Chair's Update for August 2008

What a busy time we have had! July has seen us engaged in a hive of activity for publicity and fundraising.

The street collections in Hexham and Corbridge have raised over £3500 and we have distributed post cards throughout most of the area. The number of monthly standing orders is now 43 and more arrive daily, and so many more people now know about the service.

We have also received a number of donations, one very substantial legacy has been left to us, and many other donations have been received over the past 4 weeks, which is very heartening. It is so encouraging that so many people have rallied around following us making it known that our financial position was becoming difficult.

The Wildlife Film show organised by our nursing team was a great success, and raised  over £2,500 which is magnificent .We were given many raffle prizes, including some from Tesco, and they are planning to help us further by holding a money-raising competition for us within their store soon.

So a very big thank you to everyone who has contributed in July; together, we have really made a difference!

Following our meeting with Peter Atkinson, he wrote to the Health Care Trust on our behalf, urging them to consider our arguments for a different basis for their funding to us. Also, following the Government’s publication of its ‘Strategy for Dying’ promoting the idea of ‘rapid response teams’ we wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and the opposition party health spokespersons, pointing out that in Tynedale we have an excellent service in place, it only needed a better funding basis. We are still waiting to hear back from the Trust, and are crossing our fingers whilst awaiting a response from them.

Our AGM is on 9 September 2008 at 7 pm in the Hospice, this is a short formal meeting. Anyone can attend, and we are always looking for enthusiastic members to join the Management Committee. If you are interested in knowing more or in joining, please get in touch.

We are planning an open afternoon to give information about the service to the public on 23rd September and are busy thinking about the format for that.

Finally, with all this energy going into publicity and fund raising, we must not forget that our purpose is to give care, and that care will always be freely given. We must  ensure that anyone who is in need of our care can receive it.

Jane Hastings