KLF funds bursaries at The Royal Marsden School to train NHS practitioners in the management and treatment of lymphoedema, thus increasing the availability of therapists which is still limited.
Scroll down to read about how people have raised money for KLF -
Our Annual Luncheons, Physical Challenges, Pat and Jenny Events,Other events, Legacies.
2003-2023
Katie’s Lymphoedema Fund’s 20th Anniversary!
We held two fundraising events this year to celebrate and remember Katie.
Annual Lunch
Fortnum & Mason
Monday 6th March 2023
The Diamond Jubilee Tea Saloon was filled with people celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Katie's Lymphoedema Fund and remembering Katie
Sadly Anya Hindmarch CBE was unable to be with us. She wrote a tribute to Katie which can be read below.
There was a vast array of raffle prizes and a silent auction. A small table gift was donated by Caudalie Paris.
The luncheon raised a fabulous £11,133.46.
Katie's Garden Ball
Saturday 17th June 2023
The ball was held in the wonderful grounds of Amwell Cottage, Wheathampstead Herts.
There was dancing in the music tent and an art gallery exhibiting paintings for sale from a group of Hertfordshire artists.
With wonderful summer weather the event raised in excess of £13,000!
Annual Luncheons
Annual Luncheon - Monday 7th March 2022
110 people returned to support us after the break due to Covid, with an ever increasing number of gentlemen attending. It was a very jolly affair, with a talk from Rachel Day, from the Royal Marsden School. The total funds raised from a combination of ticket price, raffle, auction, shop and donations £6,162. It was agreed at the lunch to donate half of the auction proceeds to the Disasters Emergency Committee humanitarian appeal for Ukraine. We therefore made a donation of £550.
Annual Luncheon - Tuesday 10th March 20
This year saw an unusual departure from our regular first Monday in March to a Tuesday. This did not deter our supporters who raised £8,720.00, helping us to purchase 2 LymphScanners for the Royal Marsden Hospital. Each attendee received a packet of sunflower seeds, donated by Sarah Raven as a table gift. This was Katie's favourite flower and they were asked to plant them in honour of Katie and help the environment.
Annual Luncheon - Monday 4th March 2019
The annual fundraiser luncheon this year raised £12,000.00. This year we saw an increasing number of gentleman joining us.
Annual Luncheon - Monday 5th March 2018
Professor Peter Portimer was the guest speaker at our lunch this year. Along with selling his book with all profits going to KLF, Pat Wohlrab presented a cheque to Mary Woods (Consultant Nurse Lymphoedema, Royal Marsden). Our luncheon raised a fabulous sum of £16,237.00
Annual Luncheon - Monday 6th March 2017
At our lunch this year we were addressed by Dr Catherine Wilson who is Head of School at the Royal Marsden. As usual there was a fabulous auction, raffle prizes galore, helped along by delicious food and wine. We raised a total of £14,360.00
Some of the amazing moments we have had in supporting this fantatsic cause
Katie’s 10th anniversary lunch—a tribute to a special daughter and friend.
Our tried and tested lunch formula worked wonders again, albeit in May and not February, due to refurbishment on Fortnum & Mason’s 4th Floor—the restaurant is now called The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon.
A cheque for £15,000 was donated to The Royal Marsden School of Cancer Nursing & Rehabilitation and we raised just shy of £9,500 on the day.
What a marvellous lunch we had with Suggs (of pop group Madness fame) at the helm! We filled the St. James’s Restaurant and had another extremely successful and fun time with lots of wonderful raffle and auction prizes.
Suggs was on top form, especially when it came to raffling a pair of Jeremy Clarkson’s jeans! Thank you to all the contributors of the prizes without which we wouldn’t have managed to raise a grand total of almost £10,000.
We were able to give the Royal Marsden School of Nursing a cheque for £15,000 and based on the take up of funded places in the last 12 months that may not last very long!
