1

The Rosemary FoundationThe Rosemary Foundation

Hospice at Home Spring 2012 Newsletter

Auction of Promises

Langrish House Hotel was the superb venue for an Auction of Promises held to raise funds for The Rosemary Foundation.

After an excellent dinner, guests were able to bid for lots that included computer tuition, gardening, singing lessons, vouchers, meals and holidays. Some unusual lots included a kitchen design consultation, a trial gliding experience and a year’s dental cover! The Auctioneer was the very skilful Jonathan Pratt from television’s Bargain Hunt and he expertly persuaded bidders to part with their money. Our very grateful thanks to Robina Talbot‐Ponsonby and Philippa Steward for the massive amount of hard work that they both did to ensure the success of the evening. And successful it was, with well over £10,000 being raised.

John Dickson took fundraising to new heights by doing a Parachute Jump in the autumn. We are grateful to him for his wonderful support and for his amazing bravery!

Team Rosemary Raise £1,200

Rosemary Foundation nurse, Emma Loveman, somehow managed to persuade 13 friends and family members to undertake the Butser Hill Challenge to raise funds for the 2011 Rosemary Appeal. The Butser Hill challenge is a 4.5 mile course, with runners having to race up and down three faces of Butser Hill, a total incline of 880 feet.

Cheered on by a great team of supporters, the team managed to put in the extraordinary effort required to complete the course, with many beating their own expectations for time.

Our thanks to all the members of the team for their effort and all of their sponsors who together raised £1,200. What an achievement!

2

Tweeters and Facebookers, did you

know you can follow the Rosemary

Foudation on line?

Chairman’s Letter Welcome to all readers.

On behalf of the trustees, I should like to congratulate all those who have worked so hard and all those who have given so generously to make the past year such a success for The Rosemary Foundation. The support of the Petersfield Post Appeal has been appreciated.

During the coming two years the Health and Social Care Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, will present major challenges not only to Providers of palliative and end of life care, such as us, but also to Commissioners. The South East Hants Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), comprising 30 GP practices, will be represented by 6 lead GPs responsible for purchasing overall healthcare for 211,000 people. Palliative care may be a low priority for them. The CCG will decide whether they wish to commission a single provider of palliative care within our region and whether to put the service out to tender, bringing competition from the private sector. Alternatively they may allow patients to choose any qualified provider that meets their needs within a personal health budget.

As a hospice at home service The Rosemary Foundation will need to explore further collaboration with both the Rowans Hospice and the Macmillan Service in Midhurst and perhaps other providers as well.

With the introduction of social care reform this year we will need to seek support from our local authorities and to demonstrate the quality and cost effectiveness of our service. The new funding system for hospice and palliative care will be implemented in 2015 and if The Rosemary Foundation is to receive any small part of this, skilful negotiating will be required and all options available to us considered.

The trustees are committed to ensuring that The Rosemary Foundation continues to provide the excellent standard of nursing, counselling and bereavement care for which our charity is renowned. With appropriate skill mix on our board, a search for new avenues of fundraising and sound financial management, we would hope to have sufficient resources to attract new staff in the future.

We will keep you updated with our progress in the newsletters and meanwhile, do please sing the praises of The Rosemary Foundation wherever you may be.

With best wishes,

Dr Patricia Golding, Chair of Trustees

Liss Coffee Morning Do you live in Liss? Would you like to hold a coffee morning/bring and buy to support us?

We will support you with helpers, invitations, merchandise (even mugs and plates if needed). All you need to do is supply coffee and biscuits and find friends and relatives to join us. If you feel this might appeal to you please call 01730 266329 and leave us your name and contact details or email Lyn our Fundraising Co‐ordinator on fundraising@rosemary‐foundation.org.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.

Travel Tip Finding suitable travel insurance when you have a pre‐existing medical condition can be a stressful experience.

Free Spirit Travel Insurance and All Clear specialise in helping people with complex medical conditions. Both companies have experienced call centre staff, ready to help and advise on the most appropriate policy to meet the individual’s needs. Quotes can be obtained on line or over the telephone. Whilst these companies may not be the cheapest, they will clearly define the policy terms and conditions, leaving the traveller worry free and reassured, that, in the event of a medical emergency whilst away, all overseas medical expenses will be covered.

