LOROS Patrons

Alan or ‘Birch’ as he is affectionately known became a LOROS Patron in August 2009.

He is a former Leicester City footballer who played during the 1960s and 1970s as an attacking midfielder. Born in East Ham he made his Football League debut with Sheffield United before playing with Chelsea and Crystal Palace. He was signed by Leicester City in 1971.

Alan has been working in the community for over 30 years and in 2002 was awarded an MBE for his charity work. In 2009, Leicester City Council announced that he was to be given the Honorary Freedom of Leicester and two years later, in 2011, Alan received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Leicester.

Alan has been working behind the scenes for the club and is currently Club Ambassador, which includes the roll of pre-match and half-time host, at Leicester City.

He has recently taken his charity fundraising efforts through the £1 million mark, after a season of initiatives aimed at making the Birch a platinum fundraiser in his 40th year with the Foxes.

The Birch, a long time supporter of LOROS, said he was “honoured to become a Patron. I know what a fantastic job LOROS do, it is a wonderful organisation."

Charlie Clapham is a Leicester-born actor who stars in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks.

Charlie, who plays Freddie Roscoe in the television programme first came into contact with LOROS, when he and his family, who own Leicester tattoo and piercing parlour, Kazbah, wanted to help the Hospice celebrate their 30th anniversary.

He visited LOROS for the first time in November 2015, spending the day talking with patients, their families and members of staff.

Following his visit, which Charlie said was ‘extremely heart-warming’, he immediately knew he wanted to continue supporting LOROS.

“It’s great knowing that somewhere like LOROS exists and it doesn’t just exist, it exists in my home town and that makes me very proud.

“Being asked to become a Patron for LOROS is one of the best things ever,” he said. “It is an absolute honour.”

Charlie has since attended some of our fundraising events and has even held his own piercing day, where he raised nearly £1,000 for LOROS by giving fans the chance to get pierced by him.

Anne became a LOROS Patron in January 2015. Anne is instantly recognisable to most local people as she is a popular television presenter and newsreader, currently presenting BBC East Midlands today.

Anne began her career with BBC Current Affairs, working behind the scenes in Question Time, Panorama and the Money Programme. She then moved to BBC Radio Leicester and BBC Radio Derby. After training for a year at ITN, Anne became the regular newsreader for Central News East. In 1993, Anne fronted the ITV daytime programme Look Good Feel Great with Diana Moran; the environmental series Earth Dwellers Guide and produced and presented fashion shows for the ITV network entitled Off the Peg. Anne then moved to GMTV, presenting the first breakfast programme with Eamonn Holmes.

Anne moved back to the East Midlands to work for the BBC in May 2001 and has been presenting East Midlands Today since. Whilst there she has presented five series of the documentary series Inside Out, always fronts Children in Need and helped the programme win two Royal Television Society Awards for her coverage of the Madeline McCann story and the Olympic Torch Special from Derby. She won an RTS Award for “Best on Screen Personality” in 2012.

Anne visited LOROS in the summer of 2014 and was very touched and impressed by the services she saw at first hand. She said: “To see the difference LOROS makes to so many local patients and their families was a very moving experience and I am delighted to become a LOROS Patron so that I can help LOROS continue to provide their much needed services to terminally ill patients and their families”.

World Snooker Champion, Mark Selby, became a LOROS Patron in November 2009.

Mark was snooker’s youngest professional when he joined the paid ranks as a 16 year old in 1999, but it wasn’t until the 2007 888.com World Championship that he really began to show the world what he can do. His amazing run to the final at the Crucible Theatre made everyone sit up and notice his talents.

He threatened to pull off the biggest comeback in the history of the sport’s most prestigious tournament before eventually succumbing 18-13 to John Higgins. Nevertheless, Mark’s heroics on the table – and his antics around the green baize, which earned him his ‘Jester from Leicester’ nickname – endeared him to a whole new legion of fans.

His first title win was at the 2008 Saga Insurance Masters at Wembley. Mark quickly followed up this triumph with his first ranking event title when he came from behind against Ronnie O’Sullivan to win the Welsh Open in thrilling style and put him fourth in the rankings.

In 2011, Mark realised his lifetime ambition by rising to the top of the world rankings for the first time; he beat Mark Williams 10-9 in an epic Shanghai Masters final to steal the coveted No.1 spot.

Mark joined snooker’s elite by winning the Masters trophy for the third time in January 2013, beating Neil Robertson 10-6 at Alexandra Palace.

In May 2014 Mark won his first dafabet World Championship trophy and became World number 1.

Mark is also a dab hand at pool, having won the EPA World Eight-Ball title in 2006 and playing regularly for the Leicestershire County side.

Mark is delighted to be a LOROS Patron as he is very grateful for the help and support that his father and his family received from LOROS.

Hollywood superstars Stephen Graham and his wife, actress Hannah Walters became Patrons in November 2017.

The couple, who live in the Leicestershire village of Ibstock, first visited the Hospice early November, which inspired them to bucket collect for LOROS, raising nearly £2,500.

Stephen is best known for his roles in films This Is England, in which he played Combo, Tommy in Snatch, Scrum in Pirates of the Caribbean and Baby Face Nelson, in Public Enemies.

In addition to appearing in a huge number of hit films, Stephen has also starred in television series Boardwalk Empire as Al Capone, Atticus in Taboo and Detective Dave Kelly, Little Boy Blue.

Stephen was nominated for a BAFTA in 2013 for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in TV series Accused and then again in 2016, for ‘Best Leading Actor’ in This Is England ’90.

Stephen’s wife, Hannah, appeared alongside him in Pirates of the Caribbean and has also starred in television series Whitechapel and No Offence.

Hannah also starred in the film version of This Is England back in 2006, as a shoe shop assistant, before playing Trudy in the adapted television series, which Stephen also starred in.

Over two weeks Stephen and Hannah, with help from their two children collected £2,346 for LOROS, by bucket collecting up-down-the country.

They both felt ‘honoured’ and ‘privileged’ to become Patrons of the Hospice.

“After our visit to LOROS, we left feeling inspired. It’s great to be able to support a local organisation which is right on our doorstep.”

Read more about this story in our press release

TV superstar and stand-up comedian Greg Davies became a Patron of LOROS in January 2018, following a visit he made to the Hospice a few months before.

Inspired by the care he saw and the ‘positive’ atmosphere at LOROS, Greg was keen to support LOROS further and so went on to raise a total of more than £2,000 at three gigs held in Leicester, before accepting the title of ‘Patron’ of the Hospice shortly after.

Best known for his roles in TV shows, The Inbetweeners, Cuckoo, Man Down and the host of Taskmaster, Greg says that his visit to LOROS completely changed his perception of hospices.

He was admittedly sceptical before visiting LOROS but says the Hospice is “very much alive” despite it being a place that cares for the seriously ill.

So much so, Greg went on to mention LOROS and his visit during his show throughout his nationwide tour. “I’m delighted to become one of their Patrons,” he said.