Darwen celebrity craft event needs help from businesses

The two-day craft workshop will be hosted by Craft Channel regular Jodie Johnson and will take place at The Whitehall Hotel on February 17 and 18.

The charity event has been organised by Darwen-based fundraiser Caitlin Jones, who has been raising money for East Lancashire Hospice since the death of her father, Nigel, from lung cancer in 2008, and her mother Tracy.

Ms Johnson said: “When Caitlin asked me to do it I said yes straight away. It’s giving back to the people who support me and giving them a chance to come along and have a laugh and release the pressure of every day life. And it’s for a great cause.”

Tickets for the work shop went on sale over summer and sold within 24 hours of the event being announced.

Ms Johnson said: “We were only going to have 50 at each workshop to begin with.

“But so many people wanted to come so we had to increase the numbers.

“I honestly didn’t think we’d get a lot of people wanting to come to Darwen for it. But we’ve got people travelling in from all over the country.”

Now the mother daughter fundraising team are asking local businesses to get involved by contributing prizes for a charity raffle that will be held at the event.

Mrs Jones said: “One of the aims of this has been to put Darwen on the map and to show how Darreners support each other. We would like Businesses to get involved by donating Raffle prizes or sending in their support for what Caitlin is doing for the benefit of East Lancashire Hospice

“We’ve already had a lot of support, Woods Fruit and Vegetables from Darwen who have donated a Voucher for our Raffle, Finch Bakery from Great Harwood who are donating Cup Cakes and Trevor Adams who has donated three photo shoots.

She said businesses can still get involved if they can not contribute to the raffle.

She said: “Tower Taxis who have confirmed they will be giving our guests five-star service, Whitehall Hotel will be hosting a lot of the guests and couldn’t have been more helpful.”