The Hamilton Primary School year 5 pupils met nurse Holly Barrett and fundraiser James Martin-Whymark to find out why fundraising matters to St Helena. This is the article the young reporters wrote, which was published in the Gazette:
If you are part of the Colchester and Tendring area you would be hard pressed not to have heard of St Helena Hospice and the wonderful work they do for our community. They provide exceptional end of life care to residents and support their bereaved families. Now, more than ever they need donations and local support to continue their much-needed service.
Nurse Holly Barrett, a new addition to St Helena Hospice, describes the nurse care there as ‘the closest to the core values of nursing and you get to provide the best care for people.’ St Helena Hospice provides support for patients at their most vulnerable time of their lives. Nurses do things like giving medication, personal care, washing and day-to-day things like eating and drinking. Holly says ‘A really big part of nursing is just supporting people at the end of their lives, comforting and just trying to brighten their day a bit!’ Holly told us that the highlight of 2025 was their 40th year anniversary ‘we celebrated our 40th anniversary all through the year with lots of different things. We had a tea-party for our patients on the actual day, the 20th of May, and an exhibition all about our history with our current patients stories and their past.’
We spoke to James Martin-Whymark, community fundraiser at the hospice about the financial challenges that they are currently facing. The cost-of-living crisis, government cuts and rising costs that have happened since COVID has meant that the hospice had to make £ 1.6 million worth of cuts last year. This meant they had to close half of their beds for terminally ill patients, making only 8 available. Unfortunately, loyal staff also had to be made redundant causing much sadness to the remaining workers. Despite this the tenacious spirit of the charitable institution and the support of the public have meant that things are beginning to improve, and they are able to raise the £22,000 a day they need to run. Community work continues to thrive, and James is positive that they will start reopening patient beds soon.
James says St Helena Hospice thinks all donators are special - whether you do a tea party or something as exciting as jumping out of an aeroplane everyone’s donations count. ‘The most special fundraiser ever was when this lovely, rich family wrote us a cheque for £100,000 and funded us so we could build a Joan Tomkins centre. But there’s people who stand in the rain and wash cars or bake cakes and sell them to people which far exceeds just writing a cheque so they are even more special in their own way.’
Alongside government funding it is the public donations that have made this possible. James said that there are many ways that you can donate: from playing Your Hospice Lottery; to setting up a monthly direct debit; or hosting events themselves to raise funds, to name just a few. Next month the hospice is hosting an afternoon tea party in their serene gardens to show their thanks and appreciation to regular donors. James and Holly can’t stress enough how any contribution large or small is crucial in them continuing to provide care to local people and their families.
If you are to support St Helena Hospice go to www.sthelena.org.uk or visit a local St Helena charity shop to automatically donate.
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