We have a very good relationship with Fortnum & Mason which supports us in many ways with the organization of our lunch. We were lucky to have England Rugby World Champion, Will Greenwood, with us. He handed out the raffle prizes and generously hugged all the lucky winners! We presented a cheque to The Royal Marsden School for £10,000. Our fundraising on these occasions comes from ticket sales of which £10 per ticket goes to KLF, the raffle, donations, sales of Pat’s notelets and the table flower arrangements. We also collect sponsorship pledges for our ‘Sporting Fundraiser’ for the year. This year it was Simon Fisher in the London Marathon.
At this lunch, Anya Hindmarch, designer, who has been a regular supporter of KLF since its inception and who was a friend of Katie’s, pulled the raffle as well as donating a fabulous bag from her collection. Pat Wohlrab presented Sara Lister, Head of The School of Cancer Nursing and Rehabilitation, with a cheque for £5,000. Pledges for our Sporting Fundraiser were made – Three Peaks Challenge, Phil Sadler and Dave Evans.
Our fifth luncheon at Fortnums was an amazing success this year. We entertained almost 160 ladies in the Fourth Floor Restaurant. The food and service was delicious as always thanks to Fortnums.
We raised a spectacular £11,200, an increase of 40% on last year which in itself was incredibly successful. Thank you to everyone for their generosity. We also handed over a cheque to The Royal Marsden for £20,000!
Our celebrity guest speaker was Jason Leonard, an English former rugby union prop forward whose record as the world’s most-capped forward still stands. As an England player, Leonard won the highest international accolades possible: Grand Slams (1991, 1992, 1995 and 2003) and the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also won a British and Irish Lions Test series (on the 1997 tour of South Africa). He was very witty and charmed all of the ladies
This was our first lunch at Fortnum & Mason and the first since the launch. We haven’t changed the venue since because our lunches there have been so wonderful! We were a little uncertain as to how successful it would be without the umbrella of Good Housekeeping, but we needn’t have worried. It was a huge success and on that day we presented a cheque for £5,500 to The Royal Marsden Cancer school. Later on in the year we gave a further £3,500 to the school and £1,000 to Denise Claughton to enable her to become a full-time lymphoedema therapist. Our guests of honour were Angela Roden from The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and Lorraine Brown, one of our scholars, who works at the Royal Hampshire Hospital in Winchester. It was poignant and appropriate because Katie was treated at this hospital shortly before she died. Pledges for our Sporting Fundraiser were made – Simon Fisher ran the Edinburgh marathon.
Pat & Jenny Events
Pat’s coffee mornings
When Pat lived in Rome every autumn a coffee morning was organised for the Fund. To date this has been at the home of friends, one of whom has has been a great knitter of teddy bears which were sold to raise funds. At the coffee morning we also sell coffee and cakes (baked by generous ladies) as well as delicious home-made marmalade. We also take this opportunity to sell Christmas cards and notelets. On the terrace a second hand book stall is always popular where people can pick up a good bargain!
To date these coffee mornings have raised over 5,750 euros!
Jenny’s Themed Christmas lunches
In November each year, Jenny holds a lunch at her home in Islington. Local friends (and some not so local!) are invited. We sell Christmas cards designed by Pat, lavender and moth repellant bags made by Penny, and other handmade crafted items. On these occasions Jenny is ably assisted in the greeting, serving drinks and lunch by one or more of KLF's staunch supporters, Marcus Wohlrab (Katie’s brother), Rob Edge , Dan Cook and Gordon Black. The ladies love it (and so do the men – perhaps it’s the pinnies!) A big thanks to all these friends – it’s a great way to kick off the ‘season’ and, this year, made over £2,017 to boot!
Jenny's Open Garden
Each year Jenny and Gordon open their London garden as part of the National Garden Scheme. Last summer they raised £102.40 which was 15% of the entrance fee.
Physical Challenges
Bev's Wing Walk
On 1st September 2019 Bev Field took to the skies for her wing walk at Damyns Hall Aerodrome. She was strapped into a 5 part harness on the top wing of a Boeing Stearman 1942 plane. The plane however underwent a rebuild 3 years ago!
The plane took off for an 8 minute trip of zooms and climbs travelling at 130 mph with magnificent views across London.
