#MusgroveBabies Appeal – We’ve Done It!

We are absolutely delighted to share the fantastic news that we have reached the fundraising goal of £100,000 for our Musgrove Babies Appeal! We are immensely grateful for your support in helping us to reach our target.

You have helped to modernise, expand and upgrade a number of spaces within the Maternity Unit to help improve flow, capacity and provide a better patient experience for families right across Somerset.

This much-needed transformation sees the creation of two brand new recovery rooms for mum and baby after birth, additional scanning facilities in the Antenatal Clinic, refurbishment of the Maternity Reception and Antenatal waiting areas.

New equipment purchased includes:

• Recliner chairs which now enable partners to stay on the ward with mum and baby in a much more comfortable way
• CTG machine to monitor the foetal heart rate
• Monitors which observe women’s vital signs
• Doppler to study blood circulation in the baby
• New cots which push right up to the beds where the side drops down to support mums to reach their babies which is particularly helpful for those who have had a long or difficult labour/birth. They support our baby friendly standards to help establish feeding and close and loving relationships
• Ultrasound couch for the new scanning room

We are immensely grateful to our outstanding fundraisers who pulled no punches when it came to raising money for our Musgrove Babies Appeal by hosting an event or taking on an incredible challenge.

Over the past year we saw lots of fundraising activity such as Fin Bendle facing 100 overs in his ‘Fin’s 100 Overs Smash’ Challenge raising over an eye-watering £11,000, receiving an abundance of support from friends and family as well as the Somerset County Cricket Club team. Fin also saw heaps of encouragement on social media from a host of names from the England International Cricket team including Somerset Cricketer and Ashes 2019 hero, Jack Leach.

Musgrove Spinal Consultant, Ashok Subramanian, donned his climbing gear as he ascended the rocky terrain of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. We also saw long-time supporter of this Appeal, Theo Poole, take on various fundraising activities such as swimming challenges and hosting some wonderful music events at local churches here in Taunton.

Four year old Monty, our youngest supporter and a pupil of Taunton School, warmed everybody’s hearts as he took on Monty’s Mini Triathlon. His own version of a triathlon; starting with a 100m open water swim, followed by a 1km cycle and finishing with a 500m run. Monty had a personal reason for supporting this Appeal, as both he and his brother have received significant care from the staff here since they were born with health conditions.

More recently, Samuel Harrison, took part in the Virtual London Marathon raising over £600 for the Appeal. Replacing the headline event in the capital, participants were able to run the equivalent distance of the marathon within the vicinity of their local area which was the most safest and suitable way of taking on this challenge, especially in these uncertain times.

Although this particular Appeal has come to an end, we still have plenty more work to do. There will be new projects to raise money for and we do hope you will continue to support Love Musgrove to enable us to bring about positive change for our patients, staff, and visitors.