At a recent reception at the Irish Embassy in London to celebrate the 150th anniversary of The Hospital Saturday Fund, Diabetes Ireland was a beneficiary of a grant which will go towards “Teen Activity Day 2023”. 

The reception was hosted by Ambassador Martin Fraser. The Hospital Saturday Fund donated a total of £160,000/€176,000 to thirty-one medical charities and organisations from Ireland and the UK during the event. The occasion was made even more special with the presence of Graham Norton, a celebrity supporter of Bantry Hospice, who presented the donations. Lesley Garrett, the Patron of The Hospital Saturday Fund, also participated in making the presentations to the recipient charities.

For “Teen Activity Day 2023”, Diabetes Ireland has booked 4 Activity Centres for a day of fun and adventure on Friday 7 July 2023. The aim of the day is to bring together young teenagers living with diabetes to have a fun day and to meet other teens with diabetes. “To date, 40 teenagers have registered, and we hope to see more register in the coming days said Kieran O’Leary, CEO, of Diabetes Ireland.

Paul Jackson, Chief Executive of The Hospital Saturday Fund said: “We are delighted to continue the tradition of supporting many charities in both Ireland and the UK, many of which are less well known. The Hospital Saturday Fund is honoured to support the efforts of such deserving charities and help in some way with the exceptional, tireless work that they do. We are delighted to have increased our grant-making funds to £2.3/€2.5 million to over 600 charities in Ireland and the UK over the last 12 months. This evening has been very special, as for the first time, we have been able to give grants to both Irish and British charities at the same reception and mark our commitment to supporting the communities in these countries for the past 150 years”. “We are also extremely grateful to the Irish Embassy for hosting this reception tonight. Considering our heritage, it is hard to imagine a more appropriate venue”.

“HSF has been a huge supporter of Diabetes Ireland for many years, and we are very appreciative of their ongoing support, and I want to thank Paul and his colleagues for their continuing support” added Kieran.