money raised has paid for a room at Ronald Macdonald House, Manchester, which allows parents with children in hospital to stay by their side 365 days a year. The funds have also gone towards specialist breast feeding chairs at Royal Bolton Hospital NICU unit.
She added: “Some of these parents are spending over 100 days on that unit, its nearly six months of life spent every single day by your baby’s incubator, and it’s a lot.
“So for us, if they can make it as much like a home away from home as possible, that’s really important to us.”
This year, proceeds will also be going towards Bliss UK, which provides advice and support for parents and families of sick and premature babies.
“I’ll never ever be able to thank Bolton Hospital for what they did for Ava and Archie enough.
“Even three and a half years on it’s really emotional but for me, I’ll be eternally grateful.”
The masquerade ball will be an annual event, and next year’s event will take place at the Last Drop Village Hotel on November 18, 2023.
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