Wirral Hospice St John’s Newsletter Spring 2024

Ward Sister Ceri is running the London Landmarks

How time flies! We’ve only just finished counting all of your kind donations for the Christmas tree collections campaign and we’re already bringing you our Spring 2024, From the Heart, newsletter.

Everything we do at Wirral Hospice St John’s can only happen because we have YOU, our wonderful, inspirational, supporters. It’s because of you that we can continue to care for people with life-limiting illnesses, including their families, friends and other carers, through some of the most challenging times of their lives.

Our trustee board, myself and our dedicated staff and volunteers, onsite and in our charity shops around the Wirral, are proud to be the guardians of our hospice. Iuse theword‘our’becauseitreallyisyourstoo.

I hope the spring season, of new and revitalised life, will provide us all with an opportunity to take a pause, a breath and, maybe, to think a little further into the future.

In April every year we traditionally partner with solicitors all around the Wirral so that our supporters can do that thing which, for various reasons, they don’t get around to and often don’t want to think about. That is, making a Will. I can tell you honestly, it took me long enough!

Details of April’s Make a Will Month are on pages 8 and 9.

Sometimes people do choose to leave us a gift in their Will and such legacies are an important and significant source of hospice income. We are often surprised, always delighted and eternally grateful when people honour us, and the work we do, in this way.

Every way you support us helps us to make our patients’ lives as full, as meaningful and as dignified as they can possibly be. Gifts in Wills make a major contribution to how we safeguard the specialist care and support you have all made possible for more than forty years now.

However you have experienced our services; as a patient, carer, or beloved family member, or friend, we will always strive to provide a service our whole Wirral community can be proud of.

So, for now, it’s my great pleasure to wish all of you, our loyal supporters, our dedicated staff and our dear volunteers, a very Happy Easter and a special summertime ahead.

Please enjoy every minute because, before you know it, we’ll be hurtling towards Christmas again!

Helen

Helen Brown Chief Executive | Wirral Hospice St John’s

NURSING: It’s a family affair…

Kate Whittaker always wanted to be a nurse.

By the 1970s Kate’s mum, Sheila, was working at Clatterbridge Hospital as an operating theatre staff nurse, rising to sister. In those days there was an outdoor swimming pool for staff (yes, really) and Kate and her sisters would come and visit mum and be able to take a dip in the pool during those long hot summers.

Maybe those fond memories, and the inspiration of a special mum who sandwiched a stellar nursing career in operating theatres between Clatterbridge and Arrowe Park with a twenty year stint, becoming theatre manager at Wirral’s Murrayfield private hospital, spurred Kate on.

By the late 1980s Kate herself was training to be a nurse. Wirral SchoolofNursing was based at Arrowe Park, with placements there and at Clatterbridge, including in the theatres where Sheila had worked. In 1991 Kate qualified and worked for what is now ClatterbridgeCancerCentre, which has now expanded into Liverpool.

Working in oncology for thirteen years built Kate’s knowledge of patients living with both curable and incurable cancers. She remembers,

Seeing patients fully recover was so uplifting but I became drawn to those people who were given the news that their illness could be treated but not cured. From that diagnosis onwards I knew my job was to help in giving patients the best quality of life they could possibly have.

I knew the hospice, I’d spent some time there as a student and had visited friends who became patients there. I saw that the whole purpose was to deliver that quality of life, for as long as possible.

Originally considering an application to join as a bank nurse on nights, I’d been working nights since my children, Alex, then 9, and Maya who was 2, came along. By coincidence I met two hospice nurses on a study day who told me to look out for a permanent position coming up on nights. I feel so fortunate that I was accepted and started working here in December 2003.

Eighteen years of nights followed for Kate at the hospice. She’s seen every scenario, from people rallying and being discharged as their pain and symptoms were brought under control, to comforting patients and their families in those final moments.

After a generation of working the night shift Kate moved across to day shifts in the hospice community services team which encompasses HospiceatHome,WellbeingCentreand Outpatients.

Nowadays Kate is working in the Wellbeing Centre team which initially welcomes patients with life-limiting illnesses on

a three or nine week course for a half day per week.

I love Wellbeing. We agree a plan with a patient whereby we seek to help them manage symptoms at home. We offer practical support to help with a range of potential physical, social, spiritual and psychological concerns.

We find that people like their time at the hospice so much that they want to keep coming back.