Bev exceeded her target of £2,000 raising a massive £3,842 for Katie's Lympeodema Fund.
The Meadow's Half Marathon
Izzy Sawyer and her friend Liv ran in the Meadows Half Marathon organised by the University of Edinburgh charity team for KLF. Their target was £150 but they actually raised a fantastic £765. Well done Izzy and Liv!
Brian runs the 2018 London Marathon for Katie’s Lymphoedema Fund
The 2018 London Marathon was the 38th annual mass participation London Marathon race and took place on Sunday, 22 April 2018. An estimated number of 40,000 runners were expected on the start line in the race that was formally started by Queen Elizabeth.
It was the hottest London Marathon on record! A huge thank you to Brian for training for such an epic challenge and raising a fantastic £3,215.50 for Katie’s Lymphoedema Fund.
Taff Trail 2016
To commemorate Katie's 50th birthday in 2016, Emma Maziak and 50 walkers set off along the Taff Trail, which just happens to be 50 miles long! Along the trail they encountered some of the most picturesque views of the Welsh Valleys, traced canal paths up into the hills and alongside stunning reservoirs. The road into and through Cardiff was uplifting and passing the Millennium Stadium they knew that they were close to the end.
Emma and the walkers raised an amazing £18,380. Well Done!
Blenheim Sprint Triathlon – June 2014
KLF held a successful fund raising event entering a team “Team KLF” in the annual Blenheim Triathlon in June 2014. The team not only raised over £1500 for KLF, but finished 24th out of the 350 teams that entered – not bad for a first attempt!
Team KLF comprised James Seel, Charlie Greenway and Fran Owen, all very good friends from Sidney Sussex Cambridge days and roped in by Cathy Owen (a big KLF supporter and former patient of The Royal Marsden Hospital). Playing to their individual strengths, the threesome entered the Sprint Team Relay Event completing first a 750m swim in Blenheim Lake, followed by a 19.8 km cycle ride and finally a 5.7 km run.
London Marathon – 2013
Georgie Smith responded to a call in our newsletter for a runner to raise funds for KLF. She had started running a few years prior when her Auntie was diagnosed with breast cancer and after two half marathons was keen to complete the London marathon before she turned 30! Knowing that her mother Jean had been funded in some of her training by KLF she felt it was a perfect fit!
With over £2500 of funds raised, Georgina reflected after the event: “The marathon is by far the hardest challenge I have ever undertaken! All went well up to the 15 mile mark when my knee gave in and after a very painful 4 miles crawling along (which severely impacted my time target), luckily my Mum saved me—she strapped my knee up heavily and I managed to run the last 7 miles in a good time. Best moment of the day was definitely being overtaken by a 90 year old lady….fair play!”
Cycletta 2011
In past years, funds have been raised for Katie’s Lymphoedema Fund (KLF) by many an intrepid supporter – marathons have been run, three peaks have been climbed, Everest Base Camp has been reached and an endurance race in the Namibia Desert has been survived. 2011 it was up to the girls!! We took part in Cycletta South (see www.cycletta.co.uk) – a 40km road ‘race’ starting and ending at Whipsnade Zoo on Sunday 11th September.
The KLF-Girls team consisted of Emma Maziak, Philly Jones, Alicia Leaf and Sophie Clarke, looking cheery after the race (below – Philly, Alicia, Sophie, Emma)! We were absolutely delighted to ride in, in positions 222-225 out of 634 riders with a time of 2 hrs, 6 mins – GO GIRLS!!! I (Emma) was the weak link and the other three girls could have gone much more quickly without me slowing them down but we all had fun and I was delighted and surprised to have no problems walking the day after!
We raised just shy of £2k.
The Desert Dash
Our ‘extreme’ fund raiser for 2010 was the incredible ‘Desert Dash’. Ian MacLeod and Barry Cooper cycled 340km across the Namib Desert on 17th/18th December 2010 and raised an amazing £2650. Ian and Barry came 4th overall across all 2-man team categories and although it was rather windy and a tough ride they managed to win the Veteran Men category finishing at 4.50am in the dark!!
