So much has happened in the past few months, and we’re looking forward to another period when you, our supporters will continue to help us to provide further grants for midwifery students in Liberia. As Spring turns to Summer, The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust encourages you to actively contribute to what HLMT does.
1. Why not organise a fundraising event for HLMT?
On your own perhaps together with a few friends. A sponsored run or walk, a sponsored silence, a cake sale, a music night – the possibilities are endless! And we can help you with publicity.
2. Interested in becoming one of 12 HLMT trustees?
Then please email us at info@hlmt.org.uk to find out more and whether it’s for you. We’re looking for new trustees who have one or more of these characteristics: are under 40, from diverse ethnic backgrounds, have midwifery experience and are skilled in the use of social media.
3. The eight Liberian midwifery students that HLMT currently supports
are all performing well. In March we received the students’ assessments and grade sheets from Willimai Weetol-Geninyan, Director of the Esther Bacon School of Nursing and Midwifery for the first semester of 2022-23. We’re delighted to report that all students have achieved very good results, some of them excellent grades, with no one receiving grades lower than B and several students achieving high As.
4. Other forthcoming HLMT events this summer and into winter:
- Saturday 17th June 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. HLMT crafts stall at Sherwood Art Week Secret Garden Craft Fair at the United Reformed Church, 1 Edwards Lane, Nottingham NG5 3AAs.
- Sunday 25th June 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. HLMT arts and crafts stall at the Garage Sunday Market, The Garage, 63 High Road, Chilwell, NG9 4AJ.
- Sunday 10th September noon to 6.00 p.m. HLMT plant and craft stall at Nottingham Green Festival, the Arboretum, Nottingham.
- On Saturday 4th November from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. we have a 3-hour Zumbathon being organised by Charmaine Daley, HLMT trustee and Zumbathon instructor. For just £10 you can sign up to do the Zumbathon and get your friends to sponsor you. No dancing experience is necessary, just the wish to have fun! Just go to: https://www.trybooking.co.uk/CHFZ.
If you cannot make the Zumbathon yourself, you can sponsor Charm by going to:
https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/fundraising/Zumbathon-2023.
Please let your family and friends know about the Zumbathon
5. HLMT Merchandise
The merch team have done some amazing work in recent months, producing new cards and merch items, most recently some beautiful aprons (see the photo below.) Volunteer Angel excelled in running and regularly updating our online Etsy shop. Please go to the shop at https://HLMTMerchandise.etsy.com to browse and buy what you like.
6. Tom Wilson
longstanding HLMT friend and supporter sadly died just after Christmas 2022. His wife Julie and her family very kindly asked Tom’s friends to make a donation to HLMT rather than buy flowers, etc. HLMT received over £850, which will pay the study fees of a midwife for a year. Brilliant!
7. Recent HLMT events
- Live music evening, Saturday 4th February 2023
Three local bands played some great music; the beautiful harmonies of QM and energy-filled sets by Blend and Darkhorse. The evening attracted a full house of around 80 very happy people and with the merchandise stall also doing brisk trade, it netted £1,110 for HLMT. Special thanks to HLMT trustee Roger who arranged the bands.
- HLMT Stall at Sherwood Vegan Market, Saturday 11th March 2023
HLMT stall had a full range of greetings cards, crafts, Liberian Lapa fabric, jewellery, preserves and plants. On a cold March day, many people came and viewed our stall and learnt about what we do. We sold over £200 of crafts, preserves and plants. Thanks to trustees and supporters Celia, Chris J, Pete, Pippa and Stella for staffing the stall.
- HLMT Crafts and Plants Stall outside Crimson Tree, Saturday 15th April
The stall had a full range of indoor and outdoor plants, greetings cards and crafts made with traditional Liberian Lapa fabric, jewellery and preserves. The day netted HLMT over £880, which is brilliant! Thanks to trustees Carol, Celia, Pete, Pippa and Stella and HLMT supporters Joan, Liz, Michael and Pat who staffed the stall. And to supporters who donated large numbers of plants.
8. Shop online via Easyfundraising and automatically raise funds for HLMT
Simply sign up with Easyfundraising https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ by creating an account (it’s free) and then choose The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust as your good cause. Each time you shop via a Google search or go to a website linked to Easyfundraising links with, a “Donation Link” tab automatically appears. If you click on this it takes you to the site you want to look at and when you buy anything, a small percentage goes to HLMT. It’s as easy as that. Please give it a go and help raise funds for midwifery training! The amount raised per online transaction may be small, but the amount raised by those who’ve signed up to Easyfundraising is already over £100. Please encourage all your family, friends and contacts to sign up and to nominate The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust as their chosen cause.
9. Standing orders, donations and bequeaths in wills
HLMT aims to increase the number of Liberian midwifery students it sponsors from year to year. The mainstay of our fundraising is the regular Standing Orders and one-off donations from supporters, which are crucial to our work and for which we are so grateful. We continue to fundraise, however we have a long way to go before we are financially sustainable into the future.
Our overheads are minimal, there are no paid staff and all the funds we raise are used to fund the training costs of student midwives in Liberia. If you have not already done so, it would be tremendous if you can please set up a Standing Order, no matter how small or large. https://hlmt.org.uk/hlmt-Standing-Order-Mandate.pdf Please return the form to us and not to your bank.
Whilst we hope that all of our supporters have long and happy lives, we would also be very grateful if you feel able to include HLMT in your will!
As always, a massive “thank you” to everyone who has supported the work of The Helen Loewenstein Memorial Trust www.hlmt.org.uk. Helen would be astonished but very proud at what is being achieved in her memory.
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