Assembly staff roll up sleeves for George Thomas Hospice
30 July 2010
Volunteers from the National Assembly for Wales’s Committee Service Division have spent two days this week creating a woodland walk for patients of the George Thomas Hospice in Cardiff.
Over the past three months the team has led a fundraising campaign aimed at raising £2000 for the Woodland Garden Project in the grounds of the Hospice.
Money was raised through a number of events at the Assembly including cake, book and table-top sales and a charity gig with performances from staff.
This week the volunteers have cleared a 40-metre patch of overgrown woodland, dug a trench and concreted the path.
In the future, benches will be added to the garden and flowers will be planted to create a relaxing environment for patients and their families.
“The support provided by the hospice to people and families facing cancer and life-threatening illness is second to none, so we wanted to provide some practical support to help their work,” said Assembly Deputy Committee Clerk Sarita Marshall.
“The team worked hard to raise the funds for the Woodland Garden Project and we’re pleased with the results. We hope that the walk helps to provide a nice environment for the Hospice’s patients and their families.”
Margaret Pritchard, Chief Executive of George Thomas Hospice Care said: ‘We are delighted with, and most grateful for, the work and financial support of the volunteers from the National Assembly.”
“As the local hospice for Cardiff providing help to patients and their families we are seeking to meet the ever growing demand for the service we provide for our community.
“Volunteers are very important to our work and those from the National Assembly in working on our garden and grounds are helping us develop a most important patient facility.
“We have lots of our patients, when they are able, visiting our hospice centre for our day care programme and the woodland walk will be a wonderful source of enjoyment and relaxation for them.
“Through their efforts the volunteers from the National Assembly are really helping us, as the major provider of specialist community palliative care for Cardiff, to help others at a most difficult time in their lives.”
