Thanks to Erika for sharing this latest news from the Hospice with OnTheWight readers. Ed
Earl Mountbatten Hospice (EMH) will be taking to the seas to sell their iconic sunflowers during the IW Festival period.
The Hospice has teamed up with Wightlink and will be offering the fundraising flowers to festival goers on the Portsmouth to Fishbourne route. The Hospice and Wightlink are also inviting revellers to take selfie pictures with their sunflowers, with prizes available to win.
#Wightlive collaboration
The partnership combines the Hospice’s efforts to raise money for patient care through the sale of its now famous sunflowers and Wightlink’s #Wightlive initiative to promote the Isle of Wight’s many and varied festivals.
Hospice CEO, Jo Blackburn said,
“We are delighted to be teaming up with Wightlink to sell our sunflowers on the Solent and help visitors get in the festival spirit before they even arrive on the Island.
“Our sunflowers have become a very successful way of raising funds as well as a colourful part of the IW Festival experience and we can’t wait to get out and about on board Wightlink vessels and help get people in the mood for a great weekend on the Island.”
John Burrows (pictured), Wightlink’s chief operating officer, said,
“Our #Wightlive initiative is all about recognising the fantastic array of festivals that the Island hosts. This year, for the first time, we are having live performances on some sailings over the festival period so it is fitting that the Hospice will also be selling their sunflowers. It will give our festival customers a little taste of what is in store when they arrive on the Island.
“We are delighted to be contributing to the festival spirit and at the same time helping the Hospice to raise funds.”
Sunflower selfies
Wightlink will create a special page on its #wightlive website to host sunflower selfies. All festival goers need to do is take a sunflower selfie, upload and share it on wightlive.co.uk using #wightlive and they will be in with a chance of winning one of two prizes.
The first opportunity is after the festival, when a draw by the Hospice will select a lucky winner of a £200 prize donated by Wightlink. All entries will also stand a chance of winning a further competition being run by Wightlink throughout the festival season, the prize for which is a special ticket to ‘Access all Festivals’ in 2015.