Background to the race: This is a 24 hour fight between human and nature, body and mind. The route reaches levels of 2000m above sea level and navigates sharp twists and turns. At one stage, the descent drops 700m in only 10km!
The race is made more difficult by the cold and darkness of moonless nights and in the day, temperatures soar up to 50 degrees celsius. On the dirt roads there are also hazards of animals, snakes, inability to see the rocks, sand (dry river crossings) and there is usually a howling headwind blowing! See www.desertdashnamibia.com
Our hardy (mad?) cyclists were:
Ian Macleod – Australian; UNICEF Country Director in Namibia; only started mountain biking in mid 2008; run over a dozen marathons and ultramarathons (!); married to Clare with 2 sons (Callan and Liam).
Barry Cooper
– British; ex-IT Director now focusing on family and mountain biking in Namibia; Top 4 ranked in multiple mountainbiking championships and 2 day marathons; married to Natasha with 3 children (Jared, Talia & Mara).
Himalayan Challenge - 2006
Marcus, Katie’s brother, has climbed the Himalayasto Everest Base Camp – our major sporting fundraiser for 2009! He has raised over £4,000. Thank you to all of those who have supported his endeavours with pledges and donations.
2008 – London Marathon
Our marathon runners were fantastic. Simon Fisher, now teaching PE and Geography at Trinity School, in Devon, ran the London Marathon in 3 hours 26 minutes and 57 seconds. Max McGee, 12 years’ old, ran the Junior Marathon (3 miles) in 19 minutes. Simon raised £2,812 and Max raised £166 – significant funds between them! Thank you both for your time and supreme efforts.
This is Simon’s second marathon in aid of the Fund. The first was the Edinburgh Marathon in 2006. He ran in a heatwave with a foot injury and still managed a very creditable time of 3 hours 19 minutes, coming 258 out of 6,000 runners. He had another participate running behind him who came up to him afterwards and said the fact thatSimon had Katie on his back kept him going! So far he has raised almost £6000! Fantastic!
Three Peaks Challenge
Legacies
Dorothy Rose Norman 1922-2015
Dorothy Rose Norman suffered from Lymphoedema during her life and was one of our great supporters. She was also a very keen gardener at both of her homes in London and Hove. Before she died she wanted to support our garden plans for Katie’s Garden at RHS Hampton Court and donated the funds for the planting of the garden. She has also left £20,000 to KLF in her Will.
Other Events
SW19WI
The SW19 WI held craft fairs and raffles to raise funds for us in 2017 and 2018, raising £3,500 to date. The group marked Lymphoedema Awareness Week in 2018 by wearing odd socks!
Thank you to Jackie and all who supported.
Eve Perry's Stall
St James’ School for Girls, Christmas Market 2009) “When I heard about Katie’s Fund and its amazing work I really wanted to find a way to help.
"I had seen the beautiful Christmas cards that Pat Wohlrab designs every year and thought that it would be a good idea to sell them at my school’s Christmas Market.
I was the first child to apply for a stall at the fair (I’m 13) and mine was the only charity stall. The organisers wanted to know what I would be selling. I thought that they would be more likely to give me the stall if, as well as having the lovely cards, I had made some things myself, so I told them that I would have ‘home-made crafts’ and they agreed. I asked my Mum and Granny if they would help me make some cute cat-shaped lavender bags. Pat also gave me some Lavender bags to sell.
I put leaflets out KLF leaflets so that everyone understood what the stall was for.
It was really busy! We sold lots of cards and Italian lavender bags. The cats all went within the first hour. Another time I would have definitely made more..
We raised £300
Surrey Freemasons
Over the last 18 months Jackie Wileman has been giving presentations to various groups of Surrey Freemasons. During this time they have donated £7,372 and continue to support KLF.
Katie's Books
Susan Hindmarch and her friends devised “Katie’s Books”. Fundraisers were asked to take a book and raise £60 by donations of £10, £5 or £1. Donors were asked to sign the book as a record of their support. These books have raised an astonishing £6,600!
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