Impact magazine - Autumn '23 by trinity-hospice

Impact Compassion in action

Elmer the patchwork elephant is stomping into town!

AUTUMN 2023

WELCOME

Dear Friend, Hello, and a very warm welcome to our latest edition of Impact. I’m Linzi Warburton, Head of Fundraising at Trinity Hospice, and I am so excited to introduce Elmer’s Big Parade Blackpool – our town’s first ever large-scale public art trail – to our supporters. Whether you work on the Fylde coast, have children in a local school or youth organisation or visit our area’s attractions, our art trail is for you! And the best part is the more people who join our herd, the more it will do for our dedicated children’s hospice, Brian House. Turn these pages to find out what it’s all about and, more importantly, how you can get involved! Also in this latest newsletter, we have some exciting updates on how we are providing exceptional care to people in the place they want to be whilst saving bed days at the hospice and the hospital with our virtual ward. And all the latest on our new Living Well Service, which is supporting people right from the point of diagnoses to live well towards their own personal goals. We wouldn’t be able to do any of this without the generosity of our supporters. Whether you take part in our events, support us by planning your own fundraising activities, shop or donate to our shops or make a regular donation, your choice to support our work truly means so much to us and all who need our care. Please read on for inspiring stories from the people who support us to those who we’ve cared for because of you.

Thank you for choosing to support our charity, making a difference to those who need hospice care in your community.

Linzi Warburton Head of Fundraising 2

Inside IMPACT MAGA ZINE

2023

this issue... 2

Welcome from our Head of Fundraising

Have you ‘herd’ who’s coming to town?

Helping families to make memories

Supporting patients through our Virtual Ward

Going the extra mile(s)

Get a preview of our Living Well Service

Make a free Will on us

Yvonne’s a winner!

The latest from our children’s hospice

A special goodbye for Emily

Help us launch Christmas with Santa Dash

Our special thanks

The latest from our shops 3

Have you ‘herd’ the news? We’re bringing a free, family-friendly art trail to Blackpool next spring! Bringing to life a herd of uniquely-decorated elephant sculptures in collaboration with Wild in Art and Andersen Press. Elmer’s Big Parade Blackpool will star David McKee’s popular children’s character Elmer the Patchwork Elephant and celebrate everything he represents while raising vital funds for our dedicated children’s hospice, Brian House. The Elmer sculptures will be positioned around key landmarks, streets and open spaces in Blackpool for eight weeks. But that’s not the end… after the trail, the herd will come together for a very special final farewell event! The only time they’ll all be together in one place.

Coming to the coast 13th APRIL to 9th JUNE 2024

The herd of Elmers will deliver a ton of fun and attract both local residents and visitors from far and wide to discover, and re-discover Blackpool, making art accessible to all. Each Elmer is sponsored by a local business or organisation, making the trail deeply rooted in the wonderfully unique local community that we have here in Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde. Visitors and residents can explore the town centre, parks and open spaces while following the trail to discover each Elmer, painted by artists from all over the UK as well as a herd of young Elmers, decorated by some of the Fylde coast’s children and young people from our local schools and youth organisations.

Presenting partners 5

Why Elmer? Elmer is a much-loved elephant who lives happily amongst a grey herd and after he tries and fails to hide his true self, he learns that his friends love him for who he is. Created by celebrated British children’s author and artist David McKee and famous around the world for his positivity surrounding his uniqueness, Elmer is instantly recognisable. His stories help even very young children explore the idea that we are all the same, but different. The Elmer series of timeless books reminds us about the importance of kindness, inclusivity, individuality, compassion and friendship, which echoes the values at Brian House - where it’s the children’s differences that bring families together. A WILD IN ART EVENT BROUGHT TO BLACKPOOL in support of Brian House Children’s Hospice 6

As a local charity that receives very little support from the government, Brian House has been relying on our amazing community for more than 25 years. It is only thanks to the generosity of others that we are able to care for local families who are pressured by having a child who is life-limited. That’s why it is a true privilege to be bringing a herd of Elmers to Blackpool – there’s no other character like him which celebrates the differences that make our children so very special.

