Club Day's coming .....
Grand Parish BBQ on Sunday 27th June 3.00pm
on the Vicarage Lawn to welcome Rev Kevan Thorn
as Associate Priest too our parish
Bar, Entertainment, Raffle
Entry only by ticket - Adults & Young People over 12 - £5.00
Children age 4 to 12 - £3.00
Those under 4 years - Free
(For catering purposes please get your tickets early)
Available from St Michael's Church, Silver Dell, Cairns Chemist & Footprints Chiropodists
Mothers Union
Mothers Union Notes - June 2010
Christian care for families
Notices: The Prayer Group will meet at 930 in the Church Room on June 19th. Everyone is welcome.
On June 1st, which would have been our next meeting, The Deanery take place at Christ Church, Wesham. Please give your name to Sharon would like to attend. Transport can be arranged. A volunteer is needed to carry our banner, and more volunteers are needed for the choir. Names to Mary or Sharon, please.
June 12th is Club Day. Home made cakes, puddings, any home goodies are needed for the Stall. Volunteers are also needed for the Procession – if you can walk part of the way, you are very welcome. Please wear your MU badges.
On June 24th the Mothers' Union General Meeting will be held at the Guild Hall. Tickets are available from the Booking office, or Sharon’s husband, who works in Preston, will get them for people. There will only be a short lunch break, so please take a packed lunch.
On June 23rd there is a service in Blackburn Cathedral to celebrate this. Stewards are needed for this event if anyone would like to volunteer. Shirley is attending the service, and will be pleased to give lifts.
On July 3rd there is a coach trip to Cheshire Oaks. Please give your name to Yvonne Malings if you would like to go.
On July 6th Jennifer Jones will tell us more about her trip to Bolivia working for CLEM. Those who heard her last year know what an excellent speaker Jennifer is.
On July 14th is the Indoor Members' Tea party at Freckleton Methodist Church; this year we are asking all our ladies who are 80+ if they would like to go. Zara and Sandra will be sending out the invitations in mid June, and we hope that it will be a good turn out. Transport can be arranged.
We have had a nice thank you letter for our donation to the 'Away caravan fund from Andrea - the replacement caravan will be ready for the summer of 2010.
Finally, Sharon would be pleased to have all the information back and enrolment dates for M.U. prayer partners.
LISA MARTIN - THE WORK AND SERVICES OF TRINITY HOSPICE
Sheila Swan, substituting for Lisa Martin, told us how she became involved with the work of the Hospice. Sheila lived in Bispham, which is where Trinity is located. Sheila's mother went in to the Hospice for 4 days, and, like so many others, including myself, was very impressed and grateful for the care both she and her mother, received. She saw an advertisement for volunteers - she worked originally in Reception, then Brian House Children's Hospice, which she found a surprisingly happy place. Now Chairman of the Fundraising groups, Sheila told us something of the Hospice's history - it is now celebrating its 25th Anniversary.
In the 1980s Dr. David Cooper, a local GP, had a patient suffering from cancer who was in his 20s - there was nowhere for this patient to go. Dr. Cooper decided to do something about this - he started fundraising, bat encountered a lot of opposition initially. Nonetheless, Trinity Hospice was built, and Brian House, for children and young adults, followed in 1996.
In addition to in-patient care, Trinity offers day care centre care, a lymphoedema clinic, counselling for families, learning and research centre, complementary therapies, palliative care. Student doctors and nurses in the area use their facilities. The Hospice is a place of sanctuary, and there is nothing new in the idea - the Crusaders had hospices. Run by a Board of Trustees and local committees, it will assess what patients need in their own homes, charting the patients' journeys at different stages. Macmillan nurses are not involved, the nurses who visit come from Trinity. In the Hospice itself, visiting is all day, from 9 in the morning until 9 at night, when the doors are locked.
In the Day Therapy unit every effort is made to match those people are attending for the first time to people already there; the patients come one day a week, delivered by volunteer drivers from 10 o'clock onwards. The day starts with tea and toast, lunch comprises 3 courses with a glass of wine, there are craft and other activates, the day finishes at 4 o'clock. Outings are also arranged. The Day Care Centre was opened by the Princess of Wales.
In-patient care is provided in two wards, Wendy Elliott and Brian Wilson, each with 28 beds. The beds for those with bone cancer are described as like lying on a cloud. With French windows onto the beautiful grounds, there is a communal lounge - children are welcome to visit - there is a coffee machine, and visitors can also order sandwiches. The chef is excellent.
Those attending the lymphoedema clinic are often only in for two hours; the complementary therapies are offered to both patients and families, including massage and reflexology, provided by two full time therapists. The Linden Centre provides counselling for patients and those caring for them. They have a log cabin. There are coffee mornings for adults, and help for the loved ones of those dying in the hospice.
Brian House - children and young adults can go in for up to 50 clays a year, ages ranging from birth to 30; pre-school children go in once a week, other children one night or up to a week, at the parents' request. The children still attend school; a lot are fed through tubes or take a packed lunch. It is a long day - they are dropped off by 7:30, and come back at 3:30 or 4 o'clock, when they have tea. They can also go in for respite care, for up to two weeks, to give their parents a break. In the first visit, one or both parents will stay with the child. In cases where the child has no verbal communication, he/she can use a remote control. Brian House has 4 beds, plus an emergency bed, and 4 day care places. Its outreach team supports 70 families, plus another 20 whose children have not yet been in the hospice. This team visits towards the end of life. There is a Bereavement suite where a child may be laid out.
Trinity Hospice statistics: one third of its funding is from central government. One paid worker and one volunteer worker staff the Reception area, but at weekends all are volunteers. Throughout the area there are 9 shops, including one in Kirkham, and a furniture shop in Blackpool, on Red Bank Road. In addition to cancer patients, Trinity also takes heart and kidney patients.
At Christmas there is a ' Light up a life' service. Anyone wishing to volunteer should ring 01253 358881. This was an inspirational and moving talk. As St Michaels is itself a charity it cannot formally give to another charity, but Mothers' Union members filled a plate with donations.
The next event will be the Deanery Festival on June 1st at Christ Church Wesham. |