Our Bolton NHS Charity
As the official charity of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, we support patients, service-users and their families undergoing care or treatment at the Royal Bolton Hospital and in the community.
Our Bolton NHS Charity is the official charity of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, enhancing the health and wellbeing of patients, families, and NHS staff across our hospitals and community services.
Thanks to the generosity of people like you, we fund projects that go above and beyond what the NHS can provide – creating better experiences, improving environments, supporting staff wellbeing, and investing in life‑changing equipment.
Our Bolton NHS Charity was established in 1995 and is the official charity partner of Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
The NHS charity sector (made up of over 230 NHS charities) contributes £1.5 million to the NHS everyday
Make a big impact
Get your staff energised to put the fun in fundraising, from bake sales and team challenge events to office raffles. Visit our website
for our fundraising guide, full of ideas and resources to inspire and support you.
Hosting a raffle or an auction can raise vital funds for your local NHS here in Bolton. Some formats require a gambling licence, but small on‑the‑day raffles don’t. Visit www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk or ask us for guidance.
Boost your impact by matching donations from the public or doubling an employee’s fundraising efforts giving them, and us, an extra lift.
Your employees can give directly through their pay, with donations taken before tax. This would involve giving the pennies from their pay, round the amount that lands in their bank account to the nearest pound, every month.
Choose Our Bolton NHS Charity as your event’s beneficiary to help raise funds and awareness for the incredible work of our NHS teams. Our team will support you from planning right through to event day.
We offer a range of partnership opportunities, including charity‑led events, campaigns, and Trust‑wide sponsorship options. We tailor packages to suit your business so please get in touch to explore current opportunities.
Support our work by donating a percentage of profits from a product or service. This requires a Commercial Participation Agreement and we can guide you through the process.
If your business nominates an annual charity partner, we’d love you to choose Our Bolton NHS Charity. Together we can make a meaningful difference to healthcare in our community.
Could you donate raffle prizes or surplus stock to thank our staff or support our fundraising? These gifts are a great alternative to cash donations and help raise your profile as well as ours.
How to send us the funds you’ve raised
JustGiving
Bank Transfer
Cash
Here are a few examples of what the money you raise could provide
Our Bolton Stories
Our Bolton NHS Charity is proud to fund the things that make a lasting and meaningful difference to the people of Bolton, and beyond.
Your stories are what drives us to achieve more, whether that’s the impact of the charity’s investments, or the efforts of the incredible people of Bolton and beyond to fundraise for us – our Bolton stories are the heart of Our Bolton NHS Charity.
If we’ve had an impact on your journey, or inspired you on your own journey…we want to tell your story so that Our Bolton NHS Charity can continue to fund the things that matter the most.
‘When people are in need, there are always people who will help’
After sadly losing a child, Chris Mealing found a community in Our Bolton NHS Charity, helping to create our beautiful Baby Memorial Garden and providing opportunities for local businesses to make a difference.
“Until you actually go through that as a as a person, you don’t really know how it affects you. It’s hard to describe to people what it feels like.
“You don’t process the emotions, you don’t process anything, and you almost drift along.”
Our Bolton NHS Charity first came into Chris’ life after being elected to our Board of Governors where he found a new focus and felt he was able to make a difference.
Chris became heavily involved in the creation of the Baby Memorial Garden at Royal Bolton Hospital, providing guidance and support to the charity as they raised hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“It was wonderful to be involved and all these years later, when we visit the hospital, I can walk through the garden and explain to my children how I was involved, and they know it as dad’s garden. Sometimes I’ll sit on one of the benches to remember.
“It’s knowing I’ve been a part of something really special that’s making a difference to the lives of others in my hometown of Bolton, something I hope my children will talk about in the future to say, ‘your grandad was involved in putting this together’”.
Since then, Chris’ contributions to the charity have been invaluable, using his local knowledge and entrepreneurial skills to find and develop opportunities for Bolton businesses to work with Our Bolton NHS Charity, with the aim of creating a community of partnerships to make a lasting and meaningful difference.
“I’m the type of person that wants to be involved in helping. I may not always be directly involved, but like with the Baby Memorial Garden, you can bring people together to make a difference on a massive scale.
“Most people who use the garden would never even know I exist, but what we’re able to do together as a community is touching hundreds and hundreds of people on a week.
“Don’t be shy about getting in touch and getting involved. You can make the experience your own. I’ve never ran a marathon. I’m not going to do cycling or climb a mountain or jump out of a plane.
“It doesn’t have to be any of that. It’s about the little things. Just being able to speak to people, introducing somebody to somebody else, it all adds up. Those small things snowball into something bigger,
“You’re creating the foundation for people to work together to support the patients, families and staff. It’s a ripple effect.”
