Will you consider their future when you are planning yours?
Firstly, I’d like to thank you for considering leaving a gift in your Will to Alder Hey Children’s Charity.
Should you decide to leave a gift, you will be creating brighter futures for our young patients and their families. As the CEO I’m often amazed by the strong affection Alder Hey receives. We see everything from sponsored head shaves to the setting up of regular donations in response to our TV adverts. And whilst we’re fortunate to receive some large gifts from a few individuals, Trusts, and companies, most of our donations come from generous individuals, including gifts in Wills.
The charity is dedicated to raising funds to help support Alder Hey Children’s Hospitalthe busiest children’s hospital in the UK. The support of kind people like you takes us a step closer to developing the next generation of medical discoveries and enhancing the way in which we treat and interact with our brave young patients.
Your legacy could have a lasting impact long into the future and create brighter futures.
Thank you for considering this wonderful gesture.
FIONA ASHCROFT CHIEF EXECUTIVE
REBECCA AND TOMMY’S STORY
Updating your Will has given comfort to people like Rebecca Bergin, who pledged to leave a gift to Alder Hey Children’s Charity as a way to thank the Trust for the care that her son Tommy received when he was a patient at Alder Hey.
Tommy was admitted to Alder Hey after he became irritable with diarrhoea during the night. Tommy’s mum, Rebecca, initially suspected he had a virus, but after he became hot to the touch and began having difficulty breathing, she rang for an ambulance.
Soon after arriving at Alder Hey, Rebecca received the news that no parent ever expects to hear: Tommy had bacterial meningitis and
Speaking on how the specialists and staff made a difference during her experience at Alder Hey, Rebecca told us: “Alder Hey made the most difficult time in my son’s life more bearable. The nurses and consultants were so helpful and supportive when Tommy got his diagnosis. I couldn’t have got through it without the amazing nurses on 4B, they took the time to get to know me and my son, and even got me a card for my birthday as we spent it on the ward. The consultants were so helpful with explaining what was going on and took the time to tell us what we could expect during his recovery.”
Rebecca has made a difference for other children and young people at Alder Hey like Tommy, by pledging to leave a gift in her Will to Alder Hey Children’s Charity. Speaking on her decision to leave a gift to Alder Hey, Rebecca said: “After the care that Tommy received at the hospital, I decided to leave a gift for Alder Hey in my will so they can continue to make the most difficult times in other families lives easier. I’m so glad my son was looked after by this amazing hospital; I cannot thank everyone at Alder Hey enough for what they have done for us.”
Leaving a gift in your Will can provide you with the peace of mind that you will be leaving a legacy and making a difference to causes you care about long after you are gone. Your support will be giving our charity the financial assurance to keep making a difference for the 450,000 children and young people who need Alder Hey every single year. Together, we can make a difference, both now, and in the future.
Alder Hey Children’s Charity are proud to have continued its commitment to providing innovative and life-changing equipment with the purchase of an Intelligent Ultrasound NeedleTrainer, a cutting-edge piece of equipment that will significantly enhance patient care and clinical training at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
The Ultrasound NeedleTrainer is an advanced simulator that is designed to improve the accuracy and safety of needle-based procedures. By providing real-time ultrasound guidance, this innovative tool will allow staff to refine their skills in a controlled, risk-free environment.
Babette Clinck, Consultant Paediatric
Anaesthetist at Alder Hey told us: “We know that ultrasound-guided needling for canula insertion is more effective than other methods as we can visualise blood vessels and accurately target those lying deeper. The success rate is higher, and our medical teams can perform complex procedures much more efficiently and with greater precision, reducing the need
for multiple needle insertions and minimising pain and anxiety for patients. Additionally, this will also alleviate anxiety for parents, as having a happy and comfortable child helps to provide them with peace of mind. The Ultrasound NeedleTrainer will allow us to achieve all these outcomes and more, and we are so thankful to Alder Hey Children’s Charity for their support in helping us to secure this equipment.”
The purchase of the NeedleTrainer has only been made possible thanks to the donations of our wonderful supporters. This equipment will make such a difference to the wellbeing of our patients and families, and your contributions are directly ensuring that children and young people at Alder Hey have access to the latest advancements in medical technology.
Thank you as always for your unwavering support.
Babette Clinck, Consultant
Paediatric
Anaesthetist
ULTRASOUND NEEDLETRAINER
ARTS FOR HEALTH AT ALDER HEY
Our Arts for Health programme provides incredible and unique creative opportunities for both staff and patients at Alder Hey. Vicky Charnock is the Arts Manager at Alder Hey, and her role is funded thanks to generous gifts left in Wills.
