A new footpath connecting Eden Valley Hospice and Jigsaw, Cumbria’s Children’s Hospice to a much-loved Carlisle park has been created thanks to the generosity of local businesses and organisations.
The footpath is between the hospice on Durdar Road and Hammond’s Pond and means that the park can be more easily accessed directly from the hospice, a place regularly visited by patients, their families and children cared for by Jigsaw, rather than having to go via the main road.
Local businesses and organisations have worked on the project, which would have cost more than £20,000 if it had been self-funded.
The hospice, which cares for adults and children with life-limiting illnesses, must raise more than £3 million each year to continue providing its dedicated and compassionate care, meaning that projects such as creating a new footpath could not happen without significant charitable contributions from the local community.
A small ceremony was held at the hospice on Friday to officially open the new footpath with many of the businesses and organisations who contributed in attendance, including Carlisle City Council, Balfour Beatty, Hanson, Orchard Tree Surgery, Evans Agricultural Contractors, Carlisle Vineyard, SRW Welding, Sunbelt Rentals and Lechkin Fencing. Contributions were also made by Kingmoor Consulting and Forsyth of Denny.
Julie Clayton, the hospice’s chief executive, said: “We’d like to say a big thank you to all those who helped create this brilliant new addition to our beautiful hospice site. The generosity of our local community never ceases to amaze me and projects such as this remind me of how lucky we are to have such wonderful supporters. The new path will make a big difference to the people we care for, their families and our staff and we couldn’t be more grateful.”
Kate Allison, team lead at Jigsaw, said: “Many of the children and young people we care for here at Jigsaw love spending time at Hammond’s Pond with our staff. We regularly enjoy trips out there to see the different wildlife and explore the park, however, given that many of our youngsters have specialist equipment they need with them it’s not always an easy journey from the hospice to the park, however, this new path will make things a lot easier and will hopefully mean more trips out.”
Councillor Nigel Christian, portfolio holder for environment and transport at the city council, added: “We were delighted to support this project, completed as part of Carlisle’s Give a Day initiative. With the support of the city council and local businesses, the improved access to Hammond’s Pond from the hospice is now in place and I’m sure will be well-used. Thanks to everyone involved.”
