Generous donation helps open up woodland for hospice patients

Shrewsbury and District Breathing Club recently made a donation to Severn Hospice, allowing the charity, which cares for supports thousands of people living with incurable illness, to create a calm and beautiful woodland area at its site in Bicton, Shrewsbury.

The woodland can be used by hospice patients and their families to enjoy.

Part of the donation was spent on the installation of a new wooden bridge which now gives year-round accessibility to a woodland walk that has been carefully planted with a variety of bushes, shrubs and trees.

The remaining funding is being put towards a planned Memory sculpture, a path at Bicton, and an oxygen machine which will be used at the charity’s hospice in Telford.

Members of the club, which has supported Severn Hospice for 30 years, were invited to a special thank you tea at the hospice.

The charity’s director of income generation, Tracie Harrison, said: “Each and every penny donated by the club is being put to very good use.

“It has allowed us to enhance the services and environment of the hospice, particularly for vulnerable people. There is a clear synergy with the charitable objectives of the Shrewsbury and District Breathing Club, that was originally set up to not only offer advice and support but also recreational and leisure time activities to enhance people’s lives.

“The groundwork and landscaping will be here for many, many years to come and countless patients and families will now be able to access the areas, enhancing their time with us and making special memories that will last forever.

“Here at Severn Hospice, we believe in holistic care and caring for people as individuals – so that they and their loved ones receive the unique care and support they need at their greatest time of need. We simply could not begin to do this without incredible supporters like the breathing club.

“This truly incredible donation that will support so many, for so long.”

The Shrewsbury and District Breathing Club has been a long-term supporter of the hospice and its founder, Dr Bob Wilson, was once one of the charity’s directors.

A club spokesman said: “Members decided this was a fitting way for our remaining funds to be used, especially as Dr Wilson also had strong connections with the hospice.”