Trish Shanks opened the meeting by introducing Jadeen and Erin from North Devon Hospice, the Charity we supported in 2021/22.

St Giles Women’s Guild presented them with a cheque for £540.00 and Jadeen thanked us and gave a short talk about the work of the Hospice and the way donations are spent.

The Hospice has various units, the main one being at Deer Park, Barnstaple which is an 8 bedded unit for inpatients. This was opened in 2006 and has just been revamped. It is now very homely and comfortable with all the medical equipment hidden in cupboards in each room until needed. The other site is The Long House in Holsworthy which is not residential but provides lots of facilities and courses to improve the quality of life for patients and their relatives. All sorts of courses are available there such as crafts, a project group to bring your own particular hobbies (which is very popular) and treatments to make the patients feel better about themselves such as manicures and make up. The Hospice also has two teams of nurses, one in Deer Park to take care of the patients, and one team of 14 out in the community to care for patients who are being looked after at home. There are also staff providing educational courses for students and GPs, as patients have to be referred to the Hospice by their GP. Staff are very supportive of each other as well as for their patients.

Finance is always a problem with the running costs in excess of £6-million per year and very little of this is provided by grants from the NHS. About 25% of the funds come from people leaving money in their wills, then the next biggest source is the retail shops and then the rest comes from donations such as ours and from fund raising campaigns such as the ‘night walk’. The Hospice also runs a weekly raffle.

The Guild very much enjoyed the talk and hearing about the dedication of all the staff at the various sites and some 500 volunteers that help at events. Thanks were expressed to Jadeen and Erin for coming.

Then followed the annual meeting with the current officers being re-elected and the secretary and Treasurer’s reports. The membership fee is now £10 a year, Teas remain the same at 50p and visitors pay £2 per meeting.

The table flowers will be taken to Jackie Targett.

Flower of the month: 1, Moya Eley; 2, Liz Fisher; 3, Sue Williams.

The meeting closed at 9pm.

Date of next meeting October 18.

Anyone interested in joining the Guild can contact Trish Shanks on 01566 773256 or email her at [email protected]