Hard working and good at 'banter' but Burnley is also one of the kindest places around / Burnley brand manager Rachel Bayley

We, of course, already know this; we were the first hub set up in the pandemic - Burnley Together - no sooner than the government announced that places needed to come together to get through that time. Burnley was straight on it and got the job done and you only have to look at places like Down Town, above New Look, and the community groceries to see just two examples of how we help out those in need.

Last night (Thursday, November 2nd) I had the pleasure of attending the Pendleside Hospice Awards, where businesses from across Burnley and Pendle were recognised for their incredible achievements during the Corporate Challenge. It costs over £5M a year to run the hospice, and over £4M of that has to come from generous donations. Quite simply, it couldn’t run without the local community.

The grand total of the four-month long Corporate Challenge was announced as £167,926.74 - what an incredible feat. We learnt that Slimming World were the largest fundraisers, bringing in over £19,000!

As Helen McVey, chief executive of the hospice said, whilst there are times of sadness at the hospice, it is also a place of joy and happiness. Burnley.co.uk has launched its 2023 sector video series and in the upcoming Charity/Not-For-Profit video, you will learn about the array of services the hospice actually offers, as well as hear from Calico and Burnley FC in the Community about the important work they do too.

Another charity in our borough is CARES (CANCER ASSESSMENT RAPID EARLY SUPPORT). You may recognise its bright yellow LABELS shop in Burnley town centre (highly recommend popping in for the bargain high-quality clothing and accessories), but CARES is a local cancer

charity.

It recently announced a groundbreaking donation of £250,000 to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust at Burnley General Hospital. This substantial contribution, the largest to date by CARES, is the third generous donation from the local charity and will be used to purchase an OLYMPUS EVIS EUS endosonography. This is an advanced, state of the art, endoscopy scope with ultrasound technology. It accurately identifies stage cancer and aids with gaining tissue samples giving diagnoses accuracy and aids the appropriate surgery and chemotherapeutic intervention. This truly makes a difference within our community.

Another charitable achievement is by Fagan & Whalley. Swapping its red and green lorries for two wheels, a team from the Burnley logistics giant took part in Transaid’s 25 th anniversary European cycle. Sam, Laura Stephen and Graham Fagan cycled over 187 miles from London to Paris, collectively raising with other logistics sector colleagues over £65,000 for Transaid’s mission to improve road safety and healthcare access in rural communities throughout Africa.

It’s heartwarming to see our borough continue to come together to help others time and time again and we should definitely add kindest to our list of accolades.