We have been running the Day Hospice for nearly three years now and as people come to know about us, we have become increasingly busy. It is only with your support that we are able to help more and more people from the local community. The patients, as well as their carers at home have benefited greatly from our service, being given the opportunity to go out for the day, meeting different people and finding relief from the physical and emotional pressures that they are confronted by.

We have the exciting news that we can begin to focus on the next stage of our Hospice development, the In-Care Residential Hospice. Most of you already know that this means a total transformation of the first floor of our Hospice premises. This will complete the conversion of the entire building and enable us to extend the range and depth of our care, not only to those living locally but also for our pilgrims.

A huge task awaits us, the design and construction of this new project being just a part of the work involved. The staffing and training comprise another aspect, along with the registration of this new facility. The In-Care Hospice will give more members of our monastic community, and volunteers, a new opening to be fully trained as carers and involved in the daily running. We take this opportunity to welcome a new member to our care team, Dr Hansruedi Suter from Switzerland. He brings with him over 30 years of experience as a doctor and will be a valuable asset in establishing and running the In-Care Unit. As is the case with everyone at the Hospice he will be working on a totally voluntary basis.

A big thanks to all our fundraisers, donors and supporters for your help and hard work throughout the year and for the trust and faith you all have in us.

Fundraising is fun and extremely rewarding! We added a new event to our calendar this year, the British 10K run in London. In early July five runners took to pounding the streets of London in sweltering summer heat to raise funds for Skanda Vale Hospice. They joined nearly 20,000 other competitors on the run through central London - a gorgeous, meandering route passing famous landmarks so they could catch up with some sightseeing along the way and take their minds off their aching feet! Our runners didn’t need to be Herculean athletes: just enthusiastic fundraisers wanting to be part of this exciting and massive Central London event. It proved to be a great experience for all of them and they raised a fantastic total of £2800.

Apart from the London 10K Run three other major events took place in 2006. We enjoyed a beautiful garden party at the Hospice in Saron, a magnificent Coastal Path Walk and in blazing sunshine another tremendous summer fete at Skanda Vale. These four events raised £26,000 for the Hospice.  

Amazing, thank you very much!!!