When asked about how arts at Alder Hey has changed during her time here, Vicky said: “I’ve worked at Alder Hey since 2006 when I came in on an 18-month contract, which has now lasted for eighteen years! Prior to working at Alder Hey I had worked at Tate Liverpool in a role which meant I worked closely with the iteration of the arts programme that the hospital had then. Thanks to that link I was able to get the job at Alder Hey and we’ve been steadily expanding the arts programme ever since. When I started, my job was based around advocating for art activities in hospital, which wasn’t commonplace like it is now. We had maybe one or two arts workshops a month, and now we are regularly running up to 150 workshops a month, and we hope to continue developing.”
Art has always been important for Vicky, who has an undergraduate degree in Art History as well as a postgraduate degree in Art Curation. She has worked in some of the most prestigious art galleries in the Northwest, but she believes she has never felt as close to art as she does at Alder Hey. She told us:
“When I left university I always envisioned working in a gallery, as at the time that’s what working in the art industry meant. When working at the Tate my role was focused on bringing people to the gallery that wouldn’t normally have experienced art in that setting, and that is something I really found inspiring.
Vicky Charnock, Arts for Health Manager
When I began working at Alder Hey I found I could do the same thing: bring art to people who hadn’t discovered it yet.”
Speaking on how working at Alder Hey has changed her relationship with art, Vicky said: “Working at Alder Hey has opened my eyes on how art can make a difference to people. My background was very formal and ‘typical’ of what people might expect when they think of art. Over the last 18 years I have seen thousands of lives be made a bit brighter thanks to art intervention. Despite being around iconic and incredible pieces of art every day when I worked at Tate, I think what I do now is more impactful for me because it genuinely changes lives, and I can see that on the faces of the patients and their families every day on the wards.”
ALDER CENTRE CANDLE EVENT
Ongoing support from Legacy donations allows us to allocate a grant towards the annual Liverpool Cathedral Alder Centre ‘Light Up a Life’ Candle Service. The service allows bereaved families and loved ones to light a candle in memory of their lost loved one and come together to remember and celebrate their lives.
Lisa McElroy, Volunteer Coordinator at the Alder Centre told us: “Every year in December, the Alder Centre Candle service is held at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and live streamed via our website. The service is entirely non-denominational, with songs and readings performed by community choirs and musicians and bereaved parents and siblings, a bereaved sibling’s lantern procession, the lighting of candles and the naming of our children. The service aims to support bereaved families, wherever they may be and remember and name their children. The service is open to anyone who is affected by the death of a child whatever the age of the child, from pre-birth
to adult and however recently or long ago that child died. There is also an opportunity to write message leaves which are hung on the Alder Centre tree during the service.
The service is run and organised by bereaved parent and sibling volunteers in partnership with Alder Centre staff and this gives it the special quality of community togetherness, remembering, honouring, and grieving our children.”
The event makes a difference for bereaved parents and loved ones each year. In response to last year’s event, a parent told us: “As a bereaved parent I often feel isolated, alone, apart from people, looking in on others seemingly normal lives. It can be even more difficult during the Christmas season, as the sentiments of Christmas and the words of carols, adverts and posters all depict what we have lost: our children by our side. The candle service is a supportive community where everyone understands each other and we can celebrate, name, and remember our children openly and with love.”
Light Up a Life Candle Service, at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
ALDER CENTRE
HOLISTIC THERAPIST
Inside our Alder Centre’s holistic therapies room
Alder Hey Children’s Charity is proud to continue its support of the Alder Centre, Alder Hey’s on-site bereavement service which supports anyone affected by the unimaginable grief of losing a child.
A generous gift left in a supporter’s Will allows us to fund holistic therapies at Alder Hey. Holistic therapy provides a range of physical treatments that aim to treat the client as a whole, rather than completely physically or emotionally.
Gifts in Wills have helped us to provide a charity-funded Holistic Therapist, offering treatments including reiki, aromatherapy, and reflexology. They spoke to us about the difference that holistic therapies have had and continue to make for clients at the centre
“Bereaved parents often feel angry at the loss of a child, and after finding no obvious output to direct their anger towards, they will direct that anger inwards and blame themselves for what has happened. Holistic therapy provides the parents with a physical recuperation therapy,
but further to that we are providing them with a listening ear if they need it, and after a few sessions we see that they do tend to open up and start making significant improvements.”
Roles at Alder Hey like this make a real difference. Thanks to your donations, we can continue to support specialist roles across the hospital.
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
WRITING A WILL
Writing a Will can seem a daunting task, but at Alder Hey, we are here to make the process as simple as possible, and to help give you the peace of mind that the people and causes closest to your heart are taken care of in the future.
A gift in your Will - whatever the size - will enable Alder Hey Children’s Charity to fund crucial projects that enable us to build brighter futures for the children who use our services each and every day. By leaving a gift in your Will to Alder Hey, your legacy could leave a lasting impact long into the future, helping patients like Tommy.
You can read Tommy’s story on page three.