We’ve created check-in and chat sessions and a coffee morning, facilitated by the team, where patients who have been through the initial Wellbeing Centre sessions can meet up for a cuppa, take part in fun quizzes and the like and there’s cake, of course!

Kate and Sheila today

People help each other by sharing their experiences and they strike up friendships. There’s a lot of laughing and a lot of love.

So now, full circle, Kate works and mum, Sheila, volunteers at the hospice.

Sheila brings her wealth of experience by volunteering at our outpatients reception every Thursday morning and she sums it all up,

I know, because people tell me, what a wonderful nurse Kate is. I’m so proud of her and all the people I know who make the hospice such a heartwarming, special place.

Thank you so much Kate and Sheila, for your kind and dedicated service.

LONG LUXURIOUS

The hospice had a complete refit of our inpatients ward bathroom facilities in 2023.

And just, WOW! They were good before but they’re outstanding now!

For most of us there’s nothing better than a long warm soak after a challenging activity or long working day. Breatheinslowly…breatheoutslowly…breathein again…slowly…and…blooooooooowwwwww!

How relaxing is that?

Sometimes, of course, it’s just nice to have a good splash and a clean wash.

In a hospice setting where patients sometimes experience some pain, anxiety, shortness of breath and other challenging symptoms, bathing is often a complementary way of treating those symptoms. Studies show that a nice bath also stimulates heart function, aerobic capacity and promotes more consistent sleep.

Functionally, the bath itself can be set at various heights and patients can access it through a vertical-raise side door and, if a hoist is needed, there is less strain on our caring staff.

Patients can lie down or sit as appropriate and a special tilting action will allow them to recline safely, neck deep if they wish, in warm water.

Also, we can’t have patients staring at a blank wall, so we arranged for a vibrant, backlit, colourful and uplifting photograph of the New Brighton lighthouse plastered across the facing wall so patients can imagine being in a hot tub on a bracing day at the seaside.

Perfect!

The refurbishment was supported in part by a grant from the DuchyofLancasterBenevolentFund and also from hospice funds, which are generated by all of you in the many ways that you support us.

So, from the bottom of our beautiful new bathtub to the top of New Brighton lighthouse, we say,

Thank you, thank you and thank you, again!

A chance to win, a way to care…

More than 14,500 people are now members of our weekly lottery. Each entry costs only £1 per week which helps the hospice to fund the equivalent of 12-15 specialist nurses every year. If you’d like to join our weekly lottery please get in touch with our friendly team on 0151 334 0348 or email lottery@wirralhospice.org

Helps pay for 12-15 nurses each year

Top prize £2,000! guaranteed each week

Rollover climbs up to £10,000!

Lottery players must be aged 18 or older Please gamble responsibly

34 cash prizes weekly

Wirral Hospice is licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission under account number 4098 I registers.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/4098

Find more information at www.wirralhospice.org/lottery

Lottery Wedding Favours

TREAT YOUR GUESTS ON YOUR BIG DAY

Are you or a family member, or maybe some friends, getting married in 2024?

If so, as a favour, please consider giving all your guests a number in our weekly lottery for the following week.

Lots of lovely newly-weds have added this treat to their special day and, on occasion, we’ve also had some winners from the wedding parties. One day it might be the £2,000! We can provide the happy couple with some lovely, personalised, table cards as another ‘favour’ for your guests AND, for much younger guests, as you must be over 18 to play, an appropriate kids activity pack to keep them amused. Get in touch with Kate in our lottery team on 0151 334 0348 and she’ll be delighted to work through some ideas with you. Find out a little more at wirralhospice.org/ lotteryweddingfavours

If you’d like one or a number of £1 a week memberships or lottery wedding favours, you can find more details at www.wirralhospice.org/lottery where you will also find all of our lottery terms and conditions.

Pre-loved As good as new New Wirral Hospice charity shops are growing from strength to strength

New

shops and refurbished, more established, premises are really adding choice for our customers around the Wirral. We’ve got ten charity emporia now with, watchthisspace, maybe a couple more in the pipeline.

We handle thousands of items of pre-loved clothing, accessories, bric-a-brac and more, which have to be sorted for sale, then priced and displayed invitingly around each shop.

The hospice van team buzzes around the peninsula collecting larger items of your good quality furniture for re-loving. Large wardrobes, bedside cabinets, tables & chairs, beds, three-piece suites, occasional chairs and sofas, which all test their strength and agility to load the van. Pleaseremembertokeepyourfire labelsonfurnishings,wherevertheyareappropriate, forustopickthemup.

