SobelltimesAutumn 2014

The Newsletter for Supporters of Sobell House Hospice

www.sobellhospicecharity.org.uk

Sobell House provides a wide range of services to patients and their families, and as part

of this year’s Christmas Appeal we would like to tell you about the work of one of our physiotherapists, Anna.

“As a physiotherapist, it is my job to help improve patient’s function and quality of life by using a range of rehabilitation techniques, helping them to become more physically active. My days vary, however a typical day might look like this…

I catch up with emails, notes, research and then attend the ward handover to find out about new patients. I often see patients on the ward and recently I saw a gentleman who was working towards going home. I talked to him about how things were for him at home before coming into the hospice. We then discussed how he felt that day. He said he

felt weak, easily fatigued and also suffered with shortness of breath. To help with these problems I gave him a walker to use for support and for somewhere to rest when he gets tired. We also gave him some coping strategies to make his energy go further and a few ideas how to manage his breathlessness.

I also see patients in the day centre and recently helped a lady to increase her independence by using methods to help her manage her breathlessness. She had originally been reviewed by myself and our Occupational Therapist and had been using a combination of equipment and techniques to make her own drinks and simple meals.

In the afternoon I often head into the community for a home visit and recently worked with a lady who wanted to move out of bed for the first time in months. We worked with her to improve her strength and confidence while in the bed, and once we laid this foundation hopefully with the appropriate equipment in place she will achieve her goal.”

All the services we provide including the in-patient unit, day services, therapies and bereavement support, cost around £4m a year to run. We rely heavily on local people and

Christmas Appealbusinesses to help us to continue providing this care, and we hope you will show your support by

l Sending a cheque payable to Sobell House Hospice Charity Ltd

l Visiting our Just Giving appeal page www.justgiving.com/ SobellChristmas2014

l Texting “XMAS93 £ (plus amount you wish to donate e.g. 5, 10, 15)” to 70070

l Visiting our website www.sobellhospicecharity.org.uk

You can also help the Hospice this Christmas just by shopping online through ‘Give as you Live’. You’ll never again feel guilty about treating yourself to an online purchase, as each time you do, you will be benefiting the patients cared for here at Sobell House. It’s quick and simple to set up, and once it’s done, each time you shop online we will receive a donation. So whether it’s stocking fillers, a present to yourself or even your Christmas food shop, sign up now and see how much you can raise.

Find out more and sign up now at: www.giveasyoulive.com/join/sobellhospice

We are also taking part in the Giving Tuesday initiative as part of our Christmas Appeal. This takes place on 2nd December, and we would like to encourage our supporters to think of ways in which they can give to the Hospice – this may be by making a donation to the Charity, or to one of our shops, or it may be that you choose to give your time to make a difference. For more information, please contact the Charity Office on 01865 857007.

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this money and Sobell House was one of the most popular choices receiving £566.

A new Tesco Express opened in Headington and celebrated its launch by making a donation to Sobell House. Lindsay, from the charity cut a ribbon to declare the new store officially open and was presented with a cheque for £500 as part of the stores commitment to supporting the local community.

Nielsen has been raising money for us as their Charity of the Year in a variety of ways, including cake sales, tuck shop sales, raffles, sweepstakes, table tennis tournaments and more and have so far raised over £10,000.

Volunteer gardenersThank you so much to the groups who have come to help our volunteer gardener from Carillion, Opus Energy, Elsevier, Nielsen, Oxford Brookes and Taylor & Francis.

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.

News from Sobell ShopsOur shops have been extremely busy over the summer with the many donations we receive. Many of our tax paying customers who donate are signed up to Gift Aid. As a result of this we receive an extra 25% from the Government on top of any money we make from the sale of their goods. Our ‘Shop of the Year’ for Gift Aid 2013/2014 is Bicester Shop, congratulations to them. If you are a UK taxpayer and you donate to our shops, if you haven’t already, please consider signing up to Gift Aid, it really makes a huge difference to the money raised.

Our shops celebrated ‘Go Yellow’ week with raffles, tombolas and lucky lemons! Carterton shop raised a fantastic £393 with their yellow themed raffle. Carterton was also named Sobell Shop of the Year 2013/14, congratulations to the whole team!

Charity Golf DayIn June, we held our annual Golf Day at Studley Wood Golf Club. It was an extremely successful day, with wonderful weather and 19 teams took part. There was a fantastic and fun atmosphere and the event raised around £10,500.

Our special thanks go to the headline sponsors of the event, Oxford Gene Technology and Polythene UK and to our other sponsors, Elsevier, MWS Properties, MMV Contracting, and Safeguard Alarms. Further thanks go to everyone who donated a prize for the auction and raffle.

