The Brass Monkey has set its sights on raising more than £1,000 for Heartbeat, after the community minded pub announced the cardiac charity as its charity of the year for 2024.
A family friendly pub in the heart of Shirley, operated by Chantelle Trevatt, will soon get started with its fundraising goals.
Chantelle said: “We’re delighted to announce Heartbeat as our charity of the year. We are a very family friendly pub that’s always looking to get the community involved and we think it’s important to do things like donate to charity.”
The Brass Monkey enjoyed a fundraising frenzy last year, with a series of charity events and the staff and locals are hoping to replicate that success.
Chantelle said: “We’ve got a whole host of events lined up for 2024. We were so pleased with the success of Monkey Fest last year and we’re bringing it back again, so watch out for more details on that. Especially now we’ve refurbished the garden, it’s looking really good.”
All funds raised will go to Southampton based Heartbeat, a well-established charity that helps newborns, children and adults diagnosed with congenital and cardiovascular diseases through supporting the work of the Wessex Cardiac Unit based at University Hospital Southampton.
Heartbeat fundraise to provide specialised equipment, services and facilities to help patients and their relatives through their cardiac journey.
As well as offering families who have patients undergoing treatment at the University Hospital Southampton somewhere to stay in the 25 bedroom Rotary Heartbeat House.
Community Fundraising and Marketing Manager at Heartbeat, Tanya Harder, said: “We want to thank the whole team at the Brass Monkey for choosing Heartbeat. We were blown away when we heard about all the brilliant plans and events they’ve got booked in for this year. There’s a charity car wash happening in the summer that sounds fantastic.”
The Brass Monkey has close ties with Heartbeat as it installed a defibrillator two years ago. Chantelle said: “We’re also looking to fundraise so we can replace the pads on the defibrillator, as they expire every few years. We think having a defibrillator is a really important piece of safety equipment that may well be really needed one day, we’re proud to have one.
“The Brass Monkey is a real community pub with a great bunch of regulars and we know they’re all really keen to get started and to start raising money for the work we’re doing.”
The funds raised from the Brass Monkey will be contributing to the charity's pioneering research and projects including funding two pilot NHS roles; a palliative care nurse and a cardiac psychological youth worker.
Tanya added: “We’re a small charity but we have big ambitions and all the money that gets raised from any fundraising event goes directly where it’s needed.”
If you’d like to learn more about how to fundraise for Heartbeat, please visit www.heartbeat.co.uk.