The Big Give 2025

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This year’s Big Give Christmas campaign is now live!

We are hoping to raise £10,200 to pay the salaries of 3 nurses at Hospice Ethiopia throughout 2026.

With your help we can reach our target. All donations large or small will be matched and will make a difference to supporting people who are approaching the end of life in Ethiopia. Many live in extreme poverty and without the care from Hospice Ethiopia’s nurses, may not have any help at all and suffer greatly.

If you are thinking of making a donation to support Hospice Ethiopia’s work, this is the week to do it. All donations made through the Big Give website will be doubled until noon on Tuesday 9th December.

One donation, twice the impact!

Please donate through Hospice Ethiopia UK’s Big Give page

Listen to Nurse Tsegay talk about working for Hospice Ethiopia. Last year’s Big Give appeal funded her and Rahel, a social worker to be trained in palliative care and work at Hospice Ethiopia:

Please support Matt and Ian!

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On Sunday, 14 September 2025, Matt and Ian (Sue and Jamie Mumford’s sons-in-law) will take on the iconic London to Brighton Cycle Ride – a 55-mile journey from city streets to seaside views, with more than 3,200 ft of climbing. But this ride is more than a personal challenge – it’s a mission to raise vital funds for Hospice Ethiopia UK.

Matt and Ian have poured their hearts (and legs!) into training, and now they need your support. Every donation – big or small – helps make their ride truly meaningful. Please sponsor the ride and support Hospice Ethiopia UK here.

Pride and Prejudice dramatised reading raises over £2,400 for Hospice Ethiopia

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Mr Darcy helped a Norfolk-based charity raise nearly £2,500 for desperate patients in Ethiopia.  Templewood, the privately-owned Palladian-style shooting lodge near Cromer, was the venue for a dramatic reading of Pride and Prejudice on July 27th 2025.  The cast was a combination of professional actors and amateurs, and the audience was treated to live classical music and a cream tea as well as the drama. 

Sue Mumford is chair of Hospice Ethiopia UK, the charity based in Aldborough, North Norfolk.  She said, “What a fabulous venue Templewood is!  We are so grateful to the owners, Eddie and Tina Anderson, for letting us use their beautiful home.” 

This was the third annual Jane Austen event by Hospice Ethiopia, the previous ones being held at Little Barningham Hall and Cromer Hall, and it was another sell-out.  Next year the team hopes to take on Sense and Sensibility – with the venue yet to be decided.    

“The readings are a snapshot from a section of the books,” Sue says.  “Our script writer, Margy Seale, delights in using the original language to create a truly authentic piece of theatre.  They really are great fun – and it’s a brilliant cause.”

Matt & Ian Ride for Hospice Ethiopia UK

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55 Miles to Make a Difference


On Sunday 14 September 2025, Matt and Ian will take on the iconic London to Brighton Cycle Ride – a 55-mile journey from city streets to seaside views, with more than 3,200 ft of climbing. But this ride is more than a personal challenge – it’s a mission to raise vital funds for Hospice Ethiopia UK. Matt and Ian have poured their hearts (and legs!) into training, and now they need your support. Every donation – big or small – helps make their ride truly meaningful.

Sponsor the ride and support Hospice Ethiopia UK

An evening with General the Lord Dannatt GCB CBE MC DL

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Hospice Ethiopia UK is enormously grateful to Richard Dannatt for giving a fascinating talk about Churchill and his role in the D-Day landings of Normandy. Through documents and letters from the Churchill Archives Centre in Cambridge, Richard gave the audience a vivid sense of the huge risks involved in the planning and execution of Operation Overlord, the largest land, sea and air operation ever staged. It proved to be a major turning point in the Second World War.

Thank you also to the enormously supportive audience, who enabled us to raise £1,730 through ticket sales and a raffle to support the work of Hospice Ethiopia.

The Big Give 2024

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Thank you, thank you, thank you! We asked you to help us reach our target of £11,500 in the annual Big Give Christmas Challenge and we exceeded it! With 63 donations, £5,956 was given which means with our matching pot and Gift Aid an amazing £12,655 has been raised. This will enable Hospice Ethiopia to fund an additional nurse and a new Social Worker in 2025, thereby increasing their capacity to care for people approaching the end of their lives. Ephrem, the Director of Hospice Ethiopia said “Wow wow wow…congratulations! Thank you so much and thank you all the donors!”

Calendars and Christmas cards for sale now!

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We now have beautiful 2025 calendars available for sale. We are enormously grateful to professional journalists Fred Harter and Michele Spatari for providing the unique photographs of Ethiopia – one each month for our calendar. These are available from Hospice Ethiopia UK and from the Christmas card pop up shop in Norwich, priced at £10 + P&P. Please contact Sue (info@hospiceethiopia.org.uk). If you feel able, please add an extra donation to your bank transfer to support the work of Hospice Ethiopia. 

Christmas Cards 

Order your Christmas cards now to avoid disappointment! We have 3 new designs this year exclusive to Hospice Ethiopia – see below. Cards are sold in packs of 10, at £5 per pack (+ postage if applicable), and are available from Marion (celia.bryce5@gmail.com), Sue (info@hospiceethiopia.org.uk) or the pop-up Christmas card shop at St Peter Mancroft Church, Norwich (which opens on 15th October 2024).

Successful Jane Austen event raises £1560

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We had a fantastic event on Sunday 28th July with the dramatized reading from Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey at Cromer Hall. The actors/readers were brilliant, the musicians fabulous and the high tea scrumptious. As for the setting – it was simply glorious, and we were lucky to have such wonderful weather. Huge thanks to Benjie and Dido Cabbell Manners for letting us use their beautiful home (and for providing a superb lunch for the workers). Massive kudos to script writer Margy Seale and the fabulous cast. Soprano Emma Nuule and her accompanist John Farmer were a delight, as was Jamie Mumford playing incidental music on his recorder. And then, as ever, there were all the background folk who contributed so much hard work – including the bakers, Kate, Rosie, Elizabeth and Julie and Sue, and the very hardworking tea folk, Claire, Julie, Rebecca, Steph and Rachael. And, of course, many thanks to the wonderful people who came and supported the event – raising £1560 in the process, which will make a huge contribution to support Hospice Ethiopia. The money raised is enough to pay for a specialist nurse looking after 100 patients for three months in Ethiopia.

The 2024 Jane Austen event sold out, as did the 2023 one… if you’d like to know about the 2025 event in time to grab a ticket or two, sign up to the newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Successful Auction of Promises

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Hospice Ethiopia’s wine and cheese and auction of promises was a fantastic evening and raised over £2,700. Every penny of this will go to support Hospice Ethiopia. A massive thank you to the hugely entertaining Mrs Temple, for both her wonderful cheeses and her insightful presentation. Also thanks to the equally entertaining master of ceremonies and auctioneer extraordinaire David Robinson. Yet more thanks to all who donated lots for the auction and prizes for the raffle. Lastly, our thanks goes to our wonderful volunteers who worked so hard to make it all happen and all those who dug deep and bought the lots!