Pilgrims Hospices: Delivering care and services for 40 years
In 2022, Pilgrims Hospices celebrate 40 years of end-of-life care for the people of east Kent. The first hospice opened in Canterbury in June 1982, followed by Thanet in 1992, celebrating its 30th anniversary year, and Ashford in 2001, celebrating its 21st year.
That means plenty to celebrate this year!
The hospices were the vision of one local nurse, Ann Robertson, the founder and now Pilgrims lifetime President. Ann wanted to make a difference for the people in her community facing terminal illness. Thanks to her devotion, and the help of countless others, today we have almost 200 clinical staff. Together, they support thousands of people each year.
Pilgrims staff, volunteers, and trustees, old and new gathered on the hospice sites, not only to share in the celebrations but to enjoy the welcome return of the staff, volunteers and supporters thank you event, that hasn’t been held for two years due to COVID.
Ann Robertson attended the Canterbury, London Road event, sharing her memories with all those present and said: “It is a great privilege to have worked with so many forward-thinking and talented individuals over the years; in the early years, we faced the day to day headache of meeting our financial needs. As the years have passed, we’ve established relationships not only with our generous public but with the business community, who help us to raise the profile of our charity and engage with the wider community.
“We remain the welcoming face that will guide people through some of the most difficult times, the support of the community fills our hearts with great joy as we continue our journey to help even more people each year.”
Karen Warden, Pilgrims Chair of the Board of Trustees, shared Ann’s message with the Ashford and Thanet sites on her behalf.
We remain the welcoming face that will guide people through some of the most difficult times, the support of the community fills our hearts with great joy as we continue our journey to help even more people each year.
Ann Robertson, founder of Pilgrims Hospices
The staff at the hospices are truly community heroes, with more than 2,500 people within their care each year. Over the years, Pilgrims has pioneered groundbreaking research in palliative care, embraced innovative, cutting-edge technology to improve the quality of life for patients, and delivers education and training across east Kent for many other health and social care providers.
Pilgrims continues to grow from strength to strength, and in order to provide the much-needed care, our clinical staff are supported by an award-winning charity fundraising team, an established network of profitable retail shops, a successful local lottery, and a wealth of talents through its invaluable volunteer workforce.
From the very beginning, patients have been at the heart of everything Pilgrims do, and the charity will continue to grow and develop with the help of the community.
Helen Bennett, Pilgrims Chief Executive added: “We were delighted to have our remarkable founder and lifetime president with us for this special occasion. Ann welcomed Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother to oversee the opening of the Canterbury hospice in 1982 and we enjoyed sharing some of her special memories of the occasion.
“We were also delighted to have long-standing supporters with us, some who helped establish Pilgrims with Ann, in particular Richard Davies who was a trustee for many, many years at Pilgrims. He was our Chair of the Board of Trustees and retired in 2020 during COVID. We weren’t able to say good-bye to him in a way we would have wanted to, so we were thrilled to have Richard and his wife Pauline with us.
Richard Davies with his wife, Pauline
“The wellbeing of my teams across the sites of Pilgrims Hospices is as important today as ever. We’ve experienced challenging times over the years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has added to the daily workload for everyone, I have seen staff exceed all expectations to ensure patients are kept at the very heart of all that we do.
“Thank you to all staff, volunteers and supporters from across the hospice sites, we can celebrate in the knowledge that everyone plays an important role within the Pilgrims family.”
Karen Warden, current Chair of the Board of Trustees, who joined the Board in 2018 also shared the events with Pilgrims staff and volunteers, she added: “It gives me enormous pleasure, on behalf of the Board of Trustees, to be able to thank everyone who gives so freely of their time and energy to support all that we do. The events on all three sites, are not only to celebrate our respective anniversaries of providing expert care, but to acknowledge and celebrate the invaluable and unwavering commitment our staff and friends make to Pilgrims Hospices.
“Staff, volunteers, fundraisers, donors, businesses and sponsors all play a part in the delivery and dedication of outstanding care and specialist support to patients and their families, friends and carers. Pilgrims is often likened to a family and I can think of no better analogy.
“Here’s to the next 40 years!”
If you’d like to help Pilgrims celebrate our 40th anniversary year, please visit pilgrimshospices.org/40 to find out how you can get involved.
A full photo album from the events can be found on our Facebook page.
If you, or someone you know is coping with a life-limiting illness and you think you may benefit from Pilgrims support, talk to your GP or Healthcare Professional about the options or visit www.pilgrimshospices.org to research our services or find out how you can support the hospices.
14th April 2022
Sponsor a Nurse appeal
None of us know when we might need hospice care, but your support has helped ensure we can continue to be here at the most difficult time in people’s lives.
Being faced with an illness that cannot be cured is something none of us want to think about, but we do all want to know that there will be someone to help us should we need them.
Since 2013, the Sponsor a Nurse appeal has raised an incredible £248,000 to support the care that Pilgrims Hospices offers.
Working within the hospice environment and meeting patients opens your eyes to what passion, empathy, dignity and respect truly mean. Working at Pilgrims gives us all time to appreciate what we have in our own lives, and puts the preciousness of life into perspective.
Beverley Allen, Community Registered General Nurse, Pilgrims Hospice Ashford
We take the time to listen
Sarah Martins
When a patient is referred to Pilgrims, we take the time to listen to and talk with them to find out what worries them most. We know that every patient is unique and we tailor all our care to what works best for them.
“I consider myself very privileged to support patients and their families at end of life; it underpins all that nursing is for me. We know that we can’t change the destination but we can change the journey.
Time, patience, specialist knowledge and humour keep us connected to our patients. We respect them as individuals and are able to connect on a human level, we give the care we would want and expect our loved ones to receive if they needed it and that is nearly all funded by the amazing general public.”
