A group of carpentry students and staff from Suffolk New College are feeling chipper after raising £1278.00 for a Suffolk charity.
The group made bird boxes, bug hotels and other garden related objects at the 2024 Suffolk Show.

They then sold these items to the general public on behalf of St Elizabeth Hospice.
Last year they were involved in a similar project and raised over £700 making a grand total of two grand raised for the Suffolk based benevolent cause thanks to college efforts.
Chloe Lock is part of the community fundraising team at St Elizabeth Hospice and she recently popped into the educational establishment in Ipswich to pick up the funds. Chloe said: “£2000.00 is a phenomenal amount of money – and it will make a big difference to help the 4000 people and patients we support throughout East Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

“We also support families and community nurses and offer counselling sessions. It costs £12 million to fund our work each year and 70% of this amount is gained through fundraising and donations – so we are incredibly grateful to the college – I’d like to say thank you so much for choosing us.”
Darren Chittock is a lecturer in carpentry and joinery at Suffolk New College. Darren said: “We worked with the hospice last year – we like to support what they do and we are passionate about getting involved with local charities. At the Suffolk Show we made 94 bug hotels, over 100 bird boxes, 60 squirrel tables and 30 flower tubs. All the students came along during half term and it was really rewarding to see them work so hard under the guidance of our team. We are hoping to do the something similar next year.”
Riley Sharratt-Evans, 17, from Ipswich has just completed a level 2 carpentry course at Suffolk Rural and will be starting a level 3 course in the same subject next year. Riley said: “I was front of house selling. I think young people sometimes get a bad rap but we do care and want to do good things for the local community. It feels amazing to be able to raise this amount of money.”