For Chris, being involved with Our Bolton NHS Charity has had a hugely positive impact on his life.
“It’s took away any feeling of isolation I was experiencing. I felt lost after experiencing the loss of a child and didn’t know where to focus my attention.
“For people going through that, please don’t feel like you’re on your own.”
Fintan O’Malley raised thousands of pounds in memory of his special daughter, Millie, who was born prematurely and received care in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Millie was born prematurely at week 22 and 6 days, weighing just 486g, and bravely fought to be with her parents, Fintan and Becca, in NICU for 33 days.
Fintan’s extraordinary fundraising challenge saw him embark on a 330km ultramarathon run around the West Pennine Moors, battling stormy conditions and a total elevation the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest.
Fintan and his partner Becca also had a community of supporters around them to help raise more than £40,000 for specialist neonatal equipment to help families in the future.
“Millie was perfect, she was beautiful with a perfect little nose and perfect little toes, but she was also a little fighter.
“Millie dealt with so much in her short life and had a big personality that captivated the hearts of everyone. We are so proud of our little angel and are forever grateful that she chose us to be her parents.
“This unit, who so lovingly looked after Millie, gave us 33 precious days with our daughter before she moved on to the next part of her journey.
“Babies born in this unit who use the equipment bought in Millie’s memory may one day become parents themselves, and as long as that bloodline continues, so will Millie’s legacy.”
‘I wanted to help create an environment that would make a difference to children like my son’
Sean’s fundraising helped to develop an autism-friendly environment in the hospital, to support children when waiting for treatment.
Sean said:
“My son Grayson has autism, and previously we’ve struggled when coming to hospital, as he gets over stimulated by his surroundings.
“He can start to throw things as a coping mechanism – it felt like being lost in a maze and not knowing what to do or where to go.
“After leaving the hospital and speaking to other parents I decided to make a change to improve the experience for kids like Grayson, so that it’s more comfortable for them and their parents.
“Some time ago our waiting area was refurbished, but was plain and had nothing there for the children using our facilities.
“I got the funding for an activity wall, with mirrors, lights and bubbles, to help distract the people using our services. They’ve been so well received that I’ve since got further funding for ceiling tiles too.
“It’s great to see it in use with children like my son, it can make such a difference for them and their parents.”
‘The trouble is, we think we have time’
For Bolton Spin Studio owner Gareth Price, giving back has always come naturally. A proud supporter of Our Bolton NHS Charity, Gareth has long believed in showing appreciation to the people who have supported him and his family throughout his life.
Like many of us, Gareth has had his fair share of interactions with the NHS. But the moment that truly shaped his passion for fundraising came when his daughter was born at Royal Bolton Hospital. Seeing the compassion, dedication and skill of NHS staff left a mark that never faded.
Gareth began this chapter of his fundraising journey in 2022, determined to make a difference. A year later, he took things up a gear with a six‑hour Spinathon – held on one of the hottest days of the year.
The event didn’t just raise thousands of pounds; it united people across Bolton. Staff from Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, Public Health Bolton, members from the studio and Amazon all joined Gareth in the studio, pushing through heat, sweat and countless rotations of the pedals, together.
For Gareth, movement isn’t just fitness. It’s medicine, or as he puts it – “it’s the rhythm of life.” Throughout the last few years, he’s used his cycling trips abroad as a way to create interest in the fundraising and this year, a third, two hour Live & Loud DJ led spin class to help the money keep coming in.
Behind the scenes, Gareth, an avid fitness fan, had been unknowingly preparing for the biggest challenge of his life. In 2025, he was diagnosed with lymphoma.
What followed was a gruelling journey through treatment, strength and uncertainty. After six rounds of chemotherapy and two rounds of Rituximap, Gareth received the news everyone had been hoping for – the cancer was gone!
To mark this life‑changing milestone, Gareth is doing what he does best – bringing people together through movement, music and purpose. Starting 3rd July, over five incredible days, to raise funds for haematology services, Gareth will take on a powerful new cycling challenge.
Trinity 77, a title chosen to celebrate the NHS’s 77th birthday, and to highlight the three beautiful cities in the North of England, that the team will ride through, Chester, Lancaster and York, 150 kilometres a day and in total, around 7500 metres of climbing across the five days.
The Mayor of Bolton will officially start the ride at 7.30am on Friday 3rd July at Royal Bolton Hospital.
Gareth’s story is one of courage, community and gratitude. His journey reminds us all how precious every moment is, and how incredible things happen when people come together.
If you’d like to support Gareth, by joining part of the ride or by sponsoring his challenge, every pound, kilometre and share will make a difference.
No matter how small, your support keeps the rhythm of life moving for patients and families across Bolton.
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