Thanks also go to our hole sponsors ADS, Fine & Country, GFK Mystery Shopping, GNResound, Hedges Solicitors, Keba Computers, Kingdom Signs, Morgan Cole, Parklands, PA Turney, S & R Childs, Sheehans Contractors, Spark & Zoom, The Clarendon Centre, The Cotswold Lodge Hotel and Wenn Townsend.

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Corporate Fundraising

New Corporate PartnershipsWe are delighted that London Welsh recently chose Sobell House and Help for Heroes as their official Charity Partners for the 2014/15 Aviva Premiership season.

Explaining London Welsh’s decision to choose Sobell House, Club CEO Mike Stevens said: “When choosing our two official Charity Partners

for this season, it was of paramount importance to London Welsh that one of our partners was Oxford based. As a Club, we feel it’s essential for us to support local charities and Sobell House Hospice does a fantastic amount of good work in the Oxfordshire community.

London Welsh looks forward to working very closely with all of the staff at the Hospice during the course of the 2014/15 season and I’ve no doubt this will prove to be a very rewarding and mutually beneficial relationship.”

Siemens Magnet Technology has donated over £12,000 since they started supporting the Hospice in 2013. A group of employees recently did a bike ride from Eynsham to Yorkshire. Here is Ed Robson’s account of the trip: “On Friday 4th July, Team-SMT, made up of 12 cyclists with 2 support crew, started

a 190 mile journey from Eynsham to Halifax in Yorkshire. The 12 riders set off just after 7:30am and after a good start, the journey took a turn for the worse with a collision in the peloton outside Banbury leaving one rider with

Three employees at Hedges Law ran the Oxford Fun Run in May raising over £500. They even won the Corporate Trophy for the fastest corporate team!

Thank you to the Oxford Bus Company who donates all unclaimed passenger change to local charities each year. Their staff voted on which charities should receive a portion of

a badly cut knee. Luckily a nearby doctor’s surgery came to the rescue and the rider was allowed to continue without the need for stiches or a trip to A&E! At the end of our first day of over 100 miles, everyone arrived in Derby tired & wet but all in one piece.

After a long sleep and large breakfast, we set off through Derby into the Peak District. The hilly and challenging terrain pushed every rider to their limits, however, the views at the hill tops made the steep climbs worthwhile. After a total of 190 miles of cycling and 12,000ft of climbing, all 12 riders made it to Yorkshire. With many stories to tell, and nearly £3,000 raised for Sobell House, it was a special trip to remember!”

Would your business be interested in sponsoring a page of our newsletter? A donation of £200 covers the cost of printing one page. Your company details would be included on the foot of the page

and seen by over 8,500 readers. Please contact Kelly for further details.

Currys/PC World will also be supporting us as their local charity in the future. Carolina Esteves, Events and Marketing Manager said: “When deciding on a local charity to support it was an easy choice for us, we feel incredibly proud as a store to be able to support such a worthwhile cause.”

Marks & Spencer in Witney have chosen us as their local Charity of the Year. They are raising money through a number of in store events and activities throughout the year. Kieron Matthewman, Store Manager

said: “M&S Witney is really excited to be supporting Sobell House as our Charity of the Year. The charity works very hard to support local people

going through difficult times so we’re looking forward to raising money for them through some fun activities.”

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Community Fundraising

This page has been kindly sponsored by S&R Childs, 69 London Road, Headington, Oxford, OX3 9AA, tel. 01865 427272 www.srchilds.co.uk

This is the third year this event has been organised by Sander Aben and Peter Hart and raised £800. Sander said: “This year the tournament had a different structure as we had 14 teams instead of 16 resulting in a different style of knock out stages. Nick Jackson had the pleasure of dealing with the fixtures list and did a terrific job, and Charlotte King and Jack Page did the honours of keeping all the teams organised. The first two teams in each group would get the chance to bring home the ‘Jason Garford Golden Trophy’, and the third place would progress to a knock out stage for the chance to take home the ‘Jason Garford Silver Plate’. This year’s champions are the well-known, always quality side, fair play team of BFG’s “British Gas”. The boys dressed in the orange Netherlands kit, FC Garford went home with 2nd prize.

Matt Parker collected some great raffle prizes this year and we would like to thank Brookes University Sport Club, without whom this event would not have been possible and also all those who donated prizes.”

Jason Garfield Memorial Tournament

“We held a mini Music Festival at the Swan at Eynsham in May. We chose Sobell House because it has touched so many peoples’ lives with its amazing care and support to patients and their families. This was our way of saying thank you.

On the day we had live music from Beard Of Destiny, Gerry Denton and the Zimmers, Not The Johnny Berry Band, The 2Strokes, The Mighty Cadil-lacs and The Eynsham All Stars. We also had a raffle, BBQ and wrist-bands for sale which helped raise just over £1,000.

