TESCO CHARITY OF THE YEAR

Every year, Tesco adopts a National chairty with a strong community presence to be the Tesco Charity of the year. This becomes the main focus for Tesco staff fundraising; funds collected receive a 20% "top-up" from the Tesco Charity Trust.

Help The Hospices, the national charity which works on behalf of the hospice movement, has been chosen as Tesco Charity of the Year 2004.

Individual Tesco stores have now been partnered with their local hospice to ensure that funds raised by Tesco employees will benefit local communities.

We are delighted that Tesco at Melton Mowbray has been partnered with Dove Cottage Hospice as part of this year's charitable appeal.

CHRIS'S CORNER

Welcome to our new spring newsletter which I hope you will find both interesting and informative. A very big 'thank you' to Greene Tweed for printing the paper version for us.

It's an amazing 8 years since we first opened our doors to offer day-care to just 8 people a day , twice a week. We now open 4 days a each week, caring for up to 18 people each day. A recent extension to enlarge the dining area and improve the entrance facilities, especially for wheelchair users, has given us a wonderfully spacious building for people to enjoy whilst spending their days with us.

Unfortunately rising numbers, means rising costs. Of every £10 it takes to run Dove Cottage, only £3 comes from local authorities. Hence the need to keep raising money from charitable efforts.

Very many thanks to everyone who has held an event or made a donation over the years. We wouldn't still be here without that support.

I do hope you will be able to support some of the events detailed in the "Funding Events" area of the site (button on the navigation bar at the bottom of all pages). They are all good fun and most of them are held at Dove cottage, so it's also a good opportunity to come and see what we've been up to.

One initiative I would like to promote is our newly launched 'giving campaign'. I know it is rather 'old hat' but the reality is if just 500 people would consider donating £5 a month, this would cover nearly half of our running costs every year. Please do give this some consideration. I've just filled my form in; it really is very easy to set up. Just click on the 'support us' link at the bottom of this and every page for further details.

Of every £10 it takes to run Dove Cottage, only £3 comes from local authorities

OUR WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS

Over 60 (yes, sixty!)volunteers, coming from all walks of life, spend from a couple of hours to a couple of days each week supporting the team at Dove Cottage. From helping with transport, preparing meals,trimming the bushes, and replacing the fencing,to building a new wheelchair friendly pathway to the stream at the bottom of the garden, it is as if no challenge is beyond their combined talents.
Take, for example, Richard and his wife Anne, who joined the team at Dove Cottage as volunteers shortly after they had lost their parents about six years ago. In Richard's words, he and Anne both had warm memories of their own childhood, and they both recognised how fortunate they were in their life together that they had been keen to give something back.
"It's just a privilege to try and help", says Richard. "It's not about trying to prove anything to anyone; but it is about sharing hope through laughter. And of course, there's nothing to beat a cuddle."
Then there is Michael, who has been helping people at Dove Cottage for four years now. Being visually and hearing impaired himself, he moved to live with his uncle Angelo following the loss of his parents. Angelo was one of the cooks at Dove cottage, and one day he invited Michael along to the hospice to help him during lunchtime. That did it! Michael was immediately struck by everyone's involvement in supporting each other-staff, patients and volunteers alike. "It's all about sharing in the work and sharing in the play" he explains.
Finally, there is Tony, who first became aware of Dove Cottage a couple of years ago when the MacMillan nurse suggested that his wife sheila might enjoy a day there each week. The first time he visited the hospice was the following Christmas when, as Sheila's guest, they both enjoyed a lovely traditional lunch and the sat back to be entertained by an amazing pantomime (Snow White and the two 'larger than life' dwarfs) given by the staff and some of the volunteers.
The joy of Christmas was certainly celebrated! Looking back, that day was the start of Tony's own involvement as a volunteer. And he also knows that whenever Sheila is at Dove Cottage she is truly amongst friends.
Isn't that where we all need to be?

"This above all is precious and remarkable
How we put ourselves in one another's care,
How in spite of everything, we trust each other"
From: 'Weep Before God' by John Wain

SHEILA'S STORY

When my Macmillan nurse first suggested that I might enjoy going to my local day hospice for one day a week I was horrified,probably noticeably, at the idea. Wasn't it bad enough to have cancer in the first place without having to spend one whole day a week listening to other people trying to out-do each other with tales of how many trials of treatment they had had, each more upsetting than the one before.

They'd bound to be really old, prim and proper-and unhappy. But, after a lot of pushing, I decided that I may as well go once and then I could say I'd tried it and I didn't like it.

Well, I could not have been more mistaken. They were all ages, the youngest being in his early twenties, and the oldest was younger in heart than any of us. The sound most prevalent was laughter-as much as could be heard over the music of all kinds coming from the music centre.There were many activities going on;painting, indeed art work of all kinds-many different things, and then my beady eye caught sight of a half erected green house which someone had donated. I'd always wanted to grow something in a greenhouse and here was my chance. Some weeks later, and with the help of some keen 'waterers', we were able to reap our reward of several pounds of juicy tomatoes to help out with the smashing three course lunches made by volunteer cooks every day.

Then there were the outings, including a trip down the Trent on a marvellous specially adapted boat, a visit to the ice rink in Nottingham to see a glittering sing-song performance on ice, and Christmas shopping in Nottingham to name just a few. Nothing could keep me away now; and to think I didn't want to come here in the first place! Ah well, that's life!!

Dove Cottage Day Hospice.
Last revised:15/11/05