Volunteering Archives - Page 3 of 5

Volunteer Appeal for our shops in Cheadle and Edgeley

September 25, 2020 | 7:29am

Following the opening of many of our charity shops, we’re looking for local people to consider donating just a few hours of their time each week to help shop staff raise vital funds to support local patients.

We’ll be following government guidelines strictly to ensure every team member remains safe and offering training to help get our shops open to customers. All our tills will be shielded, and we’ll use floor markers to ensure two-meter distancing. In larger stores, we will also have a one-way system in place.

The hospice shops generate a large amount of income that helps our dedicated staff to continue to deliver outstanding care and support to patients and their loved ones.

By sparing a few hours each week, you can help provide a service to the local community whilst also raising much-needed funds for our hospice. If you’d like to volunteer for our hospice shops then click the link below.

he hospice’s ability to fundraise has been hugely impacted by the pandemic and our shops have now reopened and are doing really well as local hubs for people in the community to buy new or preloved goods in a safe environment.

However, now the shops are open again, we’re in real need of volunteers who can help our dedicated teams in a variety of ways. We’d love to hear from anyone who might be willing to help by giving a few hours of their time each week at any of our store locations – but particularly in Cheadle and Edgeley.

The role of a charity shop volunteer has really changed in recent years, and we see people of all ages who really benefit from the experience. We need help with everything from window displays and merchandising, to serving customers, organising stock, and lots more in between. There’s something to suit everyone’s needs, so please do get in touch if you might be able to help.

Amanda Brooks, Trading Company Manager

Among our shops that have opened is the specialist Cheadle Bridal shop and we’re looking for brides-to-be to view, try on and purchase dresses for their big day.

We’re taking bookings for either one hour or 1.5-hour slots over the coming months and will be open for fittings. Before and after every appointment, the shop will have a deep clean to ensure both staff and customers remain safe.

To book an appointment at the St Ann’s Bridal Boutique in Cheadle, please email cheadle@sah.org.uk or call the shop on 0161 428 5949.

Brides might be having to adapt their big day to meet the changes to lockdown rules, but it doesn’t mean they should compromise on their dress. We have put an appointment system in place so brides can come along and browse the range of amazing new and preloved dresses we have in our Cheadle shop at their leisure in a safe way. It’s a beautiful bridal room, with lots of original art deco features, and many of the dresses we have in stock are brand new or designer too.

We know many people have had to adapt their plans for their wedding day, and our team is here to help them to pick out the perfect outfit, however they are marking the occasion. It’s a real privilege to be involved in such a special day for so many brides, and we get people travelling to our shop from all over the north west and beyond.

Amanda Brooks, Trading Company Manager

Our hospice shops generate thousands of pounds worth of income every year for, which enables our charity to continue to provide care to our patients with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses.

Find out more about volunteering opportunities at St Ann’s Hospice’s shops

please click this link

Here!

St Ann’s Shop Update

June 9, 2020 | 8:40am

Hello, my name is Amanda Brooks and I’m the Head of the Trading Company at St Ann’s. In my role, I am responsible for the overall management of the shops, including St Ann’s online shops as well as the distribution centres, collections, house clearance services and the lottery.

In the last few months, we’ve had to temporarily close our shops and stop our trading services, in line with government guidelines. It has been a difficult time as our shops generate a lot of income that helps to support the hospice and the hard work carried out by staff who offer care and support to patients and their loved ones.

As lockdown restrictions lift, we’re now able to open our doors once more and from Monday 15th June we’ll be re-opening a select number of shops, including our online stores on eBay and Amazon.

We’ve taken great consideration and followed government guidelines to ensure our volunteers and customers can shop and be served safely. To do this we have had to make some changes in the way our shops will operate.

For now, only the Edgeley, Stockport, Heald Green, Altrincham and Romiley shops will be open, from 11am – 4pm from Monday to Saturday, except for the Romiley shop which will be open Tuesday to Saturday. The reduced shopping times means our team of volunteers, who will be briefed before taking the role on, can do a deep clean of the shops before and after every day they are open. Like most shops, we will be limiting the number of people entering and putting in safety measures, including floor markers to maintain two-metre distancing.

