Hayling Ladies stories to raise cash for the RNLI

Eight ladies, all residents of Hayling have written and published a short book called ‘Pieces of Eight’ the proceeds of which will go to the the Hayling Island RNLI Lifeboat Station.

The group meet together regularly to write creatively and decided to publish some of their short stories in aid of the RNLI. At the launch of the book in early October, Lesley Drew (pictured with crew member Simon Heaver and Operations Manager Jonathan Bradbury ) who leads the group, explained that the writing bit was relatively easy compared to finding the money to fund the publishing costs. By their own fundraising efforts however, and by getting sponsorship they have achieved it. They ran a Table Top Sale, a Coffee morning and also tapped into family for donations, but by far the biggest contribution came via County Councillor Frank Pearce who made use of his devolved community budget to support the group.

At the launch books were sold and a shirt signed by Paul Lawrie, a Scottish Ryder Cup golfer, and donated by Aberdeen Asset Management was auctioned which together raised over £200. Books will be on sale at Tesco’s Store in Havant on November 1st and at the Hayling Bookshop from now on. We look forward to the book sales continuing and to this project being a success and we are grateful to the group for choosing us as their charity.

On Nov 1 the ladies and helpers plus two lifeboat crew members Lloyd Cavill and Grant Bennett, spent most of the day in Tesco’s Havant selling the books and accepting donations. They sold over £300 worth of books which was a very creditable sum. Lloyd and Grant also had RNLI collecting buckets and raised £311 between them

They are pictured LtoR Grant, Daphne Vardy the eldest author, Lloyd, and Derek Drew husband of the group leader.

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