SobelltimesSpring 2014

The Newsletter for Supporters of Sobell House Hospice

www.sobellhospicecharity.org.uk

The Oxford Moonlight Stroll – Saturday, 12th JulyDid you make any New Year’s resolutions? Perhaps you want to get fit? Perhaps you want to be more charitable? Perhaps you want to experience Oxford from a new perspective? Now’s your chance!

The Sobell House Hospice Oxford Moonlight Stroll returns for 2014!

The annual nine mile sponsored walk will once again take to the streets of Oxford and this year’s theme will be a pyjama party.

It costs £18 to enter and you will receive a t-shirt, fundraising assistance and refreshments on the night. More importantly, you will be making a massive difference to people throughout Oxfordshire affected by terminal illness.

Sobell House is joining with four other local charities to organise a Firewalk at the Oxford City Football Club in Marston.

Why not take up the challenge and walk on hot coals to raise money for the Hospice?

We organised a similar event in 2012 and it was a very exciting evening. All participants were given some motivational training beforehand, and they found the experience very empowering, and were proud of what they had achieved. Spectators will also be able to enjoy refreshments, a bar and entertainment during the evening.

Registration for the Firewalk is £25.00 and each Firewalker will be required to raise a minimum of £100 sponsorship.

If you would like to take part, please contact the CharityOffice for a registration pack on 01865 857007, or e-mail lindsay@sobellhospice.org

To register for the Oxford Moonlight Stroll visit www.oxfordmoonlightstroll.org.uk, or call us on 01865 857007

Firewalk – Saturday, 15th March

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Active Fundraising

After 26 days, 15 hours and 30 minutes at sea, Richard Mayon-White completed his solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean via the Tropic of Cancer. Richard was sailing in memory of his mother who passed away at Sobell House in 2011. “The overriding emotion I feel is relief! Relief at having made it here safely; relief at being back with the family; relief that I’ve done it; and relief that I no longer have to sleep in a bed that I need to re-inflate every two hours!!!! Antigua is as lovely as I remember it being, and now sitting in a beautiful cottage by the shore overlooking Monserrat, I’ve had a chance to see beyond the relief and to properly appreciate what’s happened”.

The Tropic of Cancer challenge raised money for two charities, Sobell House Hospice Charity and Sail4Cancer (who will use their funds to help found a Sobell House Respite Fund, which will provide appropriate respite holidays and activities for patients and carers). Sobell House will be using the money to fund a new initiative to help empower and support the carers of our patients suddenly confronted with the hard realities of caring for a loved one with a terminal illness. Sobell House Hospice cares for around three thousand patients every year, offering care and support both at the Hospice and in people’s homes. Sadly, despite the best efforts

of GP’s, District Nurses and our own Community Team, we can’t be there 24 hours a day. The rest of the time our patients rely on the love and dedication of family and friends to support them during their toughest times, but who cares for the carers?

Often the families are thrown in at the deep end, with no practical experience or knowledge of the logistics and complex needs caring may entail. In turn, this ‘unknown’ can be very daunting for both the family and the patient. With the assistance of the charity and the community, Sobell House Hospice is launching a new project aimed at teaching practical skills to our patient’s

Tropic of Cancer Challenge supports the ‘Caring for the Carers’ project

Dot Cox raised over £500 skydiving for Sobell House. The Skydive was a gift from Dot’s children who decided to celebrate her 50th birthday by throwing her out of a plane! Thanks Dot, glad you enjoyed your ‘amazing experience’, and HaPPY bIRTHDaY!

families and empowering them to feel confident in their own caring skills, removing some of their own fears and doubts, and relieving some of the pressures of caring for a loved one with a terminal illness.

Thank you so much to everyone who has followed Richard’s journey, but more importantly, thank you to Richard for giving us the kick-start to begin this very important project.

Visit the Sobell website at www.sobellhospicecharity.org.uk/node/522 for more information on the project.