We’ve also had to adapt our donation policy and will now only be taking donations on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This way goods can be handled safely and isolated for 72 hours before they are placed within the shops. Sadly, customers won’t be able to try any items on, but we will be accepting returns, provided the item still has the labels attached and a receipt is presented.

Although our popular bridal shop in Cheadle will still remain closed, we are still accepting one hour or 1.5-hour appointments for the coming months, with a plan to re-open in August, provided the government says it is safe to do so. The number of bookings will be limited per day so our team can do a deep clean before and after each appointment. If you do want to book an appointment then email tradingadmin@sah.org.uk. We recommend doing this as soon as possible as our bridal shop is popular and bookings fill up quickly.

Our collection and house clearance service will also be re-opening, however, we will need you to book an appointment to schedule these and we’ll be asking a number of questions before we can collect items or clear a property. To carry out a safe clearance we’re asking that you leave a key in a safe space and notify our drivers of the location of the key. We ask that you aren’t present during these times so that our drivers can safely enter the property and collect the items. Once clearance is complete the key will be returned to the safe location and you will be notified. For more information or to book an appointment please email tradingadmin@sah.org.uk.

In the coming weeks, myself and my team will continue to review government guidelines to ensure our shops are safe for our volunteers and customers.

More than ever we need your support and every item purchased from us allows us to provide care for loved ones in our local community.

For more information on donations, shopping and house clearances, please email tradingadmin@sah.org.uk.

Having the first shops open means we are one step closer in re-establishing our business meaning we can continue to provide the vital funds needed in supporting the great care the hospice provides.

Amanda Brooks, Head of the Trading Company

Can you help?

We urgently need volunteers to help run St Ann’s Hospice shops. We’ll be following government guidelines and providing each volunteer with training to ensure every team member remains safe.

Each till will be shielded and floor markers will help maintain two-metre distancing and in the bigger shops, we will be putting in one-way systems.

Our shops generate a large amount of money and by sparing a few hours each week, you can help provide a service to the local community whilst also raising much-needed funds for St Ann’s.

Volunteers do need to be over 16 and we ask that those who are interested to fill out an application beforehand. Click the link below if you’d like to volunteer for St Ann’s, you’ll also find more information on what your role will be and how you can help St Ann’s.

Do you want to volunteer for St Ann’s

Our shops are in urgent need of volunteers, can you spare a few hours a week to help?

Volunteer Today

Celebrating Volunteer’s Week

June 1, 2020 | 7:00am

Louise sits on a bench in her garden, holding up a cup of tea to say cheers

Cheers to our volunteers

At St Ann’s Hospice, we’re incredibly fortunate to be supported by an army of more than 700 fantastic individuals from around Greater Manchester.

From working in our shops, to managing our coffee shops, assistant staff on the wards and providing support behind the scenes, our volunteers help in almost every area of our charity.

These local heroes gave St Ann’s over 75,000 hours of their time last year, which is incredible. We’re so grateful to them for everything they do for St Ann’s.

Recently, our volunteering has temporarily paused to help keep everyone safe. We deeply miss our incredible volunteers and the work they do to support our patients, but although they can’t be physically with us at the moment, we feel their support as strongly as ever

During Volunteers Week, we’d normally everyone into the hospice to have a tea and cake on us to say thank you for all their hard work. So instead, this week we’re raising our cuppas (or a glass) to say cheers to our volunteers.

Here’s a message from me to all our volunteers this week…

“Throughout this challenging season, our volunteers have continued to provide amazing support. They have taken part in fundraising challenges at home, sewed scrub bags for our clinical teams and have lifted our spirits by sending messages of encouragement and support.

We’re so grateful to them for everything they do for St Ann’s. I’d like to thank them, and also all of the other people across Greater Manchester who selflessly give their time to support local causes. Your help really does make a huge difference, and we can’t thank you enough.”

Eamonn O’Neal, St Ann’s Chief Executive

Staff from the Being You Centre and Neil Cliffe Centre say cheers

Dorcas Hopley

July 5, 2019 | 3:13pm

Dorcas Hopley, one of our long standing volunteers, has recently died. Dorcas was a volunteer for around 10 years, doing lots of fundraising and helping in the Heald Green Coffee Shop. She also worked in catering for around five years in the 90s.

