Wine, Cheese, and Auction of Promises, Saturday 8th June

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Fans of local produce will want to get along to Reepham on June 8th in St Michael’s Community Hall, from 7pm. Norfolk’s very own Mrs Temple will be offering tastings of her fabulous cheeses, washed down with wine (or a soft drink).

At the same time, the inimitable Mrs Temple will give a talk on how she makes the cheese – answering all the questions people are afraid to ask! What determines the final taste and colour of the cheese? What’s the difference between Binham Blue and Gurney’s Gold? Is it important what the cows eat? Can the herds be kept in a way that helps protect the environment? She’ll also talk about ‘Green Growth’ and what it means for Mr and Mrs Temple in making their farm more sustainable.

And after that comes an auction of promises, raising much needed funds for a Norfolk-based charity, Hospice Ethiopia UK. It works on behalf of the only hospice in Ethiopia, a country with a population of more than 127 million.

There are 18 lots donated by generous supporters of Hospice Ethiopia. Would you like a holiday in Cornwall or Sunday lunch at The Saracen’s Head? Or maybe traditional Indian food is more to your taste? Do you need your garden tools sharpening or perhaps you would like a personal tour of Mannington Hall followed by tea for four? How about a painting by Norfolk-based artist Andrew King? All these and much more will be auctioned on the night.

The hospice in Ethiopia depends entirely on charitable donations from the West. It desperately needs funds to continue the care their nurses provide to some of the poorest and most desperate in their community, and the training they provide for other medics.

Tickets for the event, which include a cheese plate and a glass of wine, are available through Eventbrite and cost £10 plus booking fee – go to this page at Eventbrite.co.uk. Alternatively, tickets can be bought direct from Hospice Ethiopia UK (with no booking fee) by emailing info@hospiceethiopia.org.uk.

The full catalogue for the Auction of Promises can be viewed here. For people unable to attend in person, we accept a completed commission bid form – please email to info@hospiceethiopia.org.uk, by 11pm 7th June.

The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2023 – target reached!

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We are so grateful to all who donated during the ‘Big Give Christmas Challenge 2023’. We asked you to help us reach our biggest target ever – with 41 donations, £5,880 was given which means with our matching pot and Gift Aid an amazing £13,492 has been raised. Giving a 30% pay rise to the staff of Hospice Ethiopia will make a substantial difference for them. They are highly trained in providing excellent palliative care in a challenging setting and need to be rewarded for this. Hospice Ethiopia cannot afford to lose such staff and this will enable them to provide a living wage for their skilled workforce.

“I am very pleased for the salary increase. It is really helpful for my financial hardship and motivates me to work harder. I am grateful for the leaders behind this good intention”. Gullilat, Hospice Ethiopia Finance Officer.

The Big Give 2023 ends soon!

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We are really delighted with the response so far to our Big Give project 2023 – the donation window is ending soon at midday on Tuesday 5th December. If you haven’t had a chance to donate yet, don’t worry – there are still match funds available so every pound you donate will mean £2 for Hospice Ethiopia. We have raised a fantastic £7,710 so far; please help us reach our target of £11,760 to enable the hard-working staff in Ethiopia to get a pay rise.

Please visit the Big Give website here to donate.

Your donation will enable people like Mariam (not her real name; see photo) to have ongoing visits from Hospice Ethiopia’s nurses to help her cope with her depression and anxiety. She is aged 35 and was diagnosed with bowel cancer in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where she was a migrant worker. She paid for surgery to remove the cancer and a colostomy was formed. The UAE government does not provide free health care to migrant workers so she returned to Addis Ababa and has had 10 cycles of chemotherapy at the Tikur Anbessa hospital. Mariam had to buy these drugs from the hospital pharmacy and if they were out of stock she had to go outside the hospital to a pharmacy to try and buy the necessary drugs.

The chemotherapy has caused ongoing diarrhoea which has been extremely problematic to manage especially when she did not have any stoma bags. Fortunately, a new supply of stoma bags was brought to Hospice Ethiopia by the HEUK trustees.

Mariam is effectively destitute and therefore lives with her mother (who also has terminal cancer) in a one-room house along with her infant niece. She is unable to work due to her illness and relies on a monthly grant from the HE Tewolde Medhane Fund (formerly the Comfort Fund) to buy food, medicines and other essential items.

The Big Give 2023

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Dear Supporter,

Many of you have generously made donations in the past that have helped provide care for patients at Hospice Ethiopia. We’re very excited to let you know that Hospice Ethiopia UK has been selected again this year to participate in The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2023, the UK’s largest matched funding campaign.

We will be raising money specifically to enable Hospice Ethiopia’s programme staff to receive a pay rise. For many reasons including the recent civil war, inflation in Ethiopia is approximately 30% resulting in a huge increase in running costs. Hospice Ethiopia has worked hard to support and train a highly skilled workforce. In order to continue to attract and retain staff they need to pay their programme staff a wage that keeps pace with inflation.

One donation, twice the impact.

Donations to this project will be matched for 7 days, from 12pm on Tuesday 28th November 2023. So, every pound you give during that period means two pounds for Hospice Ethiopia.

What do I need to do?

● Add a calendar reminder to your diary for 12 noon on Tuesday 28th November to 12 noon on Tuesday 5th December 2023

● Make your donation via http://www.thebiggive.org.uk – click on the Christmas Challenge and search for Hospice Ethiopia UK

● Alternatively, go directly to the donation page here

Please note the donate button will only appear on the campaign page when the Christmas Challenge launches at 12pm on 28th November.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at info@hospiceethiopia.org.uk

Many thanks in advance for your support,

The Trustees of Hospice Ethiopia UK

July fundraising

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Thank you to everyone who has volunteered and supported our recent fundraising events which have raised a total of £782.50. These included a Tombola at Aldborough Fayre (£227.50), the Morgan’s tennis party (£305) (see photo), and a presentation to Reepham Rotary club (£250). This brings the total raised through events this year to a fantastic £6250 – thank you so much to all of our volunteers and supporters for raising these funds to support the vital work of Hospice Ethiopia.

Successful talk by Lord Dannatt

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Huge thanks to everyone who came to hear Lord Dannatt’s talk in June (see above photo). His talk was fascinating from responding to questions about 19th century warfare right up to analysis of the conflict in Ukraine. His insights into Putin’s Special Military Exercise were particularly thought provoking. With a packed audience an amazing £1083 was raised to support the work of Hospice Ethiopia.

Successful event at Stody Lodge, Norfolk

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We were delighted to be invited by Kate MacNicol to provide the teas at their Open Garden at the end of May. Alongside 200 varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas, this open garden in North Norfolk also has some wonderful magnolias, camellias, expansive lawns, woodland walkways and vast carpets of spring bulbs. Its 4-acre Azalea Water Gardens holds 2,000 Azalea mollis plants which is believed to be the largest single planting in the UK. 

We are extremely grateful to all of the many volunteers who helped with baking cakes, serving teas, setting up, clearing up, parking and more. Thanks also to the Blakemore foundation who donated some cakes.

We were extremely lucky with the weather, the sun shone down and it was a glorious spring afternoon. Overall we made a fantastic £684 for Hospice Ethiopia!