Caroline Hinder

3

Absolutely Fabulous! As a local group of close friends, the AB FAB girls came together eight years ago with a mutual aspiration to raise money for charities within the local community. During this time we have raised over £15,500 for an array of charities through our annual Christmas Dinner and Dance event.

This year we decided to support The Rosemary Foundation as we have had first hand experience of the wonderful work carried out by this charity. £300 was raised by a sponsored walk through the Hindhead Tunnel and our Christmas Dance for 120 people at the Petersfield Golf Club raised £2,750. A very successful evening! The AB FAB Fundraisers will continue to hold events during 2012 in order to raise money for The Rosemary Foundation.

Mandy Attree

Having had to move last year’s event because of the sudden snow that hit us we were pleased to be able to hold the Bazaar as scheduled. There was something for

everyone ‐ the Grand Raffle, a very well stocked cake and produce stall, supporters with their own wares, Play Your Cards Right, coffee and mince pies plus much more. Everyone had a good time at what turned out to be our most successful Christmas event ever. Thank you to those who manned stalls and all who supported us.

It’s a Wonderful Life... If you were fortunate enough to attend the Kings Theatre, Southsea on Friday 23 December you would have enjoyed watching the film ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. This proved to be a very popular event and a fantastic start to the Christmas celebrations. Who could not be filled with festive cheer as people travelled home, after the film?

The proceeds from this enjoyable evening, an amazing £1,080.59 were donated to The Rosemary Foundation. Manager Julie Cotsell who attended the evening, commented, “we are so grateful to the Kings Theatre for such generosity and wish them every success in their efforts to maintain and repair this wonderful and historic theatre”.

The Kings Theatre is one of the best examples of the elegant Edwardian playhouses to be found in the British Isles. To see what’s on, have a look at their website www.kings‐southsea.com

The Rosemary Consort What do the following have in common? Several former Cambridge choral scholars, a retired police inspector, a priest, an inventor with thirty patents to his name, a consultant in Earth Observation, and a BAFTA award‐winning film director?

The answer is that they are the members of The Rosemary Consort which was formed and directed by local musician Louisa Denby for a fundraising concert at St Laurence Church in Petersfield. A torrential downpour before

the start did not deter the audience and the church was packed to hear a superb programme of English Choral Music Through the Ages. The quality of the singing from the eight members of the Consort was outstanding and this was reflected in the prolonged and appreciative applause.

Louisa, who is also a bassoonist and two friends, oboist Lydia Griffiths and pianist Nickie Tabeart, raised more funds through a concert of French wind music in St Mary’s Church Buriton. Louisa’s next concert with the Rosemary Consort is at St Peter’s Church Petersfield on Saturday 10 November.

Julie, Barbara and Sandra Smith from The Kings Theatre

Christmas Bazaar

4

East Meon Cricket Club Beer Festival East Meon Cricket Club’s Beer Festival is on Saturday 7 July. The club is supporting The Rosemary Foundation who will be selling refreshments. For the 5th year, there will be a Cricket Tournament all day, followed by dancing and beer tasting during the evening. More information, time and ticket price will be advertised nearer the day and posted on our website.

The Solent Metal Detecting Club

Most people will have heard of the hobby of Metal Detecting, having seen detectorists on the beach or on TV in such programmes as Time Team. There are many clubs for detectorists up and down the UK. Ours, the Solent Metal Detecting Club, was formed in 1985 and is based in Waterlooville although some of our members come from as far as 20 miles away.

Our hobby includes searching for and recovering historical artefacts. Over the years we have found some interesting and exciting items which would never otherwise have come to light and so have added to the knowledge of our history and heritage. Our historically valuable finds are recorded on a national database and often donated to a museum for public display.

We have a number of farms for which we have the necessary permission to search, on the understanding that the search fees charged go to a local worthy cause or charity. Over the years we have supported a number of charities, but mainly our support has been for The Rosemary Foundation.

