DOKHC donates £200,000 to Duchess of Kent House

DOKHC has donated £200,000 to help people with life-shortening conditions to receive much needed palliative care and treatment at the Duchess of Kent House (DOKH) hospice.

David Murby, chair of the trustees of Duchess of Kent House Charity together with George Solly, the charity’s director of fundraising, presented a cheque to NHS Berkshire West Chief Executive Charles Waddicor and Pam Chatfield, head of the local NHS palliative care directorate at a ceremony today.

The money helps fund two palliative care beds for a year at DOKH, which are available to patients from Newbury, Reading, Wokingham and surrounding areas.

Donations by the charity have also ensured specialists such as psychologists, aromatherapists, family support coordinators and a dietician are readily available for patients at the hospice.

Horncastle Pub

Held an Easter Egg hunt and raffle on Easter Sunday and raised £285.               4.09

The Bantam Pub

Another new supporting pub recently raised £712 during an Easter charity event with a bouncy castle, raffle, BBQ and band                                                                               4.09

Purley Table Top Sale

First time the charity has held one of these, raising £445 in the process.              4.09

Reading Half Marathon (update)

Over 40 runners supported us this year's Reading Half Marathon. Local English Martyrs' priest John Nelson joined RBH chaplain Richard Maniak, who also visits the hospice, and raised a staggering £5375 for the charity through sponsorship!  Thanks are also due to 60 volunteers who either helped with one of the kit tents or with our water station in Liebenrood Road.                                                                                                                 4.09

West Berkshire Scrabble Club

Hosted the national competition at Purley Barn this year and raised £710 for the charity.

                                                                                                                                                       2.09

Police Rehabilitation Centre

The Housekeeping Dept. raised funds to purchase two large screen digital TVs for the in-patients reception area and the Family room.                                                                   2.09

Freemasons

Brethren of the Engineer' Lodge donated £1429.                                                            1.09

Help the Hospices Campaign

Donations of £3830 have been received from KPMG at Theale and £2795 from Barclays Commercial Bank.                                                                                                                     1.09

Timberland of Slough

Who regularly undertake special projects for us in our gardens donated £2000.    1.09

Talent contest at Claddagh Ring

Swansong for landlord Martin Neylan, as patrons raised £905 before he moves to the Horse & Jockey in Castle Hill, Reading.                                                                               12.08

Christmas Card Sales

Up this year with 22,000 cards sold.  Many sold via Cards for Good Causes (Reading & Newbury) and Reading & District Cancer Care shop in Caversham.                          12.08

Barn Dance in memory of Bob Gray

Debby Hicks and friends fundraised for Duchess of Kent House Hospice by holding a Barn Dance recently at the Victoria Village Hall in Tilehurst.  Music was provided by the Kinderhook Band and an amazing £1135 was raised on the night.  Debby said,

“The event was held to celebrate the life Bob Gray and raise funds for the great care you provided.” The money donated will be used to fund services, beds, and specialist staff otherwise not available to local people served by this unit.

23.12.08

LUAL 2008

Waitrose

Duchess of Kent House Charity was one of the three chosen charities customers could vote for during the period 23 November to 27 December 2008 at their Oxford Road store. The charity was given £350.                                                                                                      12.08

In lieu of birthday presents

Madison, aged 8 decided that this year for her birthday she would ask for gifts of money instead of toys.  That money, amounting to £170 was donated to the hospice in memory of her grandmother, Lucie

Finchampstead Support Group’s

Autumn Gift Fayre was this year held at Eversley with an estimated£10,000 profit to be donated to the charity

AIB Ball

Local business bankers AIB held their annual Ball at the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre, Madejski Stadium, supporting The Rotary Club of Reading Abbey, and Duchess of Kent House Charity. The AIB was pleased to be hosting Ball for 3rd successive year and have now raised over £50k for local charities during this time. The AIB Ball was held on 10th October which was one of the worst days of the recent banking crisis, and despite this over 220 local professionals were in attendance and were still able to have a good time and raise funds contributing over £3000 to each charity.

At the Fox & Hounds, City Road, Tilehurst, proprietors Garry & Julie have again supported this charity by holding a Charity Fun Day, similar to the one they held for us in 2006.  Events included a Hula Hoop and dance competitions, auction and BBQ.  £1310 was raised through the generosity of patrons, suppliers and the landlords on the day.

Another bank, Barclays held an internal team challenge event at the Crowne Plaza, Caversham and through this and collecting at Reading Station raised £2794.86. This sum is due to be match-funded by the bank to effectively double the amount raised by its employees.

Reading Half Marathon 2008 Update

With thanks to all our volunteers who helped us man the water station and kit tent at this year’s Reading Half Marathon. The organisers have paid us £6597 being a proportion of the entry fee which has now been allocated to us and another local charity.

More Grants to the Hospice

 Duchess of Kent House Charity, the independent charity supporting the local hospice of the same name has made additional grants to the unit in time for Christmas.

 Despite the economic gloom, Duchess of Kent House Charity has given an additional £34,392 to the hospice over and above the annual £200,000 grant given in March of each year.

 The hospice, which in its 15 year history has treated over 12,000 patients, was suffering with ageing ward furniture and equipment which was installed when the unit was originally founded. The Charity was asked to provide grants to enable new ward furniture to be bought, other seating to be recovered, new lymphoedema equipment installed, and new carpets and specialist furniture be supplied for the Day Therapy centre and out-patient reception areas. The trustees of the Charity recently voted to donate over £34K to enable the work to be completed by Christmas.

 Patients and their families and staff will soon benefit from these improvements.

 The Charity relies on the generosity of its many supporters and volunteers and is pleased that through additional donations and income received in the last financial year, it has been able to make these further grants. The Charity is most grateful to its many donors in Berkshire and beyond.

Timberland Support

Seven members of Timberland’s UK HQ  based in Wexham, Slough came to Reading’s local hospice – Duchess of Kent House – for the second time this year to blitz the garden.. Timberland take their CSR (corporate social responsibility) very seriously and employees volunteer to help local charities and not-for-profit organisations like ours. This time Tony Keen and crew power pressure cleaned paths and patios, and refurbished outdoor furniture, making it look like new.

Earlier in the year, the Timberland crew cleared some dense hedging and

undergrowth surrounding the car park.  29.07.08