Want to join the herd? If you work for or know a business who wants a trunk-load of publicity for being involved in Blackpool’s FIRST EVER public art trail, know of a school who wants to join our Learners’ Programme or you’re an artist wanting to paint one of our Elmer sculptures, get involved at www.elmerblackpool.co.uk

E L M E R © D AV I D M C K E E

We’re creating special memories for our families Carol has recently been staying with us to control her pain. With both her daughters expecting babies, when her eldest asked if we could help with an extra special visit, we were only too happy to accommodate. Carol had told our care teams she had missed out on some of Kirsty’s antenatal appointments, and although she’d seen scan pictures, she wished she’d been there for more.

“The next day two nurses who I hadn’t seen before came into my room and asked if I could go with them. It was unusual, but I went as they said they had something to show me.

So we got in touch with some of our partners and, between us, arranged a surprise.

“As I walked down the corridor, I saw what looked like the back of Kirsty’s head through the window in the door. And then as the nurses moved out of the way, I could see she was there waiting for me.

Carol said: “Kirsty had told me the day before that she’d be in to see me earlier than usual. I thought nothing of it.

“She gave me a kiss and said surprise. They told me they’d arranged for Kirsty to have an appointment at the hospice so that I could be there when she heard the baby’s heartbeat. It was just unreal!

“The heartbeat was so strong. We were just holding hands and crying. There are no words to explain that moment. “That the hospice had gone out of their way to arrange that, I was beyond words. The hospice has absolutely excelled itself. I’ve never known such kindness.” 9

Our innovative virtual ward is making a difference We’ve launched a new service which is allowing us to provide acute care to patients at home, rather than on a hospital ward or in the hospice. It’s an innovative service which sees eligible patients admitted onto a ‘virtual ward’ where their observations can be monitored and medications quickly altered if their condition changes. Our Head of Community and Hospital Services, Sarah Roberts, says: “In collaboration with FCMS and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, our virtual ward is a way of providing a key support service to our most poorly patients.

“Patients may receive their own monitoring equipment and will input their observations into a central system. This is monitored by our FCMS partners who would alert the community palliative care team to raise any concerns. “If we have a patient with unstable symptoms or uncontrolled pain, we can monitor them to ensure any changes we have made in their care are effective.” The virtual ward could also prevent a 999 call, resulting in a trip to hospital at the end of a patient’s life. Sarah adds: “The virtual ward places the patient front and centre of their own care; it allows us to understand what matters to the patient at the point we become involved. We can hear it from them rather than other medical professionals involved in their care. Because we’re not trying to fix them, we’re just trying to help.”

Can you make a difference with a monthly gift, helping our care teams bring comfort, dignity and vital nursing care to all who need us? £5 a month could help Trinity Hospice nurses to provide tailored care that meets a person’s individual needs £10 a month is enough for a nurse in our hospital team to make a difficult phone call £16 a month could pay for a nurse to care for an hour on our In-patient Unit £28 a month is enough for a nurse to spend an hour with a patient at home during the night

Sponsor an Hospice amazing nurse like Kellie, visit Sponsor a Trinity nurse today at www.trinityhospice.co.uk/sponsor-a-nurse www.trinityhospice.co.uk/sponsor-a-nurse

Chris has walked 500 miles, and he will walk 500 more… Chris is no stranger to gruelling challenges in the name of charity, but for his latest one he certainly went the extra mile(s)!

With the Pennine Way, Offa’s Dyke and a coast-to-coast trek already under his belt, Chris took to international ground this year and walked for 44 days to complete the Camino de Santiago and a little bit extra to finish at the coast. His total distance was 581 miles from the French Pyrenees to the Atlantic coast of Spain via Santiago. He said: “Coming from the Fylde coast and living by the sea, I really wanted to finish the walk on the coast so I went that little bit extra; I walked another eight days and seeing the coast through the trees was absolutely fantastic. I hadn’t seen the sea since April so it was a really special moment.” Chris has been supporting our charity for a number of years after experiencing first hand the difference our care makes. He said: “When my dad was at the hospice in 2000, they just looked after him so well. Not just his care needs, but right down to his little tot of whiskey at night. It meant so much to us.

“While I was visiting, I’d see families going into Brian House. I decided then and there that I would support Brian House – it was my way of giving something back.”

Chris’s walk raised an incredible £8,017. And after a brief rest, he’s already planning next year’s international challenge, ahead of his 60th birthday!