Fir-Bobs get their new hospice charity shop

You have to live there, or know somebody who does, to get the connection, but the hospice quietly opened its newest charity shop at 118 Teehey Lane in Bebington around Christmas-time to delight those local Fir-Bobs!

We didn’t make a big song and dance about it at the time as we felt a fanfare would have been lost in the pre and postChristmas commemorations of LightupaLife, and annual celebrations in our school RudolphRuns and Christmastree collections.

However, the shop has already been bringing in plenty of custom as its prominent position at a busy row of shops, opposite the popular Acorn pub and close by the Sainsbury's Bebington garage, attracts plenty of passing traffic. Manager, Kate (pictured), is excited about the new shop, As Wirral Hospice St John's is at the heart of our whole Wirral community it is great to be reinforcing all of that in our Bebington community. We’re so appreciative of local people who donate their preloved goods and, of course, our dedicated volunteers who are all absolutely vital in helping us to raise those much needed funds for our hospice’s specialist care and support. Everyone who comes here can be assured of a warm welcome, an excellent shopping experience and, always, our grateful thanks.

Pop in and say hello, you won't be able to resist a bargain!

of the best charity shop destinations

Like a train station announcer, we can now say our ten charity shops offer potential for you to stop and shop… in Bebington, Birkenhead, Bromborough AllportRoad, Bromborough CroftRetailPark, Claughton, Heswall, Liscard, Moreton, New Brighton and West Kirby.

The shops are part of a virtuous circle of recycling, sustainability, community service and of course, fundraising. They are a very significant source of hospice income and help massively towards the specialist care and support that people in our Wirral community hold in such high regard.

For supporting us with donations, for spending your hard-earned cash and for providing the volunteer base, without which we would not be able to make the massive contribution to our hospice services, we are so thankful to all of you, our generous Wirral community.

Quality is available at all of our charity shops but often we do come across special items that we feel deserve to feature on our ebay pages which might command a slightly higher premium for the hospice. Branded clothing and shoes, sometimes hardly or never worn, valuable collections of books and sports memorabilia, even original art or antiques, designer handbags and much more are of ten listed for us at www.ebay.co.uk/str/wirralhospice

Don’t forget to

If you pay tax in the UK, just like if you give a regular cash gift to the hospice, all items donated to our charity shops and/or ebay become eligible for Gift Aid.

This means your donation could be worth an extra 25% to the hospice. If you can support us with Gift Aid on your donations the team may ask you to fill in a really quick form to confirm you’re happy to help us claim Gift Aid.

Fresh front! Same super service

Our New Brighton charity shop, a long-established hub of its local community, has now been given a complete makeover. When you pop-in you’ll observe a veritable hive of activity.

Here, manager Nadia oversees the kaleidoscope of stock changes, inspiring her brilliant volunteers to carry on sorting donations and serving customers to the ultimate benefit of their beloved hospice. Nadia told us,

Our customers are loving our refreshed décor and eye-catching fascia. We’ve always been highly regarded by our lovely local community and those hordes of visitors to New Brighton from further afield. It’s given us all a big lift.

We’ll let you decide whether we’ve done a good job on the refurbishment. Above are the before and after photos of the shop.

What do you think?

To find out more about all of our retail services please visit wirralhospice.org/shopping and if you’d like to become a volunteer please email volunteering@wirralhospice.org and we’ll send out the relevant information

www.wirralhospice.org

April is MakeaWill

Month

Wirral Hospice St John’s provides its nursing care and specialist support services, free of charge, to patients whose illnesses have progressed beyond a cure, alongside appropriate support for their loved ones too.

It costs more than £6million each year to run our hospice and this is only possible through the ongoing support of our whole Wirral community, individuals, businesses and other organisations, who continue to support the hospice in so many ways.

Howmuchdoesitcost?

The legal firms who partner with us for Make a Will Month offer their valuable time and waive normal fees for their Will writing services. Then, at a significant discount to the normal cost, they ask people for a suggested, and kind, donation of just £100 for a single Will or £150 for a double Will for Wirral Hospice.

Make a Will Month

Each April, a host of Wirral solicitors partner with Wirral Hospice St John’s to offer people the chance to make a new Will, or revise their old one.

