IN her regular column, St Teresa's Hospice director Jane Bradshaw reflects on recent fundraising activities and looks forward to the busy Christmas period.

Since my last column, we have seen the return of what we consider to be one of the finest events in Darlington’s social calendar - our annual corporate ball.

The joint was jumping down at Rick's Café Américain (aka Darlington College) for the Casablanca Ball, which was a roaring success.

I’d like to thank everybody who supported the event and made it happen – in particular college principal Tim Grant, assistant services manager James Butterfield and securities and site services manager Peter Jones, from Darlington College, as well as their excellent teams, for being such helpful and accommodating hosts.

Also, I’d like to thank David Elstob from Thomas Watsons Auctioneers, which very kindly conducted our charity auction on the night, as well as our fabulous cabaret act Casablanca Steps.

Thanks to their support, as well as that of countless others, the ball has raised more than £10,000.

In 2010, Nicholas MacKenley decided to run the Junior Great North Run in aid of the Hospice. 3 years later, he’s still competing in the event, having run 4 times for us, raising a fantastic £690! Nick has done a fantastic job, and we’re pleased that he’ll soon be achieving his goal of completing the full Great North Run.

Our list of amazing supporters also includes Darren Norcup, who has become our first supporter to climb Mont Blanc in aid of the Hospice.

Darren has raised over £2,000 for the charity over the last two years in memory of his mum Pamela.

His team made it to within 200m of the summit in 60mph winds and minus 15 degrees temperatures, but were unable to proceed when the weather turned bad!

However, this was an amazing achievement, and we all offer our thanks and admiration to Darren.

The first section of our new Woodlands Walk path through our beautiful grounds has now been laid, as part of a special service with the people who sponsored the project.

Their words of love have been inscribed into the stones of the path, and will be a part of St Teresa’s Hospice for a long time to come.

Our thanks to the Venerable Nick Barker for presiding over the service, and to MKM Building Supplies for donating materials.

We hope that it will continue to grow as more people choose to leave a physical mark of their support.

Hard as it is to believe, it really is Christmas-time again, and we have some fantastic things in store for the season.

We’re particularly excited about our first-ever Santa Run at The Northern Echo Arena.

We’re hoping as many people as possible will sign-up for a Santa suit and join us on Saturday (December 7), for this fantastic family event.

Registration is open now, so give us a ring on 01325-254321, and remember – children under six can enter free.

Our ever-popular Christmas Cracker concert will be back again this year.

Under musical director John Forsyth, this event has grown to be one of the best Christmas events in Darlington, allowing local choirs and musicians to give a magnificent musical present to the whole town.

Tickets will be available on the door at the Dolphin Centre on Saturday, December 21.

If you’re part of a North-East choir and would like to show off what you can do at the concert, then get in touch with our events team on 01325-254321.

Finally, we’re running our Light up a Life appeal again this year.

Hundreds and hundreds of people are helping to support the critical work we do all year round, by dedicating a light on one of our beautiful Christmas trees to someone they love and haven’t forgotten.

A special service for everyone involved will take place at the Dolphin Centre on Sunday, December 22.

For more information, call supporter services, on 01325-25431.