“It’s a win-win for everyone. They’re buying themselves a lovely, unique item of jewellery and donating to St Christopher’s at the same time.”
Rose
What began as a one-off sale in her home in 2008, has turned into a hugely lucrative, 16-year fundraising venture for retired analytical chemist turned jewellery maker Rose Howell.
The success of that first sale which netted £360 inspired Rose to continue, she’s smashed every seemingly ambitious target she’s ever set and has no plans to stop.
“I was so pleasantly surprised that people were keen to support me that I thought I’d carry on and set myself personal targets.”
“It’s been an amazing journey that’s meant I’ve met a lot of very generous, interesting and fantastic people,”
Reaching her initial target of raising £5,000 in three years, six months ahead of schedule, Rose kept going and repeatedly surpassed her own expectations. Incredibly, given that the average item she makes is priced at around £10, her running total now stands at a staggering £41,020.
“It’s been an amazing journey that’s meant I’ve met a lot of very generous, interesting and fantastic people,” says Rose who, in the run-up to a sale, will spend four hours a day making necklaces, bracelets and earrings.
Rose is also confident that her mother, Vera Hollands, in whose memory she’s made and sold the thousands of items, would be proud of her achievement.
It was Vera who was cared for at home by St Christopher’s “kind and compassionate” nurses for the final weeks of her life before she died aged 82, in 2006. In fact, Vera instilled the fundraising bug in Rose from an early age, following the death of her own mother.
“We started knitting toys for Cancer Research when I was nine and Mum used to make flower arrangements to raise funds as well. Then, when Mum died, I wanted to give something back to St Christopher’s for fulfilling her last wish, which was to die in her own home.”
Rose was self-taught, having previously made ‘pink and sparkly’ jewellery to sell at her children’s school Christmas fairs. She then diversified to make adult jewellery to sell in aid of St Christopher’s.
The rainbows many people stuck up in their windows, as a tribute to the NHS, during the pandemic encouraged Rose to try some special one-off designs. These were so popular with her customers that she repeated this approach for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the King’s Coronation.
Hard though it is to believe, Rose has no website and doesn’t publicly advertise the many sales she runs each year, which in 2024, included one at the St Christopher’s Fun Walk.
She does though make her band of repeat customers fully aware of the good use to which their money will be put.
“It has been almost therapeutic to channel the raw emotion of losing my Mum to focus on a creative enterprise for a worthwhile cause.”
“I like to motivate people by telling them that the proceeds from four necklaces, for example, funds a St Christopher’s nurse to care for someone for an hour. That’s a real incentive.”
“I think St Christopher’s is such an amazing place. Everyone always seems so happy and positive, and the fundraising team is very encouraging as well.”
With her eyes now firmly set on taking total proceeds up to £50,000 by 2028, Rose has some encouraging words of her own for would-be fundraisers.
“I think if you have a fundraising idea, you should go for it. I had no idea all those years ago how this would turn out. I think it is wonderful that people have spent so much on my jewellery, enabling me to make a very substantial donation to support St Christopher’s work. It has been almost therapeutic to channel the raw emotion of losing my Mum to focus on a creative enterprise for a worthwhile cause.”
If you’d like to discuss a fundraising idea with our dedicated team, please do get in touch.
Email us at communityfundraising@stchristophers.org.uk or call 020 8768 4575.
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