YOUR WILL WRITING CHECKLIST
Make a list of your most valuable possessions. Remember to include any property you own, any savings or investments, as well as any valuable items like jewellery or paintings. Add up what you think they’re worth. A rough estimate is all you’ll need to help work out what gifts you’d like to make.
Family and friends come first. Start by working out who you’d like to look after and what you’d like to leave them.
Choose executors and write your Will. Many people choose trusted family members as their executors. And there are many ways available to write your Will, from consulting a professional to completing simple template or using a variety of online services can guide you through the process and verify document. 1 2 3 4 5
Then remember causes close to your heart. Make a list of the charities you’d like to support and think about how you’d like to make those gifts.
WRITING YOUR WILL FOR FREE
To help you with writing your Will, Alder Hey Children’s Charity offers a Free Will Service. Through this is service you can make or update your Will for free online, over the phone or face to face with a solicitor. Simply chose the service that suits you best, making the process as easy and convenient as possible for you. To use our Free Will Service or to find out more, please visit our website www.alderheycharity.org/ how-you-can-help/gifts-in-wills.
HOW WILL YOUR GIFT BE USED?
If you decide to leave a gift in your Will to Alder Hey Children’s Charity, you will be making a huge difference to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. 450,000 children and young people are cared for each year at Alder Hey, and they rely on donations to fund life-saving equipment, services and much more.
Legacy donations also help fund emotional support with services such as the Alder Centre and roles like our Arts for Health Manager, and Alder Centre Holistic Therapist, allowing Alder Hey to go above and beyond for our patients and families. A gift in your Will could ensure that every child and young person experiences the Alder Hey magic – those little added extras that make the hospital experience the best it can be for patients and their families. Your gift could fund programmes such as ward musicians and on-site magicians, which brighten a child’s time in our hospital.
DON’T FORGET…..
It’s sensible to keep your Will in a safe place - and to tell your executors where it is. Many professional Will writers and solicitors offer to store your Will.
Don’t worry if your life or decisions change. It is simple to write a new Will that can change your instructions, or to update your Will using what’s called a ‘codicil.’
OUR PROMISE
We recognise that any gift you leave in your Will is special that why when you leave a gift in your Will to Alder Hey Children’s Charity,we:
• Promise to use your gift wisely
• Recognise that those closest to you come first
• Realise you might want your gift used in a special way
• Understand that you might have to change your mind due to a change in personal circumstances
• Won’t put pressure on you to leave a gift in your Will
• Will treat you and your next of kin sensitively and with respect and gratitude
Here are some of the answers to the most commonly asked questions about leaving a gift in a Will.
If I already have a will do I need to make a new one?
A solicitor may be able to make changes to your Will simply by adding a codicil or letter of wishes, although it is best to check with a solicitor personally.
Can I write my own Will?
You can write your own Will, but we recommend using a qualified solicitor to make a new Will or amend an existing one. Using a solicitor will give you peace of mind that your Will is valid and legally sound and that your wishes will be met. Whilst you may have your own solicitor, Alder Hey Children’s Charity is partnered with several who can start the process for you, possibly even for free –see the previous section called Writing Your Will for Free.
How do I include a gift to Alder Hey Children’s Charity in my Will?
A solicitor can advise you as to what type of gift you may wish to leave, but as a starting point you can provide them with our address and registered charity number.
Our registered charity number is 1160661, and our registered address is Alder Hey Children’s Charity, Eaton Road, Liverpool L12 2AP.
Is tax payable on my donation?
Any gift you make in your Will to a UK charity is free of inheritance tax.
Who can I talk to about making a Will and leaving a gift to Alder Hey Children’s Charity?
Should you have any questions, please do get in touch with our Legacy team, who will be more than happy to provide any information or reassurance you need.
Email: legacies@alderhey.nhs.uk
Telephone: 0151 252 5716
GET IN TOUCH
Should you be interested in leaving a gift in your Will to Alder Hey Children’s Charity, we would love to know so we can express our deepest thanks for the generosity you have shown us.
LEGACY PLEDGE FORM
Returning this form lets us know about any gift you are kind enough to leave Alder Hey in the future. Thank you for your lasting support and for helping us give children brighter futures.
Name
Address
Email
Phone
Reason for leaving a gift (optional)
I’ve already included a gift in my Will to Alder Hey Children’s Charity.
I intend to include a gift in my Will to Alder Hey Children’s Charity.
I would like somebody to contact me to discuss gift options.
I am not interested in leaving a gift in my Will at this time.
Alder Hey Children’s Charity would like to keep you informed about everything we do for our young patients, including any upcoming Legacy events or tours.
Please tick if you are happy to be contacted by:
Phone
Email
Or, I do not wish to be updated.
Simply cut out and return this form to:
Alder Hey Children’s Charity, Eaton Road, Liverpool L12 2AP
Alternatively, you can email legacies@alderhey.nhs.uk or call 0151 252 5716 for more information.
