Best of British sporting luncheon in Crawley raises over £12,000 for Chestnut Tree House

Football legend, Sir Geoff Hurst, was the celebrity guest of honour at the first Best of British sporting luncheon held in Crawley in aid of Chestnut Tree House, the children’s hospice for Sussex.

The luncheon, which took place on Friday 9 November 2012 at the Copthorne Hotel, Crawley, attracted over 300 businessmen and businesswomen from the local area and raised at least £12,000 for the children’s hospice, with more funds still to come in.

Guests heard from Dave Poke, father of Alice, one of the young people cared for by the hospice, what it means to have a child with a life-limiting illness and how much the support Chestnut Tree House provides means to his family.

The hospice is currently caring for over 260 children and their families with around 50 of those families coming from Crawley and the surrounding area.  It costs over £2.5 million each year to provide this specialist care yet the hospice receives just 8% of its funding from central government and has to raise the remainder from charitable donations and events like the Best of British.

The Best of British sporting luncheons have also been held in Brighton and over the last three years over £250,000 has been pledged and raised for Chestnut Tree House.

The organisers said, “Chestnut Tree House is a local charity, helping local children and it is extremely heart-warming to see how the generosity of businesses in the Crawley area really can make a huge difference to these very deserving families.  we would like to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone for their support – it was amazing.”