Fantastic start to February

Well what can we say? It feels like no time at all since we returned from Christmas and New Year, getting back in to the swing of things, and now it's February! Activities at St Vincent's have been moving at a similarly swift pace as well.

Since our official media launch on the 9th January we have been working very hard across the hospice teams to create our 25th Anniversary special edition Newsletter. This has been a wonderful team effort with everyone giving their stories and input. The fundraising team put on their design hats and worked away like busy little bees, and now the newsletter has been sent to print and will be hitting doorsteps on Wednesday.

St Vincent's Hospice has also been a flurry of activity this past week with lots of new faces; we've had the privilege of welcoming new volunteers in to help support our administration. Without the help of volunteers we simply could not provide the services which we do - volunteers manage our shops and the Barn Tearoom, count donations, assist in day hospice and help the fundraising team with collections and events. This is just a snapshot of how volunteers assist us, if you want to find out more about how volunteering helps the hospice and how you can get involved visit www.svh.co.uk.

Kirstin, one of our former volunteers who helped the fundraising team in the lead up to the busy Christmas period, was successful in securing full-time, permanent employment whilst volunteering at St Vincent's Hospice. She said; "it was a great experience for me and I would definitely not be in my current job without the insight I gained at St Vincent's."

From new faces at the hospice to a very familiar face, we had the pleasure of welcoming Hugh Henry MSP at St Vincent's Hospice for a visit. As he was being shown around the building meeting staff and volunteers, he expressed how surprised he was to find out that over 50% of our services are actually community based. Previously he believed that most of our care was carried out here in the hospice building; a view no doubt shared by many people in our community.

During his walk round he bumped into a former pupil of his, from his days teaching accountancy; our very own counsellor Theresa! After a good reminisce of the past and a brief catch up, Hugh popped over to the Barn Tearoom for a coffee and a look around our new Vintage Stall. Of course we couldn't resist the urge to take a few shots of him and our Director of Care, Brona McGee, posing with some collectables.

All in all it's been a very encouraging start to the month. During our 25th Anniversary year we want to invite everyone to come up to the hospice to see the care provided here; you may be surprised by what you find - it really isn't doom and gloom, in fact it is one of the most uplifting places you will ever visit.