A Carlisle-based charity is encouraging the local community to share their stories about hospice care during National Storytelling Week this week.
This year is a significant year for Eden Valley Hospice and Jigsaw, Cumbria Children’s Hospice as the charity celebrates 30 years of caring for local people with life limiting illnesses.
To help with the hospice’s anniversary celebrations it is encouraging people to share their memories of Eden Valley Hospice and Jigsaw.
Whether a loved one was cared for at the hospice or people have taken part in a fundraising event, every day precious memories are created with the support of the local community.
To celebrate National Storytelling Week, Eden Valley Hospice and Jigsaw have shared a story as part of their anniversary year.
In a letter to the hospice from the early 2000s Michelle describers her experiences of the hospice.
Michelle said, “There was no fooling mum who must have registered our anxiety, and therefore asked to be admitted to the local hospice, a place which she had never visited but held in implicit trust.
“On Millennium Eve she left our home with dad and we handed over to their expert care, knowing that time had come for change as the year 2000 dawned.
“In my head something told me that my mum was on a journey, and she had secured a ticket in club class. All would be well.
“The happiest and most precious times were spent over the next few days.
“We were enriched daily, as if drinking from the Horn of Plenty and could drink no more. The hospice staff took us from the coalface of daily care and gave us special moments together, the greatest gifts the Millennium could bring.
“Mum was very ill and growing weaker, but it didn’t matter because we were together and could just concentrate on being a unit.”
Eden Valley Hospice and Jigsaw will be celebrating their 30th anniversary with the local community, as it is thanks to the amazing support of the community that the charity is able to provide care, support and compassion to local people.
After the challenges of 2020, the local hospice needs the support of the local community now more than ever to continue to care for another 30 years.
Carlisle and Eden Valley Hospice began with one woman’s vision.
In the early 1980s Gill Melrose began to research the possibility of a hospice opening in the city and over the last three decades, thousands of local people have been touched by the compassion provided.
In a letter to Eden Valley Hospice Gill said: “The only thing that matters is that the hospice is a success and the need has been well established
“It is now up to everyone to maintain this wonderful establishment and prove yet again that we must never let it fail but move onwards and upwards to maintain the excellence in care the determined staff and volunteers provide for patients and their relatives.”
If you have a memory or story to share with Eden Valley Hospice and Jigsaw during their anniversary year, whether it’s a video, picture or story, please visit www.edenvalleyhospice.org, call 01228 810801 or email [email protected]