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Our places for the London Marathon have all been taken, however if you have a place of your own and would be willing to run in aid of Sobell, we’d love to hear from you.

If 26.2 miles sounds like it’s a little too far then we also have places available for the London 10k which takes place on the 13th July. Later this year, we are hoping to get places for the Oxford Half Marathon however places are also available directly. The race takes place in October and details can be found atwww.oxfordhalfmarathon.co.uk closer to the time. If you would like to run for Sobell House, please contact Kevin on 01865 857012, or email kevin@sobellhospice.org.

Virgin London Marathon, London 10k, and the Oxford Half Marathon

Elsewhere, runners, riders, walkers and swimmers have raised thousands for Sobell House, from the blenheim Half Marathon, to the Wiltshire 100 cycle ride, Great North Run and Thames Path 100, to the Oxford Half and Mongol Rally. There are too many people to thank individually but you know who you are. Thank you so much for your support!

Last October, nine-year old anna Wallace walked into the charity office clutching a 1m long toy horse. Her explanation was “This is my biggest and best toy and I want to give it to you to say thank you”.

Anna’s auntie was cared for by the team at Sobell House and Anna wanted to say thank you by giving the charity something that meant a lot to her, in the hope that it would raise much needed funds for the Hospice.

Holly the Horse was put online as a silent auction, however our wonderful supporters had a different idea. They suggested that everyone make a small donation towards the Hospice for the horse to be returned to Anna as a Christmas surprise, and that’s exactly what happened!

On Christmas day Anna was over the moon to find Holly the Horse under the tree.

This wasn’t the only happy ending to this story. So many people were touched by Anna’s kindness and goodwill that over £500 was raised!

Holly the Horse

The 2013 Sobell Christmas Gift Fair was again a huge success, with around 2,300 people visiting the fair during the weekend. There were 66 stalls selling a variety of high quality, unusual goods and the event raised over £15,000.

Thanks go to SMY Electrical for donating and installing the electrics and lighting (special thanks to their engineer Phil). Thanks also to Skurrays who sponsored the programme, posters and flyers and to Radley College for allowing us to hire their beautiful facilities. Finally, thank you to the volunteers who contributed time, energy and support to the event.

Sobell Christmas Gift Fair

A date for the diaryThe Sobell Christmas Gift Fair

Saturday 22nd & Sunday 23rd November

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Our supporters out in the community have once again done a tremendous job of raising money and awareness for the Hospice. It is not possible to include all the marvellous ideas, however some events are listed below.

Thank you to Graham Allen and the other organisers of the Oxford beer Festival for supporting us again and raising £340.05; atkyns Court Residents association raised £225 at their Christmas party and raffle. A cheque was presented to our Chief Executive, Diane Gardner.

The Royal Oak on the Woodstock Road organised a quiz night and raised £264.75; Sam at The Six bells in Thame once again supported us at the Thame Food Festival raising a marvellous £1702.00; The Six bells in Kidlington raised £850.00 during a charity football match and beer festival. The Eight bells at Eaton held a fundraising event and raised £231.67; The Three Pigeons in Witney raised £131.00 at their annual darts competition.

Russell and Juliette Pearson beautifully decorated their house with Christmas lights. Visitors were asked to make a donation to Sobell House which raised £200.

Two more events were held in memory of Gavin anderson bringing the total raised so far to a staggering £27,675; bicester Ladies Circle raised £427 by holding a cookery demonstration at the newly opened Sainbury’s store in Bicester; bright Sparks, who are retired Marks & Spencers staff, raised £100 at their Christmas lunch; Friends Fishing Society raised £170.00 at a fishing match in memory of Austin Leslie Atkinson; alison Grant organised a coffee morning at Wendlebury Village Hall and raised £555.

