When I was a child, there was a huge, fundraising initiative in our area. I participated in countless sponsored walks, knits and silences,  filled Smartie tubes with three-penny bits, pulled my go-cart around the streets collecting for jumble sales and made chocolate crispy cakes to sell at coffee mornings. We were raising money to build a hospice. I don’t ever recall being told what a hospice was and I’m not sure that I was at all clear, but I did pick up a deep sense of how important this project was to the whole community.

   Today, Saint Catherines, now on its second site, is one of the most significant buildings on the Scarborough landscape and in the experience and mindset of thousands upon thousands of people in the wider area. Most have visited someone there, supported ongoing fundraising or volunteer support work, used the network of charity shops or written a Christmas card with the Saint Catherines logo. It would be difficult to find someone who had no connection, however tenuous, with this special place.    

   Today is World Cancer Day and I want to mark it by paying special tribute to this adult hospice where patients are cared for, not only with cancer, but also during a wide-range of life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses, with a love and dignity that is second to none.  Set in beautiful gardens, and exuding a wonderful atmosphere of tranquillity and peace, the rooms are named after local places and are furnished comfortably and well. A dear friend of mine was thrilled that he could see squirrels and birds through the large windows and even more thrilled that he could hear the occasional cheer going up from his beloved cricket ground; he came to deeply appreciate the respite visits to Saint Catherines that, as much as they loved him, gave his family a break from the exhausting task of caring for his needs. All the care given is holistic, totally patient centred and there is the valuable commodity of time in all that is done there. Time to listen. Time to talk. Time to cry. Time to laugh.

    A significant number of my own relations and friends have benefitted from the work, dedication and commitment of Saint Catherines. Had I have realised how very, very precious this remarkable place was going to become in this area, all those years ago, I might have pulled my go-cart a bit faster and churned out a few more chocolate crispy cakes.

Links: http://www.stcatherineshospice-nyorks.org/index.html

             http://www.worldcancercampaign.org/

(The image here is taken from the Saint Catherines brochure – all credit goes to the photographer.)

5p will be donated to the ongoing work of St. Catherine’s every time that this post is clicked.