She stopped volunteering with us a while ago due to ill health, but her contribution over the years has been amazing.

We need you!

May 28, 2019 | 2:29pm

We’re holding a series of charity collections throughout Carers Week (between 9 and 15 June) in the Trafford Centre and Manchester City Centre, and we’re looking for help from people who might be able to volunteer their time to help us raise as much money as possible.

At St Ann’s we’re proud to support not just the patients who come to our hospice sites or are visited by our teams in the community, but also their carers and loved ones too. That’s why we wanted to run these collections during Carers Week, to try and raise as much money as possible to help us to continue providing that invaluable support at such a difficult time.

We’d love as many local people as possible to join us, even just for an hour or two, to help raise vital funds for that much-needed care. There are flexible slots throughout the days, and we can promise it will be lots of fun. Our mascot Stan will be coming along to join us, and there’ll be entertainment and props on the days too!

Please do let us know if you can help out – even for an hour or two – as your time really will make a huge difference to local patients, their carers and loved ones. We’d love you to join us!

Lucy leeming, Fundraising Manager

The collections will take place as follows:

Saturday 15^th June: Trafford Centre
Sunday 9^th June: Manchester City Centre
Friday 14^th June: Manchester City Centre
Saturday 15^th June: Manchester City Centre

For more information, or to talk to a member of the team about volunteering your time, please email fundraising@sah.org.uk or call 0161 498 3631.

Thinking about volunteering for St Ann’s?

Find out more by clicking

Here!

The working life of a hospice trustee

November 14, 2018 | 12:05pm

Allan Beardsworth at the Manchester Midnight Walk

Allan Beardsworth is a trustee and treasurer at St Ann’s.

Ever since I was a child I’ve always wanted to do good things. My earliest fundraising was when still at primary school. I was brought up that way. Throughout my working life I’ve always tried to surround myself with like-minded people who are benevolent. I attracted clients of that nature, and in my 30s and 40s I started to give some of my working time to various charity roles. I think that’s why it was inevitable that I would take on a trustee role at some point in my life.

As a chartered accountant and when I was a tax partner at Deloitte LLP, I had many clients who supported charities. I also advised many charities, and it was when I decided to retire from that position that I was approached by St Ann’s who asked if I would like to join their Board.

That was in 2015, and I now spend half my time working for my own clients, and half the time working for St Ann’s and two other important charities. It’s a great mix, and I thoroughly enjoy the balance it gives me.

Hospices are places that are close to my heart for a number of reasons. I’ve had personal experiences of hospice care with my own family – in fact the first time I ever met my wife’s father was in St Ann’s. My mother died in the loving care of St Rocco’s Hospice, Warrington, and I felt then, as I do now, that hospices give the kind of care that really wraps the whole family up in a supportive blanket.

Trustees have an important part to play in any charity. We need to be involved enough to be helpful and to provide guidance, and we need to act as ambassadors for the hospice. I think it’s really important for trustees to share what they have learnt outside of the hospice environment too – a balanced Board with a range of skills, experiences and backgrounds is vital in order to ensure that we can provide a diverse outlook.

There’s no typical day for a trustee. I often have several meetings in one day when I’m at St Ann’s. I like to arrive early and sit in the café area of the hospice to chat to patients, families, staff and volunteers as they come in and out. It’s really important to me to do this as I strongly believe that trustees need to remain in touch with the people who access the services of the organisation, as well as those who help to deliver them.

I attend fundraising events too, such as the Manchester Midnight Walk or the hospice Christmas Fairs. I’m not a fan of shopping normally, but there’s nothing better than seeing lots of people gathered together raising money for our cause. Our Light a Life Christmas services are intensely moving for what St Ann’s means to so many in Manchester, and a time for personal reflection of loved ones I have lost.

Another important part of my role is to network with other trustees from hospices across the country. Eamonn, our Chief Executive, and I have been lucky enough to visit several hospices in recent months and I’ve enjoyed meeting others and sharing knowledge and expertise. One of the great things about the hospice sector is that we don’t compete with each other – the will for hospices to share and support one another is something which really struck me when I joined St Ann’s, and it’s incredibly helpful to be able to learn from each other.