MakeaWillMonth offers people the security of knowing that all of their assets will go exactly where they wish them to when they’re no longer around.

Appointments fill up really quickly, so an early booking is strongly advised and supporters are encouraged to contact Julia in the hospice fundraising office on 0151 343 0778 in March for a list of partner solicitors and a voucher to obtain an appointment.

When making a booking, the solicitor will take some outline details and then send out an initial form to fill in so that the main issues to be addressed in the Will are covered.

Whymakeawill?

It’s natural for people to believe there’s plenty of time before they have to take this important step, but experience tells us that it’s never too early. If a Will is not officially drawn up then assets may be subject to processes under the law which may have potentially negative repercussions for loved ones for many years.

There may already be a Will in place but major changes can happen in life, including marriage, divorce, having children or even the death of a loved one, which can potentially invalidate some, or all, of a current Will.

Unmarried partners or those who have not registered a civil partnership cannot inherit from each other unless there is a Will in place.

Homeowners and people with dependent children are especially encouraged to have an upto-date Will.

Legacies

Legacies have become a significant part of hospice income and, although amounts greatly vary according to people’s circumstances, Wirral Hospice St John’s is extremely grateful when people choose to leave a gift of any size.

Anything that is left to charity is not counted towards the total taxable value of your estate and if you leave at least 10% of your ‘net estate’ to a charity it can cut inheritance tax from 40% to 36% where that may be applicable.

There are different ways of leaving a gift in your Will;

Residual legacy: A gift of the remainder or share of your estate, after all your other gifts are given and any debts cleared. You could leave anything between 1% to 100% Pecuniary legacy: A gift of a fixed sum of money.

Specific legacy: A gift of a particular named item such as jewellery, a painting, a car or shares.

Didknow?you

The care and support given to 1 in 5 of Wirral Hospice patients is made possible by the kind gifts left in people’s Wills.

Julia Evans who oversees Make a Will Month for the hospice says,

If you’re looking to create or update your Will in Make a Will Month we’d be delighted to hear from you. We can help you locate the closest available partner solicitor for completing your Will. Once you’ve contacted the solicitor they’ll send you a simple form to fill in from the comfort of your own home. Once you have made those decisions on where your estate will go, and your family have been provided for, please consider leaving a gift to Wirral Hospice St John’s. We are so grateful to our partner solicitors for waiving their fees and for all those people who take that opportunity to make a kind donation to the hospice.

For more information, a voucher for Make a Will Month and a list of solicitors, please contact Julia Evans at Wirral Hospice St John's in the following ways; Call: 0151 343 0778 or email: juliae@wirralhospice.org

STARS OF THE SMALL SCREEN

In November we welcomed a professional video company to film some members of staff and some volunteers to explain why Gifts in Wills are so important to our hospice. On the day our communications apprentice, Lucy, shadowed the interviewer and cameraman to get a flavour of how such films are put together.

It was an exciting day for me. I’d never seen professional filming up close before, although I’ve shared the odd iPhone recorded celebration with friends on Instagram!

It was also an important day for the hospice. Even from my short time here I know how important gifts in Wills are to the hospice and the reasons why people choose to leave them is really interesting and heartwarming. It was definitely a chance for me to learn more.

A series of interviews had been set up with hospice staff and volunteers and the idea was also to grab some footage of life at the hospice.

Very soon interviewer and director, Suzanne, was into her questioning and honest answers were coming from various people at the hospice. Medical director, Emma, chief executive, Helen, nurse, Anita, fundraising manager, Julia and others gave the hospice perspective while the most powerful words came from hospice volunteer, Fran McManus (story on opposite page), who has also decided to leave Wirral Hospice a gift in her Will.

I remember writing down some of things I heard, Thehospiceisaboutliving. Aplacetomakememoriesthat lastforever.

Weworkhardtomakethemost ofeverydayforourpatientsand theirfamilies.

I’mfullyawareoftheexcellentwork thehospicedoeswhichiswhyIamso pleasedtoleaveagiftinmyWill.

ThankyoutoourwholeWirral community.

Beingabletoleavealegacytoaplace wherepeoplehavereceivedsuch amazingcare,isalastinggift.

After five hours of filming interviews and various scenes around the hospice, the video was taken away for editing to produce a film of around 2 minutes and 30 seconds for Gifts in Wills.

I personally learnt that it takes a lot of preparation, a busy day’s work and also some fun to produce what are serious messages for the hospice.

