Sutton Coldfield Group at the heart of their community

The Sutton Coldfield Fundraising Group in Birmingham formed in 2018, consisting of Fundraising Group Lead, Jude Pilling, alongside 13 valuable group members, including close family members and friends.

Meeting regularly, the group is always scouting their next fundraising opportunity to raise vital funds for the BHF’s lifesaving research. Having had fantastic success over the years as a product of their dedication to our cause, the group has raised more than £23,000 for the BHF! This is a remarkable amount of money that will make a real impact to the 7.6 million people in the UK living with heart and circulatory disease. We caught up with the group to reflect on their fundraising activities.

Earlier this month, the group dusted off their “he’s behind you!” jokes and got stuck in with bucket collections at their local pantomime performance of Beauty and the Beast. With the theatre company having a close connection to the BHF after sadly losing a member to heart and circulatory disease, this is an activity particularly close to the community’s heart. Now the BHF logo sits proudly on all the theatre production’s programmes, and the Sutton Coldfield group is always keen to fundraise at their performances.

Connection to cause is a common theme for the group, with Fundraising Group leader, Jude, sharing that her primary motivation for volunteering comes from her own personal connection. “The BHF is very close to my heart as my husband has a heart condition called aortic stenosis, which means that his aortic valve couldn’t open fully, restricting the blood flow from his heart to his aorta. Thanks to the BHF’s research, he’s had a replacement titanium valve fitted.”

Jude is also very inspired by her other group members, some of which also share a close connection to our work here at the BHF. For instance, Dave and Sue, two of the group members, are great-grandparents of the inspirational Beau, a young girl born with half a heart, who you may recognise from previous BHF campaigns.

From placing various collection cans across the community to fashion shows, coffee mornings, tombolas, themed market stalls and raffle sales, the Sutton Coldfield group is consistently making a difference in their local community.

However, one fundraising activity that became infamous for the group was selling hand-made facemasks during the COVID pandemic.

In midst of the growing concerns of a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, group member and former textiles & food tech tutor, Jane, innovatively taught herself to make facemasks by watching online tutorials. Using donated fabric and working in conjunction with, Jude, the group made more than 1300 face masks for their local community. In total, the group raised a whopping £6000 for the BHF during a time where many other fundraising activities were paused, demonstrating a real commitment to our cause. For their fantastic efforts, the group was awarded as finalists in our BHF Heart Hero Awards in the ‘Fundraising in the Community’ category.

When asked her reason for volunteering, Jane comments on the benefits from a social perspective. Having recently retired, she shared that she “loves meeting people and helping out in the community.”

With such fabulous examples of fundraising, you may be wondering what’s the secret to their success? Jude lets us in on her top fundraising tip: “Get into the heart of your community and build connections with places such as the local library, arts centre, retirement village or church, you never know where a contact may take you!”

We’d love to hear stories from other Community Fundraising Groups to share in our newsletter, so if you’re interested, please get in touch.