We provide a free recovery service for lost valuables such as rings and other jewellery, as well as keys and any other lost items, provided they consist of metal or part metal. There is no charge for this service although when we recover items grateful members of the public usually send a donation to our charity. Any member of

the public who would like help to recover a lost item can contact our club at solentmdc@hotmail.com and our detectorists will endeavour to help.

The club also attends fairs and fetes with demonstrations of metal detecting, usually letting the public try it for themselves. We have members who will give talks and demonstrations of the hobby to other clubs and societies.

If you would like to know more about metal detecting you could visit our web site at solentmdc.com or read one of the monthly magazines on the subject such as The Searcher or Treasure Hunting.

If you support The Rosemary Foundation and own some land you can raise funds for the charity by giving our club permission to search.

Tony Strevens, Secretary to the Solent Metal Detecting Club

Liss Band... ...is proud to be at the heart of the local community. It performs a regular series of concerts throughout the year ranging from summer afternoon fetes to evening concerts. For 2012 the Band’s first concert is a fundraising one for The Rosemary Foundation on Saturday 21 April at Petersfield Methodist Church at 7:30. Hope to see you there!

Walk at Liss Forest Gill Elmer from Liss Forest writes: “I am busy planning my annual Charity Walk, and once again have chosen The Rosemary Foundation for the money that we raise. It’s the usual walk ‐ I did ask my friends if they fancy a change of route but got a big NO! So if you wish to join us, we shall set off from the car park in Liss Forest at 10.45am on Sunday 11 March walking 3 miles across to the Deers Hut Public House to arrive as it opens at 12 noon. Here we can have a comfort break and refreshments as desired, and then a stroll back to the car park, a round trip of no more than 6 miles. Dogs are very welcome! Donations are invited on the day. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further details on 01730 893485.”

5

Long Distance Cycling….. In July of this year, Ed Brooks and Jon Watt will be attempting to cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats, a distance of nearly 1000 miles, in a target of 10 days in support of The Rosemary Foundation and two other charities.

In 2006 Ed's father Paul was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of lung cancer, and as a result his GP put the family in touch with The Rosemary Foundation who provided the most amazing support to both Paul and his family, enabling him to be nursed at home and to live the remainder of his time in reasonable comfort and dignity with his loving family around him. The support that The Rosemary Foundation provided included regular nursing visits, on‐call nurses at any time of the day or night, lending equipment to help make him more comfortable, as well as priceless emotional support for the rest of the family ‐ it is amazing what having someone to bounce questions off can do to help. Paul's great love of cycling is one of the reasons why they have chosen a cycling challenge to raise funds; he would have loved to join them.

Please visit: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/LEJOGJWEB to learn more and to donate if you would like to support this cause

Our Energetic Fundraisers We are very fortunate in having many fundraisers who will literally go the extra mile for us as they cycle, run and walk to raise money.

Our banners have gone missing! If any of our kind fundraisers have one left from an event please could they return it to us – thank you very much!

Cycling Katharyn Cann and her team of fifteen cyclists braved one of the coldest and wettest days of the summer to take part in the LiDBA 2011 Charity Bike Ride. Katharyn will again raise funds for us in this year’s event which is Sunday 10 June. Our thanks to Petersfield Round Table for making us one of their charities for the Petersfield Ups and Downs charity bike ride 2011, and for nominating us again for the 2012 event which is Sunday 15 July

Our very grateful thanks to all the cyclists who took part in these events and good luck for this year!

Walking During 15 years, Tony Maxse has raised an incredible £416,000 for various charities, including The Rosemary Foundation, with his 100 Mile

Walk. We are delighted to have been selected as one of the three charities to benefit from this year’s walk ‘A South Downs Challenge’ which starts on Monday 26 March and finishes on 1 April. If you would like further information please contact Tony Maxse on 01420 511216 who will be pleased to send details.

Running Katie, Jack and Ben Sibley ran the Junior Great South Run to raise funds in memory of their granddad who was looked after by The Rosemary Foundation. Congratulations and many thanks to them, and to all those who ran in the senior 10 mile event, raising hundreds of pounds. We really do appreciate and admire your wonderful achievement on our behalf.

