Residents raise £1k for local hospice
Residents at St Monica Trust’s Sandford Station retirement community have raised £1,000 for Weston Hospicecare through their regular Wednesday afternoon charity tea.
Pam Woodbridge (89) ran the afternoon teas for two years with husband, Dick (89).
Pam said:
As well as being a place where you can have a chat or take part in a quiz, it’s also a great way for new residents to make new friends and acquaintances.
“We all get a lot of pleasure out of the teas, particularly the amount we are able to collect over the course of the year for the chosen charity.”
“No specific charge is made for the tea and cake – the hat is passed around for contributions.
“If someone has a significant birthday, they may also suggest that party guests make a donation to the charity instead of buying presents.”
Weston Hospicecare provides palliative care for people living with life-limiting illnesses in Weston-super-Mare and the surrounding area.
Director of Fundraising and Communications, Alison Sopp who collected the cheque on behalf of the hospice said:
We are very grateful to the Sandford Station residents for their wonderful donation and we’d like to thank them for choosing us as their charity of the year. Weston Hospicecare depends on support from our local community to pay for our services at the hospice and out in the community, and we do appreciate the effort put into raising such a fantastic amount.
Each year a different charity is chosen by Sandford Station’s residents to support.
Previous charities supported by the residents, include Great Western Air Ambulance, National Parkinson’s UK and Macmillan Nurses.
Dick and Pam stood aside from running the charity teas at the end of 2015 and it was taken over by Grahame Stockham and Gordon Cantlay.
Dick said: “Unfortunately, Grahame passed away after a short illness and Dr Monica Menzies stepped in for the remainder of this year.”
“We’d also like to pay tribute to Dr Jennifer Bute who did such a splendid job organising the teas before we did. Our thanks also to our current quiz master, Michael Stevens and his predecessor, Janet Daniels.”