Mrs & Mrs Green donated £120, which was given in lieu of presents for their 60th wedding anniversary; Hadden Hill Golf Club men’s team donated £500 in memory of Sandra Slowly; Lois Ilbery organised a Christmas Fair and Pamper Evening in Tiddington and raised £312.21; the residents of Little Milton supported Sobell House again this year with their annual village Christmas card – the donations from this totalled £640.00; Myra King made some beautiful earrings, which she has sold and raised £200.

Freddie Wilkinson (aged 11) competed in an open lake swimming competition to raise money because we took care of his grandmother. Well done to Freddie for raising a fantastic £118.70.

Terry Yates organised a family cabaret night at Florence Park Club which raised £600.00. Terry has organised many events for Sobell House and we are very grateful for his continued support; The City of Dreams concert was held at the Town Hall on 17th November, organised by the Oxford Seventh-Day advertist Church. Sobell House was chosen as one of the charities to benefit from this marvellous concert, and received £500.

The Great Milton Singers held a concert featuring Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols and raised £550. One of their members, Kate billimore, also organised carol singing outside the Tourist Office in Oxford and raised a further £206.40.

Molly and Len Vincent, and the Silver Slipper Dance Club, supported us by making a collection at their Christmas Party. Members came to the party without the usual charge, however Molly and Len encouraged them to make a donation to Sobell instead, and raised £503.00.

amelia burson and Lori Garrett, of The Batt School in Witney, raised over £145 by making and selling Christmas tree decorations in memory of their former teaching assistant Mrs Morris, who passed away in 2013 at Sobell House.

Laura (Amelia’s Mother) said: “I think it was such a fantastic and lovely idea from two girls of such a young age to want to raise money for charity in memory of Mrs Morris. Amelia and Lori asked the Head Teacher if it was possible to have a stall at the school’s Christmas Fayre to raise money by selling Christmas decorations that were very kindly made by Amelia’s Nana. We were all so thrilled to see the girls work so hard to make this happen and raise the money.”

Community Fundraising

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Our annual service took place on Saturday, 7th December, and was attended by approximately 1,000 people. Some changes were made to the shape of the messages on the tree, and some minor changes to the service, and we have had some very good feedback from those who attended. The appeal has raised a fantastic £22,750.

We rely on help from lots of people and would particularly like to thank TM Lettings for sponsoring the event, Timbmet for providing the tree, and the wonderful Oxford Gospel Choir and the Oxford Jubilee brass band for their contributions to the service.

Lights of LoveThank you to everyone who responded to our 2013 Christmas Appeal. Many of you were touched by the story of George and his family, and the support that they received from Sobell House. At the time of going to press, we are still receiving some donations, but the total so far is over £7,000. This is a wonderful contribution to the work of the Hospice and we are very grateful for your support.

Christmas Appeal

People leaving a gift in their will to Sobell House contribute 17% to our fundraising activities, so we can continue to support local people. If you are currently drafting or revising your will, you may consider leaving a gift to Sobell House after you have made provision for family and friends. This is a fantastic way to continue your support for us in the future, and to help make sure that we can support everyone who needs us. Sometimes a gift to a charity can also reduce your liability to inheritance tax.

Speak to your solicitor to ask how to include a charity in your will, or contact the Sobell Charity Office on 01865 857007 for more information.

Legacies‘Help us to care for the

next generation’

‘Write a new chapter and leave a gift in your will to Sobell House’

Both barclays bank and british Gas very kindly sent teams of volunteers to help out in the Bicester Megastore and Witney Warehouse recently. A great deal of sorting of donated items was achieved and these are now out in the shops being sold. It would have taken so much longer without the help of these groups so we are truly grateful for their time and assistance.

Don’t forget the Bicester Megastore hold a sale on the first Sunday of the month and Witney Warehouse on the second Sunday of the month, so tell all your friends!

We also have a new online shop which you can find by following the link, selling a lovely selection of Sobell goodies, gifts, cards and books.

