First, she dusted off her flowery wellies for her very first festival on 2nd June, when she bounded along to Strawberry Fair – the city’s popular free music and arts event on Midsummer Common in Cambridge.
She was joined by volunteers from ACT (the charity for Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie Hospitals) who invited members of the public to support the Big Push for the Rosie by making a donation or buying a stylish pink Rosie wristband – this year’s must-have summer accessory. Rosie also put on a fetching pink tutu and pair of white fairy wings to join the world’s biggest gathering of people dressed as fairies anywhere in the world.
Two days later on 4th June Rosie got swept up in the Jubilee celebrations and put in an impromptu appearance at the De Freville Avenue red, white and blue Jubilee lunch. There the organisers raised £215 for the Rosie by auctioning off a selection of tasty treats from the cake competition.
And, inspired by the royal mood, Rosie donned her own pink crown and sash to join the 5,000 revellers that turned out for the 35th Arbury Carnival on 9th June. As part of a Kings and Queens-themed event, she was particularly excited to find herself alongside Elvis in the Carnival procession.
Trudy Harper, ACT Community Fundraising Manager, said: “Like Strawberry Fair, Arbury Carnival and royal street parties, the Rosie Hospital is a Cambridge institution that has been on the local scene for many years. Our popular mascot has loved meeting so many lovely people during her first summer outings. We’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of everyone that we met. Rosie is now having a well-deserved rest until her next engagements later this month!”
The Big Push for the Rosie Campaign is aiming to raise £150,000 this year from the community to support expansion and modernisation of the Rosie Hospital. For more information go to: www.therosiecampaign.org.uk
About the Rosie Campaign
The Rosie Hospital is recognised as one of the finest maternity hospitals in the country. Supported by charitable funding, the original Rosie Hospital opened in 1983, since when much has changed. It was designed for approximately 4,000 births a year. In 2010-11 almost 5,800 babies were born at the Rosie and by 2020 that number is expected to increase to 7,500.
The new three-storey extension and modernisation programme will almost double the size of the existing maternity unit and mean the Rosie can continue to offer pregnant women, their partners and new babies the very best standard of care. Facilities will include:
· A brand new midwife-led birth centre with ten new en-suite rooms for women with a low risk pregnancy
· An expanded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with 58 cots for babies who are born early or in need of specialist attention
· A new residential centre with eight en-suite bedrooms, a rest area and kitchen. This will be available for parents that have babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
· A new Fetal Medicine and Day Assessment Unit for monitoring pregnant women and fetal development
· A dedicated counselling suite offering professional support when outcomes are not as planned.
For patients and staff these new world-class resources will make an enormous day-to-day difference. With extra space available, staff will be able to help more women give birth in the comfort of their local hospital. The transformed Rosie will be a regional centre of clinical excellence for training maternity, neonatal and gynaecological staff. Longer term it will also set new standards of care by advancing antenatal and neonatal development through research programmes.
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