End of the road for Polly's fund-raisers

Polly’s Angels was originally launched to raise money so Polly Haydock, from Atherton, could have cancer treatment in Germany.

Donations poured in and comedian Peter Kay even gave his support by holding shows for the appeal.

When Polly, 37, died in August last year, her friends vowed to keep raising money to help other people as a lasting legacy.

But they have struggled to get enough support for their fund-raising events.

The team has now made the tough decision to cancel their next event – a comedy night in Bolton – and to shut down the charity.

A statement on Facebook said: “It is with great sadness that I am cancelling this event. Not through lack of trying, but there has been very little interest in purchasing tickets.

“Due to the fact that we are having very little interest in people supporting our charity, I have also decided to close it down, therefore we will no longer be fund-raising as Polly’s Angels.”

Trustee Joanne Howcroft said around £260,000 had been raised for her friend Polly and other individuals.

But she said it was no longer viable to continue running Polly’s Angels and they had not been able to meet the

requirements of registering as a charity.

She said: “The starting point was supporting Polly to raise funds, which we managed to do, but once we stopped doing it for her, the support seemed to reduce.

“From my point of view it felt like people were supporting an individual rather than a cause.”

While she was “disappointed” to close Polly’s Angels, she said she had “great fun” and thanked everyone who had supported the appeal.

The team will continue fund-raising for others.