With almost 200 volunteers helping out in our shops, it is difficult to choose just a few to mention. However, Don Flanagan from Little Clarendon Street recently celebrated his 90th birthday and appeared in the Oxford Mail, and Rita beasley from Bicester had her 5th Anniversary as a volunteer story mentioned on the local radio! Pat Webber from Thame and her friend ann Elmy held a Halloween Cake sale and raised £119.

Exciting Times in Sobell Shops

For more details of where to find our shops, please visit: www.sobellhospicecharity.org.uk and click on the shops page.

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Corporate Fundraising

New Corporate PartnershipsNielsen, Oxford Private Care (OPC), The Clarendon Centre and Hedges Law have chosen to support Sobell House as their Charity of the Year in 2014.

Louise Cox, Charity Chairman at Nielsen said: “Each year Nielsen chooses a Charity partner and our associates join Charity Challenge teams and engage in lots of fun activities to raise money. We had a lot of great causes to review, but Sobell House really stood out for us. Many of the Nielsen associates live locally and have been touched in some way by the Hospice, so we felt this was a really great way to give back to our local community.

We felt that the Sobell House ethos of making a difference by respecting the dignity and uniqueness of each person was really important. The Nielsen team really want to help Sobell to continue to make that difference, and hopefully our fundraising support will go some way towards doing that.”

Mark Collins, Business Director at Oxford Private Care said: “Oxford Private Care has been providing care services in Oxfordshire for 30 years and we have had a number of clients who have benefitted from the wonderful care and support that Sobell House provides. Many of us at OPC have seen the effect Sobell House’s care has on people’s lives, whether it

is a client they have cared for, family member or friend. The environment, coupled with the dedication and support of the staff at Sobell ensures that it is a place of comfort where families are welcomed and encouraged to spend quality time with their loved ones. I believe the value of such a service is immeasurable and we wanted to show our support by raising money for the hospice.”

The Oxford office of Hedges Law opened recently in the heart of the city with the firm having been established in Wallingford for 225 years. Nicola Poole, Managing Director of Hedges Law said: “We’re so looking forward to taking part in events and raising funds to help support the wonderful

work the Hospice does for those with life threatening illness and their families. Through the clients for whom we act in wills and probate work, we know first-hand how hard it is for families at that time. The Sobell team’s reputation for care, dignity and sensitivity is what makes us particularly proud to be partnering with them.”

Other corporate partners include Siemens Magnet Technology who chose Sobell as their Charity of the Year for a second year after raising £7615.50 in 2013; OCDEM who raised £1254 through Easter, Halloween and Christmas fundraising and continue to support us; Skurrays sponsored our Golf Day and Sobell Christmas Gift Fair, and continue to maintain one of the hospice vehicles; BHS and The Coventry Building Society raised £275.92 and £540 respectively through in store fundraising and continue to support us in 2014.

HSBC branches in Oxfordshire supported us throughout 2013 and raised around £9000. British Gas raised around £6000 since May 2012 and Boswells raised £2125.05 during 2013.

Ginny Fellows, Manager at the Centre said: “The Clarendon Centre is honoured to support Sobell House. I know many people who have had associations with the Hospice, and have heard nothing but positive things about the care received. A friend’s dad said to me he was so apprehensive for his wife to go to the Hospice, but he was put at ease immediately with the treatment and care they both received.

Sobell House is not just about the patient, it is also about looking after the families. I feel that it is priceless, magical and amazing that we have such a brilliant place in Oxfordshire.”

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Corporate Fundraising

Evolution Reptiles held an open day where people came along to meet the reptiles and enjoy a variety of giveaways and games and raised a brilliant £500.

bicester avenue Garden Centre raised £421.38 during their Autumn show; Crabtree & Evelyn, Oxford held a private shopping event and raised £157.31; Docdata Fulfilment Ltd raised £100 in their company shop; Unipart raised £300 from a raffle at their 25 Year Club; Highcroft Investments, RaF brize Norton and Inca donated £1000, £300 and £956.23 respectively.

