At the Open Meeting on Tuesday, Sue Fox was hoping to announce good news for Willow Burn but an embargo until yesterday prevented her from doing so.
She has now let us know that the hospice has been successful in being granted an award of £356,438 from the Department of Health which will enable them to begin building Phase 1 of the new hospice in July of this year.
One of the main reasons they have got this fabulous injection of cash, is because, through the application procedure, they were able to evidence the continued commitment of the local community in helping them to continue to run their excellent services year-on-year, and also to help them to save up a substantial amount of money to go towards the building of a new hospice. Sue also says that …
“Although this is fantastic news, and we can at last demonstrate our integrity and loyalty to ensuring that we deliver the very best of services in a fit for purpose facility to the local populace…we can’t sit on our laurels. Please spread the word that we need more support than ever now, as Phase 2 is twice the cost of Phase 1 and so we have many hard months, maybe even years, ahead, where we will be continuing to fundraise to try to ensure the speedy development of the new hospice. For now, though, it is suffice to say that we are extremely happy that we have been awarded this fabulous sum of money. Again, our sincere thanks to everyone who has supported Willow Burn in the past and brought us to this huge milestone – the initial stages of building a brand new hospice for the people of Derwentside and beyond!”
If you would like to find out more about helping Willow Burn, have a look at the web site for the Derwentside Hospice Care Foundation.
Shotley Bridge Village Trust 