I really don’t have the experience to guess what the effect of such a communication will be for the hospice. I do know, however, that if it motivates even a small a number of supporters to leave us a gift in their Will it could be very significant indeed.

For more information about leaving the hospice a gift in your Will and to view the Gifts in Wills video please go to wirralhospice.org/ giftinyourwill

Lucy told us,

Where there’s a Will! Bromborough shop volunteer Fran McManus

Former cardiac nurse, Fran, worked on the site of our hospice before we opened. She started training as a cadet nurse in 1975 and worked as a student on the famous children’s WendyWard where our hospice WellbeingCentre is now situated.

Keeping watch as the hospice developed, while her own career grew, becoming a sister of coronary care services at Clatterbridge Hospital, she supported the hospice and loved everything we did.

In those early years I was close by so knew of the fantastic work the hospice was doing. Later my friend’s daughter was in the hospice and the care she received was exemplary. Other friends have experience of hospice care so, following retirement, I wanted to help and also make a contribution in other ways.

After 1991 Fran was part of the cardiac rehabilitation community team based at StCatherine’sHealthCentre until retiring in 2017. COVID intervened a little but Fran has now really settled into volunteering at our Bromborough, Allport Road, charity shop, There’s such a lovely atmosphere. Susie, the shop manager, is just delightful. A whirlwind who, as well as running a busy shop, supports all of us volunteers. We’re like family. We’ve got great regular customers and it’s wonderful knowing that, through the shop, our community is supporting our local adult hospice.

As well as volunteering, Fran also supports LightupaLife every year in memory of her partner Steve, who died of a congenital heart condition in 2008, and of her dad, Michael. Fran’s mum, Kitty, is still going strong at 92 years of age. It was while working in the shop last March that Fran noticed a poster and some flyers for the hospice’s Make A Will Month.

I decided it was time to update my Will. I read the information, spoke to Julia at the hospice and called one of the solicitors. It was really easy. After completing the paperwork I made my donation to the hospice for around half of what it might have cost normally. I also chose to leave a gift in my Will for the hospice. I had thought you might have to leave a specific amount but actually you can leave any percentage of whatever estate you leave. There was no pressure at all, I just wanted to make a further contribution towards our hospice for some time in the future.

Fran is featured in the video we’ve made for people choosing to leave a gift in their Will and her “filmcareer,”she laughs, will continue because she’s taken the lead role in a film being made by author, and her friend, Bernardette McBride, called The Sea Monster and set in the home of her ancestors, DoolininCountyClare,Ireland.

For more information about leaving the hospice a gift in your Will and to view the Gifts in Wills video please go to wirralhospice.org/ giftinyourwill

We’ll look forward to seeing that later in the year to reinforce what we already know… you’re a STAR Fran, thank you for everything you do for the hospice.

Make it a Father’s Day to remember

Wirral Coastal Walk 2024: We’re looking for a minimum of 100 walkers to take on the challenge for the hospice.

In 2023 the organisation of the annual Wirral Coastal Walk was in transition between the Rotary Clubs of North Wirral and Mid-Wirral.

This year the handover is complete and, somethingtodowiththeebbandflowof the tides, Mid-Wirral Rotary has set a slightly later date for the 20km jaunt around our Northwest Wirral coastline from the Floral Pavilion all the way to the Thurstaston visitors centre.

It’s Sunday 16th June, which just happens to be Father’s Day. Our supporters have often signed up for the walk to obtain sponsorship for funds for the hospice and we just think that this year might present a great opportunity to get walking with dads of all ages and in memory of those great dads no longer with us.

For more details check wirralhospice.org/wirral-coastal-walk and for Wirral Hospice sponsor forms, a t-shirt to walk and fundraising support, please contact our friendly events team on events@wirralhospice.org or 0151 343 0778

A Capital Idea: ward sister Ceri to take on a half marathon around the London Landmarks

You know when you book that weekend break in TheBigSmoke and you’ve planned your tube, bus, taxi and rickshaw trips to see the sights?

Well, what about taking in all those tourist attractions in just over a couple of hours, maybe alittlelonger, by signing up for the London Landmarks Half Marathon?

That’s exactly what one of our wonderful inpatients ward sisters, Ceri, is doing to raise some funds for our hospice.

The route starts at Pall Mall and finishes up outside Downing Street. You could walk the direct route in five minutes.

