Heysham Power Station workers help out at Lancaster hospice

The volunteer team: Reece Davidson, John McAllister, Tony Thompson, Harry Rankine, Stephen Shone, Aaron Mills, Simon Clifford, Debra Clifford, Natalie Duffin, Karen Cleasby, Gemma Mayor, Jo Riley and Ann Haines.
Not shown but also volunteered: Dean Braithwaite, Tommy Riley, Steven Cowan and Jez Duckworth. — The volunteer team: Reece Davidson, John McAllister, Tony Thompson, Harry Rankine, Stephen Shone, Aaron Mills, Simon Clifford, Debra Clifford, Natalie Duffin, Karen Cleasby, Gemma Mayor, Jo Riley and Ann Haines. Not shown but also volunteered: Dean Braithwaite, Tommy Riley, Steven Cowan and Jez Duckworth.

A team of volunteers took part in a day of ‘hands on’ work around both the hospice site and the hospice warehouse.

The TSG team wasted no time getting to work in the hospice garden; levelling walkways, strengthening steps, putting up handrails, washing windows and sweeping leaves from the pathway! Some of the volunteers put their joinery skills to the test by building an outdoor home for the potted vegetables and herbs that are used by the kitchen for patient meals as well as the Courtyard Café.

Meanwhile their colleagues were working hard at the hospice warehouse, which holds all the donations before they are sent to the eleven charity high street shops site.

Window cleaning: Natalie Duffin and Ann Haines.

The team spent time outside doing unglamorous but important work such as power washing, weeding pathways and cutting overgrown bushes.

Other volunteers were helping to sort stock, paint and do more leaf sweeping!

Nicky Willan, Volunteer Co-coordinator, St John’s Hospice, said: “I can’t thank the team enough! It always amazes me how quickly they work and nothing is too much trouble for them. A couple of volunteers even went out to get extra equipment as well as a van to help move items.”

Ann Haines, Administration and Communications, TSG, EDF Energy, said: “This is our second visit to St John’s as volunteers, it’s a real pleasure to come back as everyone makes us feel so welcome and we all feel it’s a great way to contribute to our local community.”

Natalie Duffin, Document Controller, TSG, EDF Energy, said: “Today feels like a good day, for me it’s a way of giving something back to St John’s for all the care my father received at home from the Clinical Nurse Specialists and Hospice at Home team.

“Those nurses made sure my father could stay in his favourite place for as long as possible and were always at the end of the phone for our family when we needed them.”