Wakefield’s community hub, the St Leger, is celebrating the raising of over £2,500 for the Children’s Cancer Charity, Candlelighters. The pub’s efforts will contribute to Craft Union’s wider campaign to hit £1 million in charity fundraising across all its venues.
The pub hosted its famous meat raffle to raise money in partnership with its local butcher, Howgate and Farrars. The competition allows the community to buy tickets and win a range of delicious, locally farmed, prime cuts of meat. There was also a range of games customers could get involved in, including Football Cards.
The St Leger has supported Candlelighters for several years after a local couple lost their son to cancer, and the pub decided to hold its first fundraiser. Since then, the team have encouraged donations from their customers with buckets on the bar, as well as regular fundraising events.
Clare Edward, operator of the St Leger, said: “I am so proud that we’re able to continue our support for Candlelighters. We started raising money for the charity after seeing the invaluable work it did for some of our locals, and it’s fantastic for them to keep seeing the local community band together and keep up the good work over the last few years.
“Our meat raffle is renowned – and our customers absolutely love it! We’re also incredibly lucky to have such a fantastic local butcher, so a big thanks to Howgate and Farrars for always being ready to step up and provide such excellent quality meat.”
Candlelighters supports families with children fighting cancer in Yorkshire. The team behind the charity understand the complexities and impacts of a childhood cancer diagnosis and aims to help the 150 ordinary children and their families diagnosed with the disease in the county every year.
‘Make it a Million’ is an initiative from the Craft Union pub group that started after it managed to raise an incredible £800,000 for UK charities in 2023. This year, they’re taking a giant step forward and aiming to raise a million pounds for charity across nearly 600 pubs. St Leger is a well-loved part of the Craft Union family, and its fantastic fundraising efforts now and throughout the year will go towards the ‘Make it a Million’ charity fundraising goal.