Thank you for helping us care for 30 years
It has been 30 years since our pioneers and founders galvanised the communities of Shropshire to support an appeal to open a hospice in the county.
On the 12 July 1989 we welcomed our first families to the newly opened Perry ward at Bicton, Shrewsbury, and our ambition to provide the people of Shropshire and Mid Wales with the highest standard of palliative and end of life became a reality.
You have been with us ever since. Thank you on behalf of the more than 34,000 people we have cared for.
Within six years of Perry ward opening, we were able to add more beds in a second ward; Breidden.
That same year, 1995, saw us first providing the home care that is now our hallmark, followed 12 months later by our first day hospices in Telford.
1995 was also the year we launched our hospice lottery, with players today contributing almost £1 million to care each year.
Then in 1998, we opened our day hospice in Newtown. A decade further on and we opened our new hospice in Apley, Telford. Meanwhile, our community care had been enhanced in 2003 when our Hospice at Home service started, providing specialist care for people in the final stages of their illness.
All the services we provide continue to grow year on year to meet the needs of the communities. We are caring for more people than ever before, for longer and with a greater range of illness and complexity of needs.
Today we care for four out of five patients in their own home and are continuing to develop our community care model.
From next year this will include our first ‘Living Well’ centre at Bicton; a purpose-built care and therapy suite for people who will be able to come to us for care earlier in their illness and have access to consultations, therapies and advice.
Proud to serve the community
We are with our families from the moment they are referred to our care for as long as they need us. And we do this every day.
We go to great lengths to enable people to live as well as they can with a terminal illness, creating environments where families can have the space, peace and time to make positive, lasting memories.
We are powered by the most amazing people – you!
This is what you do:
- People who remember us in their will provide care for one in five of our patients.
- Our lottery members’ £1 weekly entries totalled almost £1 million worth of care last year.
- Over 1,400 volunteers give their valuable time which adds up to almost £2 million worth of service. There are many local organisations and bigger corporate businesses who donate their time, tend our award-winning gardens, take part in events or organise fundraisers.
- Our retail team handle more than one million items across 27 shops to provide care for one patient in eight
- And thousands of you raise funds for us – from 10-year-old Chloe running a cake sale and walking in memory of her dad, to a team of West Mercia’s police force running a 10k in full riot gear.
Everything makes a difference and it is all appreciated by families living with an incurable illness.
Helping families make more precious memories
All the support you give us means we can help more local families when they need it most. We are proud to be part of a community which has enabled us to help so many people living with the most heartbreaking news anyone can hear.
As a charity, we rely on our supporters because for every £3 we spend, we need to raise £2. Last year, we spent over £8.3 million providing our free, vital care and emotional support to thousands of people. All the support given to us means we can be there for even more local families when they need it most.
