‘Please resolve to help the hospice’

Spokeswoman Stevie Pattison-Dick said: “Why not combine these and volunteer at the hospice?

“We’re currently looking for extraordinary people to develop our service.

“If you have as little as an hour a week, you could make a real difference.

“No special qualifications are required but personal qualities such as being caring and understanding and having the ability to listen and maintain confidentiality of a relationship are essential.”

All sorts of different volunteers are required from a support and liaison officer to vehicle co-ordinator and graphic designer. Extra hands are always needed in the kitchen, on reception and wards and the hospice would like to recruit bereavement visitors to help families and friends come to terms with their loss.

Full training is given in six half-day sessions. The next course starts on Thursday, February 2.

Volunteer Claire Noller, 45, has been helping out and fundraising for the hospice since 1993. “I love the atmosphere here and there are so many different things you can do,” she said.

Linda Collins, 53, helped organise a charity football match after her husband died. Now the landscape gardener puts her skills to use maintaining hospice grounds.

> For more information contact Hilary Chadwick on 01582 497652 or email [email protected]