While warming up, speeding, jogging, trotting and maybe walking a little, you will see Buckingham Palace, Nelson’s Column, Somerset House, The Strand, Royal Courts of Justice, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Gherkin, The Cheese Grater, The Shard, The Walkie Talkie, the Tower of London,

Ceri

Tower Bridge, the London Eye, The Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Prime Minister’s Den and much more.

It’s almost a trip around the Monopoly board and we’ll be hoping that Ceri can raise at least enough to pay the rent if she landed on Trafalgar Square with two houses, £300!

Ceri likes running so, in all honesty, the London Landmarks is going to be a warm-up for the Manchester full marathon she’s doing a week later.

Wowser!

Ceri goes with the very best wishes of all her hospice colleagues and we’re looking forward to her bringing us back one of those souvenir snow globes with a famous red bus and one or two of the other sites in it too!

If you’d like to sponsor Ceri follow this link to her Just Giving page justgiving.com/ fundraising/ Ceri-Howarth

As regular as clockwork

We are so grateful for the many ways in which our brilliant supporters raise money and donate to the hospice.

A growing number of supporters choose to make a recurring monthly, 6-monthly, or annual donation as a regular giver, or through our Sponsor a Nurse initiative. This ongoing commitment provides a stable income stream, helping us to keep the hospice ticking over.

We appreciate that our wonderful regular givers support us in other ways too, like volunteering at the hospice or in our charity shops, or by taking part in campaigns and events throughout the year. We are so very grateful to them for all that they do for us, they are simply amazing!

In the past year our regular givers and SponsoraNurse supporters have helped us to provide the equivalent of two months of specialist hospice care. Because the donations are monthly, 6-monthly, or annually, we can look ahead too, to plan our future with a little more certainty.

People who want to give in this way get to choose the amount of money, from£5permonth, that fits within their own budget.

New regular givers receive a welcome pack with a thank you card and a hospice pin badge. All people who donate this way will also receive our bi-annual ‘FromtheHeart’ newsletter.

So, to all those who make that regular donation or sponsor a nurse now, or in the future, we just want to say a huge THANK YOU from the bottom of all of our hearts.

Your ongoing support makes such a difference and really means the world to us.

You may choose various ways to make a regular donation.

By post, by downloading a form from our website on the link below, or online banking, or direct debit via Just Giving. These are all outlined at our website at wirralhospice.org/regulargiving or call 0151 343 0778 or email fundraising@wirralhospice.org and we will be more than happy to help.

Clean as a Whistle

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Wirral Hospice St John’s kitchen receives a 5-STAR rating

TheFoodStandardsAgency(FSA) visited Wirral Hospice St John’s in January to assess our kitchen and Hub Café for food handling, storage, preparation, cleanliness and safety. And… we passed with flying colours. We can proudly display the famous green and black sign which lets people know we’re 5-STAR!

5

VERYGOOD

It’s often reported by our patients that one of the things they most enjoy about their hospice stay is mealtimes and the delicious food they are served.

Roast chicken, lamb chops, beef stew, corned beef hash? Chicken thighs and dauphinoise potatoes? Or, soup of the day and sandwiches of your choice? What about Sunday? Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings.

AahBisto!(Othergravyflavouringsareavailable!)

In fact if patients give us a little notice we’ll prepare whatever takes their fancy. Tobehonestwemight strugglesourcingCanadianSnowCrab!

Now, none of that magic can happen without a dedicated team of professionals cooking up a storm.

Take a bow, Carol, Dawn, Elaine, Fiona, Lynn, Margie, Nic, Roy, Sharon, and Yvette. Between them, they’ve got well over 100 years of cooking and serving at the hospice. No matter how busy they get, especially in the run up to mealtimes on our inpatients ward or in our busy Hub Café, 10am-3pm each weekday, they’ve all got time for our patients and their families.

They are, of course, supported by a team of valuable volunteers working in shifts, too many to namecheck here (sixtythree at the last count) but so loved and appreciated nonetheless.

Every one of them is a special person, able to listen, with a ready quip or anecdote themselves and with enough life experience for a knowledgeable and friendly chat. The environment is clean, the food is delicious and the staff are just, well, 5-STAR!

I’m too busy living!

Hospice Wellbeing Centre patient, Nicola, tells us how the hospice has given her a new lease of life.