Retired firefighter Chris said some days he was walking up to 21 miles, though admits it’s not the most challenging walk he’s done. “I was really lucky; I only had two really tough days,” he said. “One was climbing a mountain, and the other was a really emotive day when I reached the Cruz de Ferro – the ‘Iron Cross’. There I left four shells in memory of my dad and three friends who have died of cancer last year; Melvin Ankers, Jackie Daniels and Nick Gribbon. Their families had decorated the shells in their memory and I left them in a nearby chapel. “Having a goal really helped get me through. I was thinking of my friends, my dad and Brian House, and everyone who had donated money, even when times are so tough for so many people. Their generosity absolutely blows me away!” 13

Join us for our annual service of remembrance at Christmas

Save the date

Sunday 10th December 2023

We’ll be holding our annual Light up a Life service at Trinity Hospice on Sunday 10th December. We hope you can join us for this uplifting celebration of your loved ones. Details on how to dedicate a light in memory of someone you love will be on our website and on our social media pages soon. 14

Helping patients to live well Our Living Well Service has received excellent feedback from the groups of people who we have supported. Living Well stretches into all of our services, helping to reach existing patients while they are being supported by our care teams in the hospice, in hospital and in their homes, while also welcoming new patients and their loved ones to support them on their palliative journey. As well as tailored one to one clinics which support patients towards their own goals, we also run a number of support groups to help them and their carers with others in similar circumstances.

“The sessions have really helped me through a difficult time and gave me something soothing and enjoyable to look forward to.”

We’ve received some lovely comments from the people we have supported:

“I found the sessions very beneficial, learning new ways of coping. I enjoyed trying out new ideas and treatments with staff who were very understanding and made me feel comfortable in expressing my feelings.”

“This makes you feel like you are not on your own”

Make a Will for free through Trinity Hospice We’re delighted to be able to offer our supporters the chance to make their Will for free, saving around £90 in thanks for their generosity.

We’re working with Guardian Angel – an online platform which works to take the stress out of planning for death and supports users through the chaos of loss so they can focus on what’s really important. It’s really easy to get started and your Will could take just 15 minutes after answering some easy questions about you and your wishes. Once it’s complete, Guardian Angel will send your Will to its experts to make sure everything is as it should be. Around seven days later, they’ll confirm and you follow a few simple instructions to sign your new Will to make it legally binding.

Create your Will for free at gawill.uk/trinityhospice and use the coupon code TRINITYFREE when prompted at the check-out. 16

While you’re creating your free Will, please consider leaving a gift to Trinity Hospice. A gift in your Will can ensure the future of Trinity Hospice’s care – the care we would all want for our loved ones and the care our community deserves. Philip Smith is one of the incredible people who has chosen to leave a gift to hospice care in his Will. He made the decision to support a local charity after his wife died, and he wanted to ensure the people who looked after her would be able to look after others when he is gone. Phillip, who is one of our Trustees, said: “After my wife died, I realised I needed to make a new Will and I started thinking about what would happen when I go. “As someone who has lost someone in a hospice, supporting them in my Will is something I can do to make sure someone else can be looked after, as they were, in the future. “I got such a satisfaction from leaving a gift in my Will; it’s a really good feeling. It was a simple process that has cost me nothing in the short term. After my family are looked after, I truly feel like the legacy I have chosen to make will make a real difference.”

Words from a winner Yvonne played the Trinity Hospice Lottery as a way of saying thank you after we cared for her husband. And she is one of our recent winners!

Yvonne says: “Since my husband passed away last September, I have supported the hospice in various ways. “I will never forget the kindness shown to us in our lowest time of grieving.”

Yvonne says she will use the money from her win towards visiting her children who live overseas!

Don’t miss your chance to be a winner!

You could win up to £1,000 each week for just £1 per play.

Visit www.trinityhospice.co.uk/lottery 18

The latest from our dedicated children’s hospice Over the last few months our clinics welcoming new parents into Brian House have gone from strength to strength. We’ve even had to hold extra baby weigh-ins through the week! Our weigh-ins give us the chance to support new parents whose children have been born earlier than expected and show them how Brian House can help them. It’s been wonderful to make new connections and see new smiles on little faces. We’ve also developed strong links with Aiming Higher in Blackpool, and are delighted to welcome their families in for a monthly stay and play session. And that’s on top of our regular trips to local attractions, including Sandcastle Waterpark and Blackpool Zoo to name a few.