...Fiona Browne, one of the Community Nurses, and six of her friends, will be cycling around the Isle of Wight 25‐27 May. To sponsor them, they can be found on the Just Giving Page.

Short Distance

Cycling...

6

£000s

This question is often asked:

“How does The Rosemary Foundation differ from the Macmillan Service?”

….The Rosemary Foundation is a small and local charity, providing care to individuals who wish to remain at home as life draws to a close. This service offers practical help, nursing care, emotional and counselling support, together with day and night sitting service and trained nurses available 24 hours a day. Care continues through the first year of bereavement. At the time of writing (January 2012) The Rosemary Foundation receives no statutory funding but provides a very cost effective service.

Macmillan Cancer Support is a national charity providing information, education and training, practical help, medical and financial support, together with some research. This service receives some statutory funding. Donations received are used to support the national charity. The Macmillan Team based in Midhurst is consultant led providing specialist palliative care to individuals, sometimes with complex symptom control needs. There is no trained nurse ‘on call’ available between 20:30 and 08:30 hours but counselling and a sitting service together with some nursing care are offered.

The Rosemary Foundation works collaboratively with the Macmillan service, both seeking to provide care that is patient based, effective and of the highest quality.

Barbara Pettegree

Financial Review The newsletter of a year ago included a chart that showed a deficit of income against expenditure of some £15,000 by December 2011. I’m glad to say that a year later, the picture is brighter.

We can now talk of “Variance” rather than “Deficit”, although we started with a deficit in July and August, claiming a year’s worth of Gift Aid refund in September turned this into a surplus which continued to grow until the end of 2011. Preliminary figures for January 2012 however suggest a more modest income which will of course eat into that surplus.

This brighter picture has to be seen in the context of possible storm clouds ahead. The effects on the Foundation of the Health and Social Care Bill (which you can read about in the Chairman’s letter) are very uncertain, both in terms of our service and our finances. We are continuing to build up the investment

fund that we mentioned in last autumn’s newsletter to provide a bulwark against future financial uncertainties and to provide a reliable income to fund our service.

You will notice that our average monthly expenditure has increased from £18,000 in autumn 2010 to £22,000 in 2011. Our expenditure always follows our level of activity very closely, but there has been an increase in our unit costs ‐ we must ensure that our wonderful nurses are properly compensated!

The Rosemary Foundation continues to rely on the generosity of all its kind friends through donations, fundraising and legacies. If your loved ones have been looked after by our Rosemary nurses you will know what a superb job they do. To help continue their work we would ask you please to consider leaving a gift to the Foundation in your will.

We are also looking to find even more ways to make supporting us easier. We are now registered with Virgin Money Giving (at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/) which is a further way to collect sponsorship online. We would also ask you to do your online shopping through “easyfundraising” at http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ and your internet searching through “easysearch” at http://www.easysearch.org.uk/ where every purchase and every search will generate a donation to your chosen charity (hopefully the Rosemary Foundation!) and cost you nothing.

Mike English, Trustee

Income July to December 2011

7

Clinical Review

If I had started writing this a few weeks ago (as I should have done) I would have said that the weather had been kind to us this winter. Then the snow came again this weekend, but fortunately it didn’t cause the disruption that we experienced over the last two winters (keep your fingers crossed).

This year will be fifteen years since The Rosemary Foundation began offering its “Hospice at Home” service to the people of Petersfield and the surrounding area. Many of you may know that the original team who set up the service, started by putting £5 in the kitty each time we attended a meeting and the nurses volunteered their services for the early patients we cared for, until funds came in. In those early days we could not imagine needing the amount of money that we received last year thanks to all of your hard work together with the Petersfield Post appeal.

Over the last fifteen years there have been many changes within the NHS. In the early days Portsmouth and South East Hampshire was still a health authority, which became a strategic health authority. The GP’s were fund holding, becoming primary care teams and will become clinical commissioning groups.

Each time we faced these changes we have anguished over how they will affect The Rosemary Foundation and will our charity survive. As we look back now we see that nothing changes for our patients; their needs are still the same no matter what system is in place.