It was a very special family day and was achieved at very little cost. All you need is a pub and some local bands that will play for a couple of drinks, and some fundraising ideas! That’s it - give it a go, we did and loved it!”

Duncan Brown – Eynsham Music Festival

Nine Tiger Moths flew over White Waltham Airfield in Maidenhead in memory of Liz Innwood. Liz was a pilot and flying instructor and this was a very fitting way to honour her memory. Family and friends attended the event and a raffle raised £260.

Flypast in memory of Liz InnwoodThe pupils of St Thomas Moore School organised a concert in aid of Sobell House. The Charity was chosen by the school council because the father of one of their pupils was taken care of at the Hospice. £248.59 was raised and we are very grateful to the children, plus Miss Danielle Sadler and Mrs Sue Pollard who organised the event. Thanks also to the Jubilee Brass Band who performed at the event.

St Thomas Moore School, KidlingtonThe IDTA South East Area Chairman, Darren Kelly, chose Sobell House as their charity for the last two years. This was in memory of Pauline Selleck, who was a very well-known and influential dance teacher in the area and was cared for by the Hospice. Various fundraising activities and events took place which raised an amazing £3597.10. The cheque was presented to the Charity by Pauline’s daughter, Liz Lee Selleck, from Abingdon Dance Studio.

International Dance Teachers Assn

Further thanks go to James Hicks for organising another Stephen Hepple Memorial Football Match & Disco raising over £1400. Frank Malone and family for organising the annual Ann Malone Memorial Angling Match raising £1100. The Swainston family for holding their annual event in memory of their daughter raising £1,600. Carl Keeble of the Post Box in Wolvercote who shaved off his long hair, and raised almost £900

If you would like to know more about organising an event of your own, please call 01865 857007.

Sobell House Goes Yellow!A number of exciting events took place in and around the Hospice during our ‘Go Yellow’ week in August, including a yummy ‘Go Yellow Bake Sale’ in the Churchill Hospital. A big thank you to all our bakers and to Happy Cakes and Oxford Fine Dining, who donated towards the sale.

There was a ‘Children’s Go Yellow Activity Event’, which took place at Partyman World of Play. The children had a brilliant time and the staff were so enthusiastic and fun. We also held a ‘Go Yellow BBQ’ in our day centre garden with lots of tasty food, excellent music and a very lovely atmosphere.

The week raised around £3,000!

In Memorium – Joan Critchley 1917-2014Joan Critchley supported Sobell House for over thirty years. She set up a system for taking donations of foreign currency. This involved setting up arrangements with banks and travel agents, and also encouraging donations from our supporters, all of which were sorted by a group of volunteers in her home. This initiative raised tens of thousands of pounds to support the Hospice, and continues to operate to this day via dedicated volunteers. Sadly Joan died recently, aged 96, and we would like to offer our thanks to her, and our condolences to her family.

This page has been kindly sponsored by Woodstock Roofing, Units 1 & 2,Elmsfield Industrial Estate, Chipping Norton, OX7 5XS, tel. 01608 644644 www.woodstockroofing.co.uk

Many of our supporters organise fundraising activities to support the Hospice, and we are very grateful for all the hard work and ingenuity that goes into these events. This is just a small sample of the events which have taken place recently, giving a flavour of the variety of support happening throughout Oxfordshire. If

you would like to know more about how to organise an event of your own, please get in touch with the Fundraising Office on 01865 857007. We are always here to help with ideas and information, as well as fundraising materials. These events make a fantastic contribution to our fundraising efforts, and enable us to continue to provide our range of services to patients and their families, so why not get involved?

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Active Fundraising

Please support Neil and Mark’s challenge at www.justgiving.com/end2endmarkandnobby

Michelle & Richard Jones took part in the Moonlight Stroll, but to them it was a walk in the park as they’d completed the epic Grand Union Challenge a few days earlier (100km from Central London to the heart of the Chilterns in just 24 hours)!

Michelle said: “The weather was appalling as we had torrential rain for much of Saturday, which resulted in us all suffering nasty blisters! We are both now recovering & the aches are easing. It was rather emotional at the end & the enormity of what we achieved is really only just sinking in.”

We can only assume it was still sinking in when they walked the nine miles of the Moonlight Stroll, then nipped home before heading off again to do the Race for Life. Michelle and Richard raised over £1,400 but also left us in a little bit of awe!

The Oxford Moonlight StrollOn the 12th of July, 850 of you signed up and walked the nine mile route through the streets of Oxford for the eighth year. The weather was good, the costumes were excellent, and your efforts have already surpassed last year’s total and we are on our way to raising £80,000!

