Garden Centres Raises More Than £100K For Martin House Children’s Hospice

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Yorkshire Garden Centres has reached a major fundraising milestone after raising more than £106,000 for Martin House Children’s Hospice since the partnership began in April 2025.

Across its seven branches, colleagues and customers have thrown themselves behind the partnership, from bake sales and raffles to running, cycling and dragon boat racing. Each branch has its own charity champion and fundraising target, while the Pennies initiative gives customers the option to add 25p to their purchase at the checkout.

Staff have taken on individual challenges, including Dry January and the Great North Run, while CEO Mark Farnsworth has organised and joined cycling challenges. Colleagues also entered two sunflower-themed teams into Martin House’s Dragon Boat Race and took part in an in-store spinathon, cycling the equivalent distance from their stores to the hospice.

Last year, the company played a major part in Martin House’s 36-hour giving challenge for THE BUILD, raising more than £7,000.

Support has gone beyond fundraising too. Staff have donated items to Martin House’s retail team, contributed prizes to the Glitter Ball auction and donated Lego to the hospice. The company has also provided table centres for Martin House Ladies’ Lunches and welcomed children and families to Christmas events and the opening of its Otley Grass Hopper play centre. The partnership will run until June 2027.

Mark Farnsworth, CEO of Yorkshire Garden Centres, said:

“Reaching more than £100,000 is a fantastic milestone and is down to the enthusiasm of our colleagues, customers and charity champions across all seven of our centres.”

“Martin House does incredible work for children and families across Yorkshire, and our teams have really embraced the partnership. Whether it’s taking on a personal challenge, jumping into a dragon boat or simply asking customers to add 25p at the till, everyone has found their own way to get involved.”

“We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together so far and look forward to continuing our support.”

Hannah Finan, Partnership Manager at Martin House, said:

“We’re hugely grateful to everyone at Yorkshire Garden Centres for reaching this incredible milestone. What makes the partnership so special is the sheer variety of ways their teams have chosen to support us. From major fundraising challenges to donations, events and welcoming the families we support, their commitment has reached right across Martin House."

“More than £106,000 is an amazing achievement and will make a real difference to the children, young people and families who rely on our care.”

Each year, Martin House supports more than 550 children and young people with life-shortening conditions, and their families, across West, North and East Yorkshire.

Its specialist teams provide care at the hospice in Boston Spa, in hospitals and in families’ own homes, including planned short breaks, symptom management, emergency care and end-of-life care.

Providing this specialist care costs Martin House around £13 million every year, with the majority coming from voluntary donations and fundraising.

For further information about Martin House Children's Hospice and how to support it, visit here.

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Feb 20

3 min read

ProPharm Services, Scotland’s leading independent provider of pharmacy and prescribing support services, has expanded its service offering following support from Business Gateway East Renfrewshire.

ProPharm was launched in 2018 by pharmacist, Sarah Cameron, with the aim of alleviating the pressures GPs face with workload challenges in primary care. Over the last seven years, the business has grown from a singular pharmacist service to a leading independent pharmacy service provider, employing 11 people, including eight independent prescribing pharmacists who have a primary focus on patient care.

Sarah, who has 22 years of experience working in hospital, community and primary care pharmacy, works closely with fellow director, Patricia Davies, who joined the business in 2022 with over 20 years of pharmacy experience and a background in community and primary care.

Sarah and Patricia share a passion for improving patient outcomes by helping people access NHS care in a timelier manner by enhancing pharmacy support services. The whole ProPharm team works to provide a range of clinical skills to support GP practices across Scotland, allowing pharmacists to undertake appropriate monitoring and assessment at the point of care, saving clinician time and enabling comprehensive reviews of treatment.

Over the last few years, Sarah and Patricia have worked closely with Business Gateway East Renfrewshire, receiving support from adviser, Scott Arnot, who provided advice on funding, hiring and expansion, and management consultancy. The pair also received tailored advice through the East Renfrewshire Accelerator (ERA) programme, which is funded by East Renfrewshire Council. This allowed Sarah and Patricia to sharpen their financial sustainability and strategic focus for future growth.

In addition, Business Gateway provided digital support to help assist with the initial development of the company’s online platforms.

Since launching, ProPharm has gone from delivering a single weekly prescribing session for one GP practice to now supporting GP practices with 4,500 patient interventions each month across four Scottish health boards.

In the last year, the business has expanded condition-specific clinics in asthma, diabetes and cardiovascular care, and led medication safety initiatives focusing on higher-risk medicines. The business is now beginning to partner with pharmaceutical companies and projects that bring evidence-based treatments and services that will make a positive impact on communities across Scotland.

ProPharm recently won two awards, Best Performing Business and Employer Excellence in Wellbeing, at the 2025 East Renfrewshire Business Awards, further strengthening its reputation as a leader in both industry performance and employee care. The business has also been recognised in the Business Women Top 100 list and were finalists in the 2024 Scottish Healthcare Awards.

Looking to the future, Sarah and Patricia are also keen to recruit and develop more prescribing pharmacists so that they can extend their support to additional GP practices without diluting quality.

Sarah Cameron, founder, ProPharm, said:

“We are proud to be reshaping primary care, improving patient access and easing GP workload in Scotland. Support from Business Gateway East Renfrewshire and the Council’s ERA Programme has been vital for growing and developing our business."

"Looking ahead to our plans for the next year, I can confidently say that none of it would be possible had it not been for the support we have received, which has allowed us to expand our recruitment, understand risk and make significant changes to our digital platforms. We have also connected with a wider network that has brought a huge breadth of knowledge, contributing to our business growth.”

Scott Arnot, Business Gateway adviser, said:

“Sarah and Patricia are doing incredible work to drive forward the future of healthcare. It’s very clear that they both care about helping their patients and providing the highest level of care possible. Supporting ProPharm has been so rewarding, and I am looking forward to seeing where the business goes from here.”

To find out more about ProPharm Services and the work that they do to improve patient care across NHS Scotland visit here.

To find out more about Business Gateway and how they can help your business grow and succeed, visit here.

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