Media Release: Dolphin Shopping Centre Decides On Dedicated Charities For 2009

Monday 8 June 2009; The Dolphin Shopping Centre has announced its selection of three dedicated charities to support for 2009 - About Face, Friends of Forest Holme and Poole NICU. The three worthy local causes from the heart of Poole will equally share all of the public donations received via the wooden animals feature for the remainder of 2009, helping to provide vital new equipment and services to the community.

The wooden animals were brought out of retirement and back to the Dolphin Shopping Centre in May 2008 to form a rather special charity collection point, which was something requested by shoppers since the removal of the charity pond during the Centre’s 2004 refurbishment. Hippo and Turtle took up residence in the special display last year, which features a new dolphin tail coin chute and charity collection box crafted by Dorset wood carver Nick Meech with inspiration drawn from the Jurassic coast. The wooden animals feature delighted and motivated shoppers to donate their spare change to Julia’s House, the chosen charity for 2008, raising over £1,100 to help care for more life-threatened children in Dorset. For 2009, Hippo and Whale sit pride of place in The Plaza and three local charities will benefit from all monies raised. About Face’s mission is to minimise fear and anxiety experienced by those who undergo treatment for the effects of head and neck cancer. Services include one-to-one and group support, information, advice and friendship, and the enhancement of education and research facilities for trainee surgeons. The About Face Centre, located opposite Poole hospital at 111 Longfleet Road, has a patient and family ‘drop-in’ each Tuesday morning. Former patients feature strongly as volunteers supporting currently diagnosed patients, and Dolphin Shopping Centre donations will help About Face to develop its in-house training in befriending and support skills. Forest Holme is a purpose built specialist palliative care unit, which forms part of the Dorset Cancer Centre at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The unit has facilities for outpatients, specialist nurses, counselling support and teaching, and offers ten beds for inpatients. Friends of Forest Holme will use all money raised by the Dolphin Shopping Centre to help fund a refurbishment programme at the unit. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust cares for babies requiring special care in the newborn period, whether this is due to prematurity or other newborn health problems. The unit, located on the first floor of the Maternity Unit on St Mary’s Road, has 20 cots including four intensive care cots, six high dependency and 10 special care cots. Additional facilities include two overnight rooms with en-suite shower, a playroom and a family room. Donations from the Dolphin Shopping Centre will help the unit to set-up a Telemedicine program which will allow the unit to electronically send a baby’s heart scan images to the heart specialists at Southampton General Hospital for urgent review. This will significantly decrease the need for babies and families to travel to Southampton for such consultations, providing faster reassurance to families whose babies are shown to have normal hearts. Stephanie Connelly, Dolphin Shopping Centre Manager, commented: “We realise that there are so many worthy local causes to support so we thought we would start by helping those on our doorstep first. Our three chosen charities provide diverse care and support across the community and are located close to the Centre, in and around Poole hospital. By choosing dedicated charities, we can make sure that the money raised will make more of an impact by providing much needed additional facilities or services. We look forward to working with the chosen charities in the coming months.” As well as sharing the funds collected from the wooden animals, About Face, Friends of Forest Holme and Poole NICU will join forces to fundraise as the official charities of the Santa Parade on 15 November. If you would like to nominate a local charity or worthy cause for the Dolphin Shopping Centre to support in 2010, please write to Dolphin Shopping Centre Charity Nominations 2010, Dolphin Shopping Centre, Management Suite, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1SZ Photography - please click on the thumbnail below to download image. Dolphin Shopping Centre’s Collection of Charities 2009 – (left to right) Debra Dennett, Friends of Forest Holme; Ian Catley, About Face; with Lisa King, Dolphin Shopping Centre; and Pamela Bell, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. -Ends- Notes to Editors In 2003, The Dolphin Shopping Centre was acquired by Grosvenor – the leading international property development, investment and management group – for its Grosvenor Shopping Centre Fund. The centre contains 115 stores and covers an area of over 47,000 square metres. ¬ The Grosvenor Shopping Centre Fund was established in 1998. It is a partnership created to invest in high quality, dominant shopping centres around the UK. The Fund is managed by Grosvenor from its office in London, combining the expertise of the company’s fund and asset managers. The Fund currently owns Dolphin Shopping Centre, Poole; Coopers Square, Burton upon Trent; Eastgate Shopping Centre, Inverness; and Freshney Place Shopping Centre, Grimsby. For further information please contact the Dolphin Shopping Centre Press Office: Emma Spearing, Hazel PR Tel: 01202 862411 Fax: 01202 862301 Mobile: 07736 341828 Email: emma.spearing@hazelpr.com

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