One of Hull’s busiest shopping centres has won a charity challenge after going head to head with businesses across the city to raise money for children with a wide variety of illnesses in the community.

Prospect Shopping Centre raised more than £1,500 for St Andrew’s Children’s Hospice after completing the Your Inspired Charity Challenge, which, from an investment loan of £100, provides an opportunity for businesses to prove they can outwit each other using their fundraising flair.

The fundraising task not only saw the centre come up against St Stephen’s, but also Tesco, Hemingway Bailey, EYMS and De Vere Urban Resorts to see who could raise the most during October for the Grimsby-based hospice, which provides free care for children with life-limiting illnesses in Hull and the East Riding.

“We are absolutely delighted to have won the charity challenge,” says Lee Appleton, Prospect Centre manager. “Every penny raised for this fantastic cause is extremely precious to the children and families it helps and we’re so grateful to St Andrew’s for giving us such a great opportunity to take part.

“Supporting the community has always been very important to the centre and I’m extremely proud of the Prospect team and our retailers for pulling together to organise an action packed month that we all had stacks of fun taking part in.

“We might be vying for footfall all year round, but businesses in the city are first in line to pull together for the greater community, a quality which makes me proud to work in Hull.”

The Centre’s charitable efforts included tombola’s, raffles and bake sales, followed by a brave member of the security team baring all for a sponsored chest wax, a silent disco and a chilli challenge, where contestants were faced with eating a hot, fiery and nuclear chicken wing in the fastest time possible.

The centre management team also volunteered to be locked up in medieval style stocks to be hit with wet sponges and a 30 ft long, Rugby World Cup-inspired, bungee run had been planned for half term, but despite being rained off Prospect Shopping Centre still managed to race ahead of its fundraising target.

Jane Whenham-White, head of income generation at the hospice, said: “The people in this region have a reputation for being enterprising and go-getting types and yet again they haven’t disappointed.

“We need to raise £3.5m each year to maintain the services within the adult’s and children’s hospices and this is all made possible by their support. Our challenge to those taking part was to be ambitious, bold and daring, be creative and above all, be inspired and those are the exact qualities each and every one showed and for that we are extremely grateful.”

Lee Appleton was presented with the trophy by Dean Windass at the Inspired awards evening, which was held on Tuesday to celebrate the participants achievements.

To sign up to the Your Inspired challenge or to find out more, contact Adrienne Hodgson on 07730 748519.

Prospect Shopping Centre is delighted to report a further increase in Halloween footfall figures this year, following from an exceptionally busy day on October 31st.

With in excess of 31,000 visitors to the Centre on the day, footfall increased by 20.2% on the previous week and was 5.5% up on Halloween 2014. With the events hosted in the Centre’s strEAT foodcourt, CPL Foods benefited from a 45% increase in footfall within their demise on the day and 6%increase in sales, with the highest footfall being achieved at 2pm when the event launched.

Hull Kingston Rovers and Hull FC will be encouraging visitors to the Prospect Shopping Centre to “convert their coins” for charity on Saturday 22^nd March.

The Teenage Cancer Trust, an organisation devoted to improving the lives of teenagers and young adults with cancer, is the Prospect Centre’s chosen charity for 2014.  To help raise awareness and money for this charity, the centre has set up two rugby ball shaped “wishing wells” into which shoppers can throw their donated coins.  However, to make things more interesting one rugby ball is in the red and white colours of Hull KR and the other in the black and white of Hull FC, with shoppers being asked to put their coins into their favourite team’s ball.

Representatives and the mascots from each club – Rufus from Hull KR and the Airlie Bird from Hull FC – will be at the centre from 11am to 1pm to meet fans, hand out leaflets and persuade shoppers to put their coins in their “rugby ball”!

“Supporting charities and the local community is important to the Prospect Centre and we believe the Teenage Cancer Trust, which helps so many young adults cope with cancer, is an extremely worthwhile cause,” explains Lee Appleton, centre manager of The Prospect Centre.

“We know our shoppers will be generous, as they always are, and all money tossed in the rugby balls will go directly to the Teenage Cancer Trust.  However, we thought we would have a little bit of fun along the way and it will be interesting to see which club raises the most money!” adds Lee.

The amount of money raised and which team is in the lead can be tracked on the Prospect Centre’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/Prospectcentre.

For further information about Hull KR and Hull FC’s visit to the centre and how to convert your coins into a charity donation, visit the Prospect Shopping Centre website at, or call 01482 324 619.