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John Ellerman Foundation Awards event

On 19 May 2009, a day event organised and hosted by Help the Hospices grants team, was held at St. Mary’s Hospice, Birmingham in order to showcase projects that had been funded by the John Ellerman Foundation since 2002.

The programme for the day included:

  • presentations from five hospices that had received an Ellerman grant

  • Tim Glass, CEO John Ellerman Foundation

  • Karl Benn, Grants Manager at Help the Hospices

  • Tim Pickles, the author of an evaluation of the grants programme.

 

‘The courage to start’

The theme for the day was ‘The courage to start’, reflecting the nature of the grants programme in being key to starting up unique initiatives that would otherwise not have been able to move forward. The success of many of these projects has led to further alternative sources of funding in order to continue.

 

There was a vibrant sense of inspiration and idea-sharing throughout the day as the presentations sparked ideas of potential projects that might be started in delegates’ own localities. Delegates were particularly enthused by:

  • the development of integrated horticultural therapy at St. Mary’s Hospice, Ulverston.

  • the use of videophones to connect patients to their families at St. Andrew’s Hospice, Grimsby.

  • the work of a children’s play specialist at Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, Middlesex.

  • a community café idea at St David’s Hospice, Llandudno.

  • the implementation of a bereavement support service at St Joseph’s Hospice, Liverpool.

  • provocative feedback from the evaluation of the grant programme by Tim Pickles.

 

Event feedback

Feedback from the event was extremely positive, with 60% of respondents saying that the event was ‘excellent’ and the remaining 40% describing the event as ‘good’. Of particular value to delegates was the extended chance to network and the value of sharing ideas.

 

Poster presentations

Another aspect of the day that was well received was a poster display showcasing twenty projects that had been funded by the Ellerman grants programme. These posters were professionally produced and each delegate was given a CD with the PDFs of the posters.

 

There are still a few remaining copies of this CD, so if you would like one, please contact the grants team.

Shooting Star Children's Hospice presentation, quote reads "Every child is precious and irreplaceable and the death of a child is an unbearable sorrow that no parent should ever have to endure"
St. Mary's horticultural therapy presentation
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