Observer's £150k Hospice Ward appeal target smashed

WHEN the Observer St Michael's Hospice ward appeal was launched on February 27, 2004, lo raise an extra £150k, to provide and fund for a year a new two-bedded ward, we knew it was a huge challenge.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Feb 2005, 14:18 BST
Updated 7th Jun 2018, 20:06 BST

A year later the fund stands at 160k with donations still coming in and our traditional fundraising exceeds our budgeted expectations. Established friends have responded magnificently, with so many new supporters increasing their ranks: in truth, the generosity of the people of Hastings and Rother has been staggering. However, legacies remain a vital part of our income.

When receiving donations, I have been privileged to meet so many wonderful people from young and old; from individuals to large groups' in private homes and communal flats, in pubs, clubs, hotels, offices and factories; at coffee mornings, afternoon teas, dinners and concerts and for everyone we are intensely grateful.

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Among so many, it would be invidious to mention particular ones and on so many occasions I have been deeply moved by such joyous willingness to support the Appeal. I, however, confess that I was choked into silence when 13 year old Natalie London, undergoing treatment for a brain tumour, proudly wearing her T-shirt emblazoned with the message "Be brave, be bold, beat cancer" presented us with a cheque for 10K.

St Michaels cares for over 1000 patients a year in the wards, Day Care and Hospice at Home. We receive 28 per cent of our funding from Government sources but additionally have to raise over 4000 each day to meet running costs, Everything, in our all encompassing care, is free.

St Michael's is truly an on-going miracle and whilst ever sensitive to the needs of the many other deserving charities, we are immensely grateful to the Observer Group Editor, Michael Beard, for making us the group's Charity of the Year and to the countless people throughout Hastings and Rother who have supported the campaign in whatever way.

Demand for our services inexorably increases and we now look forward to the opening of the new "Observer Ward" within the next few months which will increase our ability to meet that demand.

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On behalf of everyone at St Micheal's Hospice - our dedicated staff, our patients and their families, our 750 strong volunteer force on whom we depend so much and the patients and their loved ones we have yet to meet and whom we must not fail - thank you. DEREK NORCROSS

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