The lovely people at Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in West Yorkshire engaged me to add some additional PR capacity, topping up the work of their existing marketing team. Working with an established team of great writers who know their organisation really well, my insight as an outsider has helped identify additional media opportunities and angles to offer. We have run an absolute ton of stories , too many to list here , but here’s a little sample, starting with my favourite story, Hollie Shaw on the Marvel set at Halifax Piece Hall.
Hollie Shaw’s Marvellous exploits
Hollie Shaw, 19, is a massive Marvel fan, so when Marvel came to West Yorkshire to film for their Secret Invasion series she and her Mum Leah travelled to Halifax Piece Hall to get a glimpse of the stars. While outside they got chatting to some of the Marvel security people and drivers, then some of the stars… They met the lovely Cobie Smulders (Agent Maria Hill) who sent cakes and donuts out to the fans and Kingsley Ben-Adir (Gravik) who turns out to be a massive fan of Happy Valley’s Sarah Lancashire! Due to the Covid restrictions in place at the time Samuel L Jackson (Nick Fury) couldn’t come and talk (he’s in his 70s now) but he got out of his car especially to give Hollie and Leah a smile and a wave.
As you’ll see from the video below Hollie is a bit of a charmer and managed to get invited inside Halifax Piece Hall to watch some filming, where they met the writer and director. She was next to Emilia Clarke (G’iah) as she watched one of her scenes on the monitor. Hollie and Leah even saw a spoiler which they couldn’t tell the rest of their family about for a whole year! When Secret Invasion episode 1 premiered on Disney+ in June 2023 I knew we had an opportunity to offer Hollie’s unique insider story for an And Finally piece for local TV. BBC Look North’s Amy Garcia was thrilled to interview Hollie about her time on set. So we all travelled over to Leeds for an interview in the studio and here’s how it went!
Giving Hollie the opportunity to tell her story was an absolute joy. She’s a great speaker, growing in confidence all the time and hopes to build on this experience with Forget Me Not to engage more with the media as she raises awareness about Epidermolysis Bullosa, the condition that she has lived with all her life.
Happy Valley star Rhys Connah opens Forget Me Not’s new charity shop
Another irresistible story, here’s Happy Valley’s Rhys Connah (Ryan Cawood) returning to the Calder Valley to open Forget Me Not’s new charity shop in Hebden Bridge.
BBC Look North, BBC Radio Leeds, The Yorkshire Post, Huddersfield Hub, the Halifax Courier and Yorkshire Live all jumped on this, interviewing Rhys and Forget Me Not spokespeople Gareth Pierce and Andrea Titherington-Kay
Penalty saving legend Mark Crossley gardening at Forget Me Not
When penalty saving legend Mark Crossley first came to visit Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice he posted this moving video on Twitter, viewed over 300,000 times.
Mark is the only goalkeeper to ever save a penalty from penalty-taking genius Matt Le Tissier (see it here!), saved a penalty in the 1991 FA Cup final from Gary Lineker and is still listed as one of the best penalty savers in Premier League history. Mark’s group Walking’s Brilliant raised £5000 to pay for wheelchair accessible planters and hard landscaping in the new sensory garden. We set up a filming opp and photo shoot for Mark’s return to the hospice, where he was joined by our own TV star Hollie Shaw. Calendar ITV, BBC Radio Leeds, Huddersfield Hub and Kirklees Local TV all jumped on this lovely story.
Launch of SUDIC (Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood) partnership with West Yorkshire Police
Forget Me Not Children’s hospice runs a pioneering service offering support to West Yorkshire families after the sudden death of their child. Their SUDIC service is the first of it’s kind in the UK, providing dedicated support to devastated families in the days, weeks and months after a child dies. They wanted to profile the service to maximise referrals and try and ensure that no family in West Yorkshire goes through the trauma of sudden death in childhood without their support. They held a special collaboration event at the hospice with West Yorkshire Police, national charity SUDC UK and local hospitals, coroners, funeral directors and universities.
The story was covered in Huddersfield Hub, BBC Radio Leeds and the Huddersfield Examiner, key media outlets for raising awareness of the service in West Yorkshire. We’re also profiling the service to a number of people in the national media. Here’s Forget Me Not Chief Exec Luen Thompson and Nikki Speed, co-founder and CEO of SUDC UK talking on BBC Radio Leeds
Forget Me Not on national parenting website
Responding to a query on Twitter about sensory play led to Forget Me Not being featured with a weblink in an article on popular parenting website Good to Know. The article featured prominently on the front page of the website, which gets over 2 million visits per month !
If you’d like to find out more or donate to any of the 3 charities mentioned above, check them out with the links below.
Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice
I love working with charities! Whether it’s to achieve local or national news coverage, if you’d like some PR advice for your charity get in touch through my contact page