It’s actually a very exciting time to be involved in the hospice sector, particularly in Greater Manchester. The devolution of healthcare budgets here has meant that there are unique challenges for us to overcome, but there are many significant opportunities for us too. Trustees are perfectly placed to offer guidance and to help open doors for an organisation, and I do try to share my network of contacts wherever I can.

It can be very busy and very demanding being a trustee of a hospice, but it’s incredibly rewarding too. It’s actually a real privilege to be part of the St Ann’s community. It’s such a happy, positive place full of warmth and love, and it’s a real pleasure coming to work here. Being part of such a dynamic team is what drives me to keep being involved, and I’m excited about what the future will bring for St Ann’s.

We need to raise £20,000 every day to keep the hospice doors open

We’re more than just a charity to our patients. Every single penny donated makes a huge difference to their lives.

Click here to find out how you can get involved.

Urgent appeal for volunteer drivers

September 25, 2018 | 2:30pm

We are urgently appealing for local people to sign up as volunteer drivers to help us transport patients to and from our Day Therapy sessions in Heald Green or Little Hulton. Drivers are also needed to help transport patients to and from outpatient appointments at our Neil Cliffe Centre site in Wythenshawe Hospital.

Drivers would be required to use their own car, but expenses would be paid.

Some of our patients are unable to make their own way to and from our Day Therapy sessions each week or to their outpatient appointments, which is why we’re appealing for support from local people.

We’d be looking for people who would be happy to pick up patients so they can come to the hospice at 10am, then who could pick them up from St Ann’s and take them home again at 3pm. There also other times available for those willing to volunteer to bring patients to our Neil Cliffe Centre in Wythenshawe Hospital for appointments. We’d love to hear from you if you have a couple of hours to spare.

Louise Fleming, Volunteer Manager

Our Day Therapy patients can access a range of services, including creative therapies, pain and symptom control, complementary therapies, counselling, relaxation and exercise.

Feedback from our patients is that the care they receive in our Day Therapy services makes a huge difference to their quality of life, whether that’s by helping them to control their pain or other symptoms, or by experiencing invaluable social interactions which make a real difference to their emotional wellbeing.

Our volunteer drivers help us fulfill this valuable service for our patients and help us to improve their wellbeing at a time they need it most. We’d be enormously grateful if local people could come forward and help.

Louise Fleming, Volunteer Manager

Sign up now!

Click below to register your interest in becoming a volunteer driver

Click here

Volunteer Jean steps down after 32 years

August 9, 2018 | 3:23pm

Jean Waring has stepped down after 32 years as a volunteer at St Ann’s although her days helping others may not yet be over.

Jean, aged 85, has reluctantly given up her role in the coffee shop at our Little Hulton hospice where she has worked once a week for the last 15 years.

She has left because she is moving home from Culcheth to live closer to her two sons, three grandchildren and two step-grandchildren in Goosnargh in the Ribble Valley.

Jean went with happy memories after fulfilling a variety of tasks at St Ann’s. Initially, she volunteered in the evenings on reception, in the ward office and as part of the bereavement support team.

Jean said: “I didn’t want any fuss and slipped a note under the door to let the volunteer co-ordinator know I was leaving and the hospice gave me a lovely farewell with a bouquet of flowers.

“St Ann’s is a wonderful place. When people come in they don’t know what to expect but the love and care is fantastic. I won’t be doing anything quickly when I move home, but I’ve noticed that a local hospital is asking for a volunteer to meet and greet people and that might suit me.”

Jean worked for Adam Lythgoe Ltd in Culcheth for 17 years as secretary/PA to the owner and then spent 12 years with Astley Hire as secretary/credit controller.

We’re appealing for more volunteers!

We need help in the coffee shops and more drivers to take patients to the hospice. For more details about volunteering contact Louise Fleming, Volunteer Manager at St Ann’s on 0161 498 3653, or email lfleming@sah.org.uk or you can register your interest online by clicking the button below.