Hopefully by keeping the patient at the centre of all care decisions, and being flexible with the service we offer to meet their individual needs, we can continue to be relevant in the changing face of health service delivery.

Looking back over these fifteen years there have been many highlights for us: providing high standard end of life care to each of our patients, our tenth anniversary lunch with Sophie, Countess of Wessex, taking part in the review of end of life care for the sixtieth anniversary of the NHS and receiving two awards for the “Best of Petersfield” 2010 and “Life in Petersfield” 2011.

Last but not least, your overwhelming generosity and ingenuity for keeping the funds coming in over all this time and the hard working loyal staff who have made The Rosemary Foundation what it is today.

As always, if there is anyone you think who may need our input then please pass on our contact details.

Julie Cotsell

Lights of Remembrance

Those attending this year’s Lights of Remembrance service at Langrish House Hotel were greeted on arrival with some superb singing from Horndean based choir Achoired Taste. The choir helped to create a wonderful atmosphere as people arrived, singing from the minstrel’s gallery overlooking the hall.

During the very moving service outside, the Lights of Remembrance were switched on and Canon Terry Louden read out the names of 120 people, who, relatives and friends had asked to be remembered. Back in the warmth of the hotel, refreshments were served as people took the opportunity to catch up with The Rosemary Foundation nurses.

Our grateful thanks to Robina and Nigel Talbot‐Ponsonby for their very kind and generous hospitality for this annual event in the Foundation’s calendar.

Canon Terry Louden, Dr Patricia Golding, Robina and Nigel Talbot‐Ponsonby and nurses Julie, Lindy and Jill.

8

The Rosemary Foundation - Hospice at Home in the UK 35 Lavant Street, Petersfield, Hampshire, GU32 3EL

01730 266 329 (administration) or 01730 269 996 (clinical staff) www.rosemary-foundation.org.uk info@rosemary-foundation.org.uk

For many of the above events we would be very grateful to receive offers of help, raffle prizes, items for sale, etc. If you think you might be able to help us please e mail our fundraising co‐ordinator Lyn Blackman at:

fundraising@rosemary‐foundation.org.uk or call our office on 01730 266329

MARCH

11 Sunday

Charity Walk - Liss Forest 10.45am more details from Gill Elmer 01730 893485

17 Saturday

Easter Coffee Morning East Meon Village Hall 10:00‐12:00

31 Saturday

Street Collection - Petersfield

26 - 1 April Monday - Tuesday

100 mile walk - A South Downs Challenge For more details ring Tony Maxse on 01420 511216

APRIL

21 Saturday

Liss Band Concert - Petersfield Methodist Church, 7:30 Retiring Collection

MAY

12 Saturday

Coffee Morning - Petersfield Herne Farm Community Centre, 9:00‐1:00

JUNE 10 Sunday

LiDBA Charity Bike Ride For more information go to www.lidba.co.uk

29 - 30 Friday and Saturday

Lavender Farm Open Days Hartley Park Farm, Selborne Road, Alton

30 Saturday

Cream Teas and Country Sale East Meon Village Hall 1.30 - 4.30pm

Solent Male Voice Choir St Wilfrid’s Church Cowplain 7:30pm

JULY

7 Saturday

East Meon Cricket Club Beer Festival All day

7 - 8 Saturday and Sunday

Lavender Farm Open Days Hartley Park Farm, Selborne Road, Alton

15 Sunday

Petersfield Ups and Downs

Charity Bike Ride go to: www.puad.co.uk

AUGUST

25 Saturday

Street Collection - Petersfield

OCTOBER

20 Saturday

Annual Quiz Night – East Meon Village Hall 7.00 for 7.30pm start tel: 01730 266329

NOVEMBER

10 Sunday

The Rosemary Consort St Peter’s Church Petersfield, 7:30pm

24 Saturday

Christmas Fayre – East Meon Village Hall doors open 10 until 12 noon.

DECEMBER

2 Sunday

Lights of Remembrance Service Langrish House Hotel at 5pm

8 Saturday

Petersfield Chamber Choir St Peter’s Church

22 Saturday

Street Collection - Petersfield

2012 Diary of Events