These wonderful collaborations offer us an amazing chance to create truly special memories. 19

Emily’s story It surprises people when they find out we are sometimes able to discharge children who no longer need our expert care. It means an incredible child or young person is able to manage the symptoms of their condition without us – giving us the chance to throw a special goodbye party, celebrating their strength and determination. That’s exactly what we were able to do for Emily.

Emily truly is one of a kind. Full of life and happiness, she is living with a condition doctors can’t name. Out of 100,000 children with rare diseases, her chromosomes don’t match a single one. She has defied doctors since she was just four months old. Emily was born healthy, following a healthy pregnancy. But when she was struggling to gain weight and seemed limp and lethargic, she was sent to hospital for tests. At one point, doctors prepared Emily’s parents for news that she might have an incurable disease that most babies don’t typically survive. “It was so hard to hear,” said Emily’s mum, Kelly. “They told us someone from Brian House had come to see us, and they were at Emily’s bedside when we went back. “To hear she’d need a hospice – my heart sank! You just think a hospice is somewhere where people die. But we were open minded and listened to what they had to say and the opportunities they could give not only to Emily, but to us as well.”

“When Emily was at Brian House, I got the chance to recuperate, do the housework or simply have a bath or a shower. It meant the world to me.” Fortunately, further tests came back negative. But Emily was still unable to feed without a tube and wasn’t moving well. Kelly and Emily had a look around Brian House when she was discharged from hospital, still with no diagnoses. Kelly said: “We both just fell in love with it. Not only was the place amazing, but the people were amazing too. They looked after us both and took care of every need.” Over seven years, Emily has enjoyed day visits and overnight stays at Brian House, enjoying days that were full of fun – making friends and creating memories to last a lifetime.

After operations, physio and many interventions, Emily is now able to eat without a tube. Although she can’t move as much as other children her age, she is doing better than doctors could have predicted.

Kelly said: “Saying goodbye to Brian House is very bittersweet. It’s great that she’s now well enough to not need hospice care, but she’s had such wonderful experiences and made such good friends, it’s a place we’ll truly miss.”

Kelly x

Kelly added: “Having a child with an illness like Emily’s is exhausting. When she was being fed through a tube, you had to be up every two hours in the night. We did that for six years! It took a lot out of us, mentally and physically. 21

Teeing off at our Brian House Golf Day We recently invited supporters to join us at the prestigious Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club to tee off for our Brian House Golf Day. It was an incredible event which raised a staggering £18,000! We had 20 teams of people who enjoyed a full day of golf before an evening dinner with drinks reception, featuring a speech by former football pro Duncan McKenzie. We were thrilled to see so many taking part and enjoying the day, and importantly helping to raise this money so we can continue to care for our area’s most fragile children. As well as a day of golf, teams also had the chance to see our very special Elmer sculpture ahead of Elmer’s Big Parade Blackpool.

Our special thanks What a night we had dancing and singing along to Lionel Richie at Lytham Festival! We were thrilled to have been selected once again as a charity partner for this popular event,

and our team of dedicated festival volunteers did a fantastic job of helping festival goers and talking to them about the care we provide. Our night on Lytham Green raised an incredible £5,143, made up mostly from people who generously put donations into our buckets. A very big thank you to everyone who donated, to our team who gave up their time through the day and well into the evening and to everyone at Lytham Festival.

It’s just wonderful when people choose to celebrate big occasions by donating to our charity.

Happy 60th Bernard. 24

From big birthdays to anniversaries and weddings, celebration giving is a generous and thoughtful way of supporting Trinity and Brian House. And that’s just what Bernard Pendleton did to celebrate his 60th birthday. Instead of presents, he asked his friends and family to make a donation to Trinity. They raised a whopping £1,203!

We’re always impressed at the lengths some people go to in support of our work. People like Dayna who climbed Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Southern and Western hemispheres. It’s the second highest of the Seven Summits, and the world’s highest summit outside of the Himalayas!

Her trek raised a truly fantastic £3,858 for Brian House. Well done, and a huge thank you Dayna!