As always there are lots of people who we couldn’t have done without, St Edwards School, Christ Church College, The Botanic Gardens, SMY Electrical, Catermasters, Skurrays, The Midcounties Co-operative and Elegant Cuisine to name just a few. Most importantly, the biggest thanks go to everyone who walked!

If you still have sponsorship money, please send it to: Sobell House Hospice CharityChurchill Hospital, Headington, OX3 7LJ

You can also see just how fabulous you looked by visiting www.davidcollinsphotography.co.uk. All proceeds from the sale of the photos go to Sobell House. Thank you David!

The route is a single-lap, relatively flat course, passing the Mini plant facility in Cowley, and continuing to the track where Sir Roger Bannister broke the first ever four-minute mile in May 1954 at Iffley Road. Runners will be able to experience their very own piece of local history, as organisers introduce the ‘Bannister Mile’ to the race.

In previous years the course has run past the University Sports Centre, but this year the course will incorporate a short detour off the Iffley Road, so runners will have the unique opportunity to run in Bannister’s footsteps with one lap around the very track where history was made 60 years ago. The Bannister Mile will begin around the six mile mark and will end on the finish line of the track.

To register, visit www.oxfordhalf.co.uk and contact us for a fundraisers pack.

Grand Union Challenge

Oxford Half Marathon 12th October

Forthcoming EventsTuesday, 14th October Sobell Pamper Evening, Sobell Day Centre

Saturday, 22nd November Sobell Christmas Gift Fair, Radley College

Sunday, 23rd November Sobell Christmas Gift Fair, Radley College

Saturday, 13th December Lights of Love, Churchill Hospital

Tuesday, 16th December Together at Christmas, Christ Church

Special Guests: Esther Rantzen and Paul Mayhew-Archer

Sobell House Hospice with SeeSaw

Together at ChristmasWords and musicChrist Church Cathedral, OxfordTuesday 16th December 2014, 8 p.m.

Oxford Gospel ChoirThe Dragon School ChoirSummertown Singers

Tickets from £12 (concessions available)Tickets available from: Tickets Oxford Box Office 01865 305305 or www.oxfordplayhouse.com

In aid of:

Hospice Care Week – 6th to 12th October

Hospice Care Week is an annual awareness raising week of events and activities to raise the profile of hospice care across the UK. This year, Sobell House and other local hospices will be highlighting how hospice care can help change lives in different settings beyond the hospice building. During the week, we will be putting out messages on Facebook and Twitter and asking supporters to share their stories about the care they have received from Sobell House.

Together at Christmas Tuesday, 16th December 8.00 pmSobell House is joining with Seesaw to present a Christmas concert. We will have some beautiful music from the Dragon School Choir, Oxford Gospel Choir and the Summertown Singers, and readings from our special guest Esther Rantzen and also Paul Mayhew-Archer, who is famous for writing the scripts for the Vicar of Dibley.

The tickets for this event will be available from Ticket Oxford Box Office on 01865 305305 or www.oxfordplayhouse.com and cost £12, £18 and £25 (concessions available).

Christmas at Christ ChurchWe will be making a retiring collection at two Christmas concerts organised by Music at Oxford. We are very grateful to them for allowing us this opportunity.

Friday 12th & 19th December, 8pm

Christ Church Cathedral

Take a moment out of the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations to enjoy a feast of festive words and music from across the centuries. Stephen Darlington and Christ Church Cathedral Choir offer a mix of traditional and unusual carols by composers including Warlock, Holst,

Walton and Howells, interspersed with reflective and amusing Christmas readings. Tickets: £42 £28 £20 £15 End Time:9.45pm

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 Email: mail@sobellhospice.org www.sobellhospicecharity.org.uk

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Please return to: Sobell House Hospice Charity Ltd, FREEPOST RRKL-CJKH-HZSH, Churchill Hospital, Headington, OXFORD. OX3 7LJ

Or phone 01865 857007 for further details

Lights of Love – Saturday 13th DecemberWe would like to invite you to take part in our annual Lights of Love event by dedicating a light in memory of a loved one who is no longer with you. A mailing will be sent to all supporters who have taken part in the Lights of Love in previous years, but please call the Charity Office if you would like to check if your name is included on our mailing list.

Alternatively, you can complete the form below and send it to the freepost address with your donation.

All the messages will be attached to lights on our Lights of Love tree. A short service will be held at the Churchill Hospital on Saturday, 13th December at 3.30 pm and the lights on the tree will be lit, and will shine throughout the Christmas period.

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Sobell House Hospice

THE SOBELL

G I F T FA I RAT RADLEY COLLEGE

Christmas• OVER 60 STALLS • REFRESHMENTS • UNIQUE GIFT IDEAS

Charity Number 1118646Radley College, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 2HR Entry £5.00

Sat 22nd

Nov 10am - 5pm10am - 4.30pm

Sunday 23rd Nov

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