Children from schools across Rossendale have been collecting their loose change since the end of September all in support of Rossendale Hospice and their annual ‘Inter-School Penny Challenge’.
Coins have been saved in their ‘Penny Boxes’ featuring mascot, Penny the Pig and between them the schools have raised an amazing £4,000! 

The Challenge has been running for over 16 years and has raised in the region of £65,000 for the Hospice, all of which goes towards supporting the Valley’s community who are living with a life limiting condition.
This year the winning high school is yet again, Haslingden High School making this their ninth year in a row to bring in the highest amount. St John’s Stonefold Primary School in Baxenden won their category and the winning preschool/nursery was Bacup Nursery School for another year running. 

The winning schools have received a special Penny Challenge certificate to congratulate their efforts and each participating school have received a certificate of appreciation.

Senior Fundraiser Joanna Williams said: “It’s heart-warming to see schools engaging with our Penny Challenge again this year and so generously giving their own spare change to help people in their community even with the cost of living crisis. Seeing our younger residents getting involved with fundraising for Rossendale Hospice amazes us and gives us hope for the future.

We wouldn’t be able to continue to run vital services such as Hospice at Home and our Wellbeing service for day patients without the support from local schools in our community so thank you to each and every one of them”