St Wilfrid's celebrates 30th birthday with appeal for new £15m hospice home

Three decades on and more than 16,000 people have received the very best, specialist, end-of-life care, while loved ones have been given incredible support.

Now St Wilfrid’s staff are asking for help from the public to see them move into a new home in Bosham which it so badly needs.

The hospice has chosen today, its 30th birthday, as the special date to launch its fundraising appeal, called Dreambuilding.

And the Observer is backing it all the way by today launching a campaign to help them reach the magic £15.5m needed to achieve that dream.

Chairman of Trustees Angela Wormald said: “We have been supported by our community every step of the way since the idea for a hospice was first discussed.

“This support has continued through the past 30 years as our services to the community have grown and developed.

“We are confident that our community will continue to back us with the same spirit of generosity and commitment as we embark upon the next exciting chapter.”

The current hospice opened in Donnington in January 1987.

Despite extensions and adaptations over the years, the building is showing its age and its facilities are outdated.

The demand for St Wilfrid’s services – both in the hospice and at home – has now outgrown what the current building can offer.

Thankfully a suitable new site has been secured, three miles west of the current hospice in Waltons Lane in Bosham. Planning permission was granted in November 2015 and the land purchased in January.

Over a busy summer, the once derelict site has been cleared, paving the way for work on a new hospice, twice as big as the current facility, to start in July next year.

It will provide double the amount of usable space for patient rooms and activities while enabling more than 240 patients at any one time to receive dignified end-of-life care at home.

The new hospice will cost at least £15.5m and though great progress has been made, St Wilfrid’s is appealing to its community for help to raise the remaining £4m it needs.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

There are a whole host of ways people can support St Wilfrid’s move to a new home.

Listed below are just a few fundraising ideas.

Email a picture and brief details of your event to news@chiobserver and the Observer will print them in the paper.

We also want peope to write to us telling us about the amazing care your loved one and family recieved from St Wilfrid’s staff.

People can run a ‘dream dinner’ – invite friends, family, neighbours round for dinner and ask them for a small donation.

Join the St Wilfrid’s ‘dream wheelers’ – a fun and relaxed 101-mile bike ride through Normandy, France. Registration is £300 per person.

Join hospice supporters Jo and Mike Evans at their home along North Walls, Chichester, for wine, dinner and a quiz on May 20 for £40 per person.

Host your own bridge event at home using St Wilfrid’s DREAMBUILDING playing cards.

Or put on your own fundraising event, make a single or regular donation, or for sports clubs and groups, make St Wilfrid’s your charity of the year.

For more details contact the St Wilfrid’s team on 01243 214146, email [email protected] or visit www.dreambuilding.org.uk

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