A very big thank you and well done to the team at Perfect Getaways, who held a fundraising ball led by Nicola Palmer and her family in aid of our hospice and St John’s Hospice on the Wirral. The event was inspired by Nicola’s younger brother who has been diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer. The event raised a fantastic £7,200. 25

Young fundraiser Bailey opens our latest shop We were delighted to offer one of our young supporters, Bailey Wood, the chance to open our latest charity shop – our Brian House Superstore on Vicarage Lane.

Bailey, 12, has been raising money for Brian House for a number of years by decorating his house at Halloween and asking for donations. With our latest addition to the high street just down the road from his home, we jumped at the chance to invite him up. Head of Retail, Paul Guest, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to welcome Bailey to our latest shop and have him open the doors to the many people waiting to go inside. “He has done so much to support our charity in recent years, and with him living so close it was something we were delighted he could do for us. He did a wonderful job.” As the doors opened, it was fantastic to see scores of waiting shoppers eager to step inside to browse the pre-loved items on sale, ready to grab a bargain.

Introducing Attire by Trinity Hospice Have you visited our very first dedicated menswear shop? Attire by Trinity Hospice in Lytham boasts is own unique boutique look and feel and we’ve received some excellent feedback from customers who love the new shop and the quality of the items on sale. 26

Bailey, who goes to nearby St George’s School, said: “I felt a little bit of nerves, but I was also really happy! The store is really big and nice, and there’s lots of stuff.” Bailey has already raised more than £1,000 for our hospice and has become quite famous for fundraising at his house on Halloween. In its opening week, the shop took an exceptional £11,500 in sales and received 178 bags of donations through the store. A huge thank you to everyone who has visited our new shops, whether you’ve grabbed a bargain or donated your pre-loved items.

Our Retail Team is always on the lookout for new opportunities and will be opening its latest shop in Garstang very soon. Supporting Brian House, the new shop will sell more top-quality pre-loved items. Find your nearest shop on our website at www.trinityhospice.co.uk and follow us on social media for updates.

Taking time to say thanks This summer we invited some of our 500-strong team of volunteers to a special afternoon tea to say thank you for the time they give to support our care.

It was a special occasion during which we were able to present a number of long service awards, honouring one, five, 15 and 20 years of their generosity. Among our special guests was Gail, who has been volunteering at Trinity for 20 years, starting on our main reception. But her support actually started in 1985 when she and her husband John took part in and marshalled at some fundraising events. She said: “I got know about volunteering opportunities at the hospice and signed up as the Sunday afternoon volunteer on the main reception. It was so peaceful with just people coming and going and stopping to say hello.” After taking a short break for a knee operation in 2008, Gail now volunteers in the Volunteering Office once a week.

There will be lots of volunteering opportunties for Blackpool’s first ever public art trail. Check out the art trail website over coming months www.elmerblackpool.co.uk 28

She added: “The benefit to me is that volunteering at the hospice fits around me and gives me the chance to keep up with technology and use my skills to benefit the hospice. Plus, I’ve met some very nice people over the years.” It’s important for us to take the time to celebrate and recognise the fantastic contribution our volunteers make across the hospice, from welcoming people into our buildings and making our gardens as beautiful as they are, to helping in our shops and fundraising. Their efforts and dedication to our care is worth more than £1million to us, but it truly is priceless when counting the difference they make to us and the people in our community who call on us.

Do you have a passion for gardening? We need volunteer gardeners who have some time to spare to help keep our beautiful gardens looking their best for our patients. Not only is volunteering at Trinity a great way of supporting hospice care, it is also a way to meet new people, make friends, put existing skills to use and perhaps learn new ones. If you have basic gardening skills, some knowledge of plant care and planting seasons and have one morning (preferably Monday mornings) weekly or more to give, please call us on 01253 952575 or email trinity.volunteering@nhs.net. 29

Walk together in-memory of those you’ve lost.

T E JOIN ISUS: EG IN R

L ONODAY T

SATURDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2023

www.blackpoolmemorywalk.co.uk

SUPPORT A GREAT CLAUS at R E G C H A RITY NO. 511009

Join us... SUNDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2023

Walk, jog or run

on Blackpool Promenade £6 for under 16s £12 for adults £30 for families (2 adults + 2 children)