Cheers to making a difference! Hurtwood and St Catherine’s Hospice

Welcome to another year of student fundraising and a catch up on the latest venture for Hurtwood’s energetic Charity Committee. Over the summer they have extended their reach in a rather unusual and fascinating way: having raised useful funds through the sale of Leavers’ Hoodies, the decision was made to donate to our local hospice, St Catherine’s, at Pease Pottage. As ever, the intention was to provide something more specific than just cash, as a way of engaging with the cause in a more personal manner. The request made, we were invited to donate to their fundraising raffles and we duly arrived with goodies various, from gift restaurant vouchers to bottles of bubbly for the cause, but also, and here is the most moving bit, contributions for what is known widely as the hospice’s ‘famous drinks trolley’. If that sounds incongruous to you, and perhaps even challenging, then let me welcome you to the wondrous mystery that is the hospice movement.  

Hospice... the word itself is highly charged and potentially painful for many; many, but not all.  For me it was a very early Hurtwood connection that proved both illuminating and redemptive: the redoubtable Sheila Cheshire, teacher and vital lynch-pin from the school’s creation in 1970, also served as a trustee for St Catherine’s Hospice then in its relative infancy. She directed me towards its tender mercies when my beloved mum was suddenly and immediately in need of palliative care, and we as a family gained blessed recourse to their wonderful healing powers.  No, not on a Lazarus level – this is all too real a story, and Mum died two weeks later.  But she died at peace and out of pain, and our experience as a family was turned from night to day.  We were all cared for, strengthened, enabled.  Hospitals are designed to heal the body; hospices on the other hand are places of peace and acceptance, spaces to come to terms with our greatest fears, with the support of the most effective pain-relief and medical know-how, and for all, of any age, of any faith or none. Weird though it might seem, St Catherine’s proved for us a joyful place: lively, comfortable, unconventional, nurturing for us all.  Hence the drinks trolley – and our contributions to it.   What a privilege then, to feel that our Hurtwood students, bouncing with teenage energy and so full of life, are able to help, amongst other things, here with the ‘clinkie drinkies’ of bonhomie, for those dealing with tougher parts of life. Whoever presumed that sobriety should necessarily be part of facing the inevitable had obviously missed the point – and probably, the trolley.  

Sadly, hospices like St Catherine’s, across the country, are struggling more than ever to fund themselves: the Government provide only around a third of the costs, so the need is great. Bravo again then to the students of the Charity Committee, and the marvellous Stella who supports and cajoles them.  The sales of all those Leavers’ Hoodies and all the convoluted organisation and distribution has been worth it: you really have made a difference, small but tangible, to an extraordinarily vital local cause.

Since the 1980s, St Catherine’s has flourished, moving from the limited confines of its Malthouse Road beginnings, into the spacious, airy, welcoming hub on the village green in Pease Pottage where we are made very welcome by Jack on our recent delivery trip. Although the setting was new, the vibe was old: the sense of a welcoming community, positive and forward facing. The only sadness was the fact that this wonderful new building, built on the efforts of so much selfless commitment from so many, has rooms for more patients, but not the funds to staff and run them.   

What a challenge! Wouldn't it be great if we could move the dial a little more in the future, raising awareness of the cause as well as vital funds?  Irons are in the fire, to see if this is possible: involving students in different capacities, but particularly harnessing the unique commitment to creativity that is our school’s hallmark. Certainly, there are already committed members of staff very willing to drive forward ideas.  Bravo students, bravo teachers, and hurrah for St Catherine’s and all the peace it brings in a troubled world.