Sarah Martins, Senior Ward Sister, Pilgrims Hospice Canterbury
Bringing nurses to the bedside
Mandy Timms
Because we believe that everyone has the right to care, comfort, compassion and dignity in their final days, weeks, months or years, we provide all of our care free of charge.
“Pilgrims is a wonderful organisation to work for and I feel very privileged to come to work here every day. My role is so varied, involving community, clinic and home visits, and I never know what each day will bring. It is humbling spending time with patients who open their hearts and allow us to accompany them on their journeys.”
Mandy Timms, Advanced Nurse Practitioner
Giving the gift of care
Pilgrims is here so that patients do not come to their end-of-life journeys in pain or distress.
By sponsoring a nurse, our supporters have helped to ease pain, offer comfort, provide reassurance and help someone live their life to the full in the time that they have.
We support the whole person’s wellbeing to help them really live their last days. We treat people as individuals by offering them choices.
If you would like to continue supporting Pilgrims nurses, you can do so by joining Always Caring, a club of committed supporters who choose to make regular, monthly donations to Pilgrims Hospices.
Each year, Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to thousands of people in east Kent who are coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity support patients to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
3rd May 2018
Joe and Florence take on the Exmoor Challenge in aid of Pilgrims Hospices
Over the weekend of 20 – 22 April Joe aged 9 and Florence aged 12 Wrake took part in the inaugural Exmoor Expedition with The Children’s Challenge and raised nearly £800 in aid of Pilgrims Hospices.
The Children’s Challenge was set up as a vehicle for young people to raise money for a charity of their choice whist giving them with a genuine challenge in the form of a hike across Exmoor
There were 3 routes to choose from. Florence (and her mum Lisa) walked the 17km one and Joe the longest 21km route. It took 7 & 6 hours respectively starting at 8.30am. It certainly was a challenge for them all.
Lisa explained why they chose to support Pilgrims Hospices: “In 2011 Florence and Joe’s dad Run was diagnosed with lung cancer. Despite surgery and chemotherapy after 6 months his prognosis became terminal and his health deteriorated quickly. In a time of utter disbelief and confusion, Pilgrims Hospice Ashford became our sanctuary – providing practical, mental and spiritual support; it was a quiet, dignified and safe place for us to be together as a family in our final weeks.
“There was a garden for the children to play in, bright rooms with balconies, a living area and kitchen, doctors, nurses and a variety of therapists available around the clock. I still cannot believe this organisation is entirely free at point of use yet 77% of its funding comes from voluntary donations.”
When describing the challenge she said: “The weather was good bar for a few drops of rain towards the end, and the landscape is lovely – woodland, moorland, hills and valleys. It was nice to think about Run as we walked. It was the first time my children have ever done something like this and I am sure will want to do it again next year!”
Isabel Smith, Community Fundraising Officer said: “We are so grateful to Joe and Florence for undertaking such a challenge in aid of Pilgrims Hospices. The walk sounds amazing. The money they have raised will help Pilgrims to support another family like theirs who are facing a similar situation.
“If you would like to take part in a challenge in aid of Pilgrims Hospices please visit the events and challenges pageto see what is happening in your area. “
Each year Pilgrims supports hundreds of local people coping with a life limiting illness and their families. The charity offers a range of services: from end of life care given on its wards, to its new Wellbeing and Social Programme supporting people after they are diagnosed to live well and stay independent.
7th February 2018
“Have that conversation, help is at hand for your family”
Pilgrims care extends beyond the person who is ill to include their family and friends. Families coping with a terminal illness can be empowered to have the conversations they need to make the most of the time they have. Here Holly Cooke from Ashford shares her story.
I was 21 when Dad was diagnosed with cancer. He was mad keen on golf and always at the club helping with charity events. Everyone he knew was stunned when he got ill because he was such a fit and healthy man. When it’s your Dad you don’t know what to do.
Support to stay independent
We formed a close connection with Pauline his doctor, it was a collaborative approach and it made such a difference being listened to. It’s really important to be able to manage your own illness. Dad was fiercely independent and to have that support until the last minute meant he could make his own choices about his care. He was an incredible man.
He came for courses of pain management support for over a year and had specialist massages from the Pilgrims complimentary therapist.
While Dad was seeing the specialists, Mum was given the option to use the support groups, although she didn’t attend due to the support and advice given by the doctors and nurses at the hospice. It was a relief to know she was getting what she needed to give her the strength to care for him. We could do things as a family in that time we had together.
“We could do things as a family in that time we had together.”
I would not change the way Dad went in the end. He had been give a prognosis of anywhere from a few months to 18 – in the end he lived for 16 which was brilliant. It was definitely down to the care he received at Pilgrims that we could do things as a family in that time we had together.
We felt safe at the hospice
On the Friday before he died Dad went for a three mile walk, he was still feeling fit and active. I remember him sitting out in the garden in the sun reading the newspaper.
Then on the Saturday, the day before he died, he couldn’t get out of bed but we were watching films together. He was really with us, laughing and joking.
In the end he wasn’t on the hospice ward long. I was at work when I got the call that he had been taken in and within an hour and a half he had died.
We were in shock but the ward sister was brilliant. She gave us a private room. It was all very calm and we felt like we were in safe hands.
The care for our family didn’t end when Dad died, we were offered support and Mum was supported by a hospice counsellor.
If I could speak to other people in my situation or Dad’s who don’t think the hospice can help or who’s scared of going – I would say just go and speak to them, have that conversation.
So many people are scared because they think it’s going to be a sad place. What they don’t see is that when you get there you will see beautiful gardens to walk in, there’s a lovely chapel and people smile at you. No one is sad because they are in the right place.
If you or someone you know is living with a life-limiting illness there is a wide range of support and services available. Talk to your GP or click here to find out more.
