Northampton mosque raises £1,000 in just one morning to help fund new hospital buggy

When the community of the Al Jamatul Muslimin of Bangladesh Masjid mosque heard Northampton General were raising money for a new patient transport buggy, they pitched in to do their part for charity.

And in just a single morning congregation on February 8, the mosque in St George's Street raised £1,044.15 to help the hospital.

It comes after the hospital launched an appeal for funds to buy a new £15,000 buggy in late January.

NGH is spread across 40 acres where the walk from the Billing Road entrance to Tree Wards stretches over 800 metres long.

The mosque's leaders presented the generous donation to the hospital on Thursday (February 14) and have helped the appeal a tenth of the way towards its target.

Treasurer Abdul Ali said: " We thought it would be a good idea to raise some money towards the new buggy. We asked the Friday congregation to make donations if they could and we raised over £1,000.

"We're a charitable organisation, and to help the hospital in a way that will benefit everyone who uses it seemed a good thing to do.

"We will see if we can help even more in the future."

The appeal for the new buggy comes after one of the hospital's two patient transports became worn down.

In the last 14 months, use of the buggy has increased by nearly 80 journeys per week.

Alison McCulloch of Northamptonshire Health Charitable Fund said: "Unfortunately, we can’t have just an ordinary golf buggy due to the narrow corridors and tight corners in the hospital, so the buggy we need has to be made to measure for our hospital.

"We are working with a company to build a bespoke buggy so that is it perfect for the job in hand.

"Having a buggy service here at NGH means that it doesn't just assist patients and visitors who are less able to walk the distance to appointments. The buggy also helps people feel less anxious about attending their appointments."