30th Anniversary of Dove Cottage

13/08/26 – 30th Anniversary of Dove Cottage Hospice Chris Greenwell

Firstly, explained Chris it all began with the Braithwaite Gospel Trust, a Christian Trust working across Lincs and Leics. Chris Gatfield BEM applied for funding and acquired the Dove Cottage at a ‘peppercorn’ rate, setting up the hospice offering Day Care 2 days per week. Many people now associate Dove Cottage with LOROS (Leics. Organisation for the Relief of Suffering), following their merger 4 years ago, although Dove Cottage this week announced that there will be a de-merge.

Chris raised the national organisation called Hospices UK, which has about 87 members whose situations are not good, with costs ever increasing and fund-raising dwindling.  Dove Cottage has 4 Charity shops in Stathern, Bottesford, Asfordby and Cotgrave (although Cotgrave is about to close losing £2k per month). They need to invest for the future and Melton Mowbray is a proposed shop site. Unfortunately, the popular Tea Shop had to close as it needed £25k spending on a new heating system, but there is the possibility of a ’dog-training facility’. They are unable to provide “end of Life palliative Care” due to the requirement for qualified staff and the technical issues. Because of their size, grant applications can’t really compete with the bigger organisations. They have many volunteers, but more are needed together with patrons.  They are a committed Team with a clear plan, but need all the help they can get with costs over £450k per annum.

Derek did the Vote of Thanks confirming that our Club has been a supporter of Dove Cottage over the last 20 years purchasing a Van, providing volunteer drivers and a number of other initiatives, but found Chris’s presentation enlightening. He asked the members to join him in a warm round of applause. A cheque for £500 was presented to Chris by Club President David John.        AR