Sainsburys Kidlington, Witney and Heyford Hill supported us during Hospice Care Week and raised a total of £424.74.

Many companies also supported us over the Christmas period, including: Elsevier and Grafton Merchanting who raised £274 and £1619.60 respectively from Christmas raffles; Mathews Comfort, Polythene UK, and The Revival Group donated £500, £1000 and £50 respectively in lieu of sending Christmas cards.

If you own, or work in a business and would like to help in any way, please contact Kelly on 01865 857066, or email

kelly@sobellhospice.org

Tesco in Didcot raised £260 during a New Year’s Eve bucket collection. Iceland in Kidlington asked their customers to donate an item at the till during the Christmas and New Year period and donated the items to the hospice.

Future Events

Registered Charity Number: 1118646. If you would prefer not to receive further copies of this newsletter please contact us on 01865 857007 or Email: mail@sobellhospice.org

Sobell House Hospice Charity, Churchill Hospital, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7LJ. Tel: 01865 857007 Fax: 01865 857015

£65 per person / teams of 4

We are organising our fifth Golf Day at Studley Wood Golf Club, Horton-cum-Studley.

We are looking for teams of four, and there will be prizes for the first three teams, plus smaller competitions throughout the day. The golf will be followed by a hot buffet and auction.

Sobell Golf Day Friday, 6th June

For further information, please contact Kelly on 01865 857066, or email kelly@sobellhospice.org.

themed event? It could be a yellow tea party or cake sale (banana muffins,lemon drizzle cake, lemon meringue pie,custard tarts – how can you resist?!), a yellow dinner party, or even a ‘Go Mellow for Go Yellow’ sponsored silence

If you are a business or shop you could:

n Set up a Yellow Card system for the day, where employees are shown a yellow card and fined £1 when caught doing predefined offences (swearing, being late, not recycling)

n Organise Yellow themed competitions, such as: ‘Who can grow the tallest sunflower?’;‘Who can eat the most bananas or custard?’; ‘How many yellow sweets in the jar?’

We can’t wait to hear all of your ‘Go Yellow’ fundraising ideas and we look forward to helping you spread some sunshine in the name of Sobell House Hospice Charity.

If you would like to do a ‘Go Yellow’ event, please contact the Charity

Office on 01865 857007, or email mail@sobellhospice.org

Last summer was a real sunny treat thanks to all of our kind supporters who joined us in ‘Going Yellow’. Around £2000 was raised, and we would be delighted to get even more people involved this year.

From June – September we are asking you to join us as we walk on the bright side and ‘Go Yellow’ once again. We have lots of ideas of how you can get involved so please do get in touch.

Here are some bright ideas to inspire you to get sunny and raise some money:

For those seeking adventure or to make a statement, you could:

n Ask for sponsorship to dye your hair yellow

n Do a sponsored skydive, bungee jump or fun run dressed in yellow, or as your favourite yellow character (The Simpsons, SpongeBob Squarepants, Big Bird, Pikachu)

n For those of you who are more yellow-bellied, why not organise a ‘Go Yellow’

Go Yellow… Here comes the sun ….Tuesday, 25th March

10.30am - 5pm

Wednesday, 26th March 10.30am - 3.30pm

Philberds Manor, Halls Lane, East Hanney, Nr Wantage, OX12 0HJ

Shoes, bags, linen, rugs, jewellery, plant and gift stall

Entrance £5 to include tea, coffee and biscuits

Saturday, 15th MarchFirewalk, Oxford City Football Club

Friday, 6th JuneSobell Golf Day, Studley Wood Golf Club

Saturday, 12th JulyOxford Moonlight Stroll, St Edward’s School

Saturday, 22nd NovemberSobell Christmas Gift Fair, Radley College

Sunday, 23rd NovemberSobell Christmas Gift Fair, Radley College

SPRING SALE

Forthcoming Events