Recently Nicola (Nic/Nicky), went to Disneyland Paris with 14 family members and we have it on good authority that it was Nicky, not Mickey, bringing the fun!

Throughout our chat her infectious laugh sets us off, she’s chuckling away, finding the fun in everything and cheering us up no end.

Nicola’s living with a challenging, secondary, breast cancer which makes her happiness even more uplifting.

However, in all honesty, she says she wasn’t feeling so positive when the cancer she’d been in remission from, some 15 or 16 years ago, returned,

In the months following my more recent diagnosis I’d thought really hard and spoken with all my family about arranging a trip abroad to seek help to die. My mind was filled with thoughts of imminent pain and disability and I was resolved in my mind.

But then, thank goodness, I attended a consultation with Wirral Hospice’s medical director, Dr Emma Longford, and all that began to change. She was absolutely brilliant and after just a couple of empathetic, but frank, consultations I agreed to try a spell with the hospice’s Wellbeing Centre team and in hindsight it was one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Sessions with Tracy, she’s wonderful, to help with fatigue, anxiety and breathlessness are, literally FAB, a breath of fresh air. I now practise the breathing techniques when I’m at home and soon find any anxiety disappearing.

And, what a laugh! I’ve got new friends amongst the other patients and, after completing eight weeks of initial Wellbeing Centre sessions I joined the Wednesday check-in and chat group where we might

be doing quizzes, getting our heart beating with GymBall drumming, definitely giggling and always setting the world to rights.

The volunteers are lovely. Maggie, Sue and Geoff join in the fun but are also very attentive, bringing us tea, coffee, biscuits and cake to keep us going.

The staff team are magnificent. They facilitate the fun and the, sometimes, serious discussions too. If there’s any clinical needs Ryan, Kate and Ashley are there to take care of us all.

You couldn’t ask for a nicer gang of people and I can’t remember the exact moment I said to myself, ‘Hold on a minute, why am I thinking about dying, I’m too busy living.’

Wirral Hospice St John’s has given me back my sparkle. Everyone there has my best interests at heart.

Nic and husband, Pete, have a blended family with four grown up children between them (Adrian, Michelle, Sharon and Zanny – short for Suzanne) and six grandchildren.

Retired now, there’s an awful lot to do and Nic is only looking forward to adding more trips in 2024 to the long list of holiday destinations she and Pete have taken in.

Amalfi Coast,Azores, Canada, Canaries, Caribbean, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, India, Malta, New Zealand, Paris, Russia and USA.

Wherever next? Well, just as we go to publication, Nic and Pete will have just returned from another holiday in Cyprus.

Enjoy your travels Nic, we’re with you all the way!

Caring for and supporting our patients and their families, at the hospice and in the community, involves a team of dedicated staff including, all of our nurses, healthcare assistants, our palliative care consultants, doctors, domestic and catering teams, social workers, spiritual co-ordinators, complementary, physical and occupational therapists, counsellors, bereavement supporters, facilities, finance, administrative and fundraising teams who are all supported, where and when appropriate, by the most dedicated volunteers.

Life at the hospice goes on because the people in our Wirral community, and some who have moved away for new opportunities in life, continue to value the work we do and make their kind and thoughtful donations.

We are eternally grateful!

How we raise our funds

There are now ten Wirral Hospice charity shops around our Wirral peninsula that rely on donations of quality pre-loved items and people continuing to buy the bargain items that we have on sale. Sometimes of a higher value via our eBay Page:

www.wirralhospice.org/shopping

Join over 14,500 weekly members of our lottery for a chance to win the top prize of £2,000 every week or, if the second prize rolls for 20 weeks, maybe £10,000!

www.wirralhospice.org/lottery

We are so grateful to people who make a one-off or a regular gift to the hospice. There are a number of ways you can consider doing this by visiting www.wirralhospice.org/givingdonations and if you are considering leaving us a legacy donation, that page is at www.wirralhospice.org/giftinyourwill

There are a whole host of fundraising ideas and opportunities so please have a browse at www.wirralhospice.org/eventsandcompanies for other ways to get involved and maybe raise some sponsorship.

To speak with a member of our team please call the fundraising office on 0151 343 0778

Our very best wishes for a Happy Easter and the summer months ahead

| Higher Bebington | Wirral | CH63 6JE

Tel: 0151 334 2778 | Email: info@wirralhospice.org

wirralhospicestjohns

www.wirralhospice.org