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Isle Of Wight Festival Sees Record Fundraising For Beaulieu Respite

Fundraisers for Beaulieu House enjoyed their most successful ever Isle of Wight Festival — raising around £7,100 for the Newport residential and overnight respite centre for disabled children.

A dozen volunteers from Beaulieu Respite covered all four days selling their trademark bees, bee sunglasses, wristbands and bopper and wing sets.

They were joined by 'Gary the Gorilla' carrying a man in a cage who provided photo opportunities for festival-goers in exchange for an optional donation.

Though regulars at the festival courtesy of the organisers, the money raised this year by Beaulieu Respite was the most ever collected by them.

Tony Wake, Chairman of Beaulieu Respite, said:

“The record breaking amount was down to both the hard work of our small band of volunteers and generosity of people at the festival.

"We did have a lot of fun too but the main thing was raising so much for such a good cause.

"We would also like to thank John and Caroline Giddings along with their colleagues Flo Petri and Dave Steele who made everything run so smoothly for us."

The charity is solely run by volunteers to 'make our little ones lives that bit nicer', with very few overheads meaning nearly all of the profits raised go directly to Beaulieu House.

Funds are used to support day trips to theme parks, toys, specialised equipment, computers and larger projects such as a new playground currently being ordered.

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