On Sunday 11 March 2018, I was volunteering my photography services to Woking & Sam Beare Hospices, a charity that provides amazing palliative care to people who have advanced life-limiting conditions. My mother was diagnosed with a brain tumour last January and passed away on 15 August. She spent her last few weeks at the new hospice building in Woking, Surrey.
Until last year, I had no idea what a hospice was or what they do. I had lived my entire life thinking hospices were simply nursing homes for old people! During my mother's stay, our family pretty much lived at the hospice and towards the end, we were there round the clock. She received the best care any child could hope for their mother to receive and every single member of staff was amazing. We had so many people visit my mother (I believe she still holds the record for the most visitors!) and every person who visited her commented to us about how kind and helpful the staff were. Even with the number of visitors she had at all times of the day/night, our family could not have asked for a more caring group of people to help us through our nightmare. It was therefore an absolute pleasure to be there with some of with them on a fresh, chilly Sunday March morning.
It was an early start, plus it was raining..... but the weather soon let up and the runners taking part in the half marathon had a relatively cool, breezy morning for their run. I've never been to a marathon (full or half) before and I loved it! Watching the runners was a lesson in dedication and commitment. I was tired just watching! Seymours, the estate agents, had a team of runners raising money for the hospice, which was fantastic to see.
If you are ever looking for a good cause to raise money for or would like to make a donation, then I would urge you to visit the Woking & Sam Beare Hospices donations page. Apart from money, you can also volunteer your time. They have lots of volunteering positions that need to be filled. I'm hoping to help them out again at more events later this year, with more photos to follow.
Here are a few of the images from the day.
