Throughout the country, businesses are celebrating ‘Remember a Charity in Your Will Week’. This event is an opportunity to help raise awareness of the ways in which we can use wills to support charities and to celebrate those people who are positively impacting our community. Here at Steele Rose we are celebrating the local champions who work for these charities and providing guidance for people who would like to consider leaving a charitable donation in their will.
Whilst some people may not be aware that they can leave a donation to charity in their will, it is never too late or early to consider drafting a will. Our team at Steele Rose, Probate Specialists based in Stratford-sub-Castle in Salisbury, provide services that help to guide people through the process of preparing or executing a will. We take pride in this process as the donations received from these gifts deeply impact these charities and help support their work within our community.
Additionally, we have sponsored and worked closely with several Salisbury based charities over the past few years such as Alabaré, Horatio’s Garden and Salisbury Hospice. During this time, these charities have provided invaluable work to support our local community and arguably, without them, many of the people who they have helped would not be where they are today. Despite the ongoing difficulties from 2020 these charities and their volunteers continue their essential work.
Through the support and sponsorship that we have provided for these charities, we have observed countless incredible stories of comfort, inspiration, encouragement and guidance. We wanted to find a way to highlight the inspiring and positive work that these charities have achieved and what better way to do this, than re-telling their stories for the local community to share.
With our focus on supporting these charities, we have recently reached out to individuals within these institutions to learn more about their stories and first-hand accounts of how the support they have given and received has helped them and others – from Alabaré, Horatio’s Garden, and Salisbury Hospice. All of these rely heavily on public donations to continue their fantastic and integral work that they do within our community.
Making a donation to one of these charities or leaving one in your will, could be the key to helping someone get the support they need and help them survive the challenges they face.
It is also an incredible way to use your legacy and give back to your local community or simply to say a big thank you to the organisations that may have helped you through a challenging time. To find out more about planning or making changes to your will and to leave a legacy donation, you can contact Steele Rose on 01722 410009 or to make a donation to any of the charities featured in this good news story, you can visit each of their websites or contact them using the details below.
Alabaré – 01722 322 882 – www.alabare.co.uk
Horatio’s Garden – 01722 326834 – www.horatiosgarden.org.uk
Salisbury Hospice Charity – 01722 416353 – www.salisburyhospicecharity.org.uk
Alabaré – Charitable Champion 2020 – Terence
Terence is a team leader for the rough sleeper drop-in service at Alabaré in Salisbury. This service provides hot food and drinks, hot showers, a laundry service, and essential items such as toiletries and clean clothing for people with nowhere else to go. Terence has also previously worked for the re-settlement service provided by Alabaré which helps provide support for people moving into new accommodation to help them get back on their feet.
Terence has been working and volunteering for Alabaré for three years and chose to do so after they supported him through his recovery from alcoholism. Having once run his own business, he greatly missed working during his recovery began volunteering at Alabaré as soon as he could. He had this to say about his experience:
“If it wasn’t for charities like Alabaré, life would have been more difficult to ‘pick yourself up’. I had always worked and I had my own business. For years and years, I was drinking too much and you don’t always notice that things are falling away and going wrong.
I was fortunate to already have certain skills to help me pick myself up, whereas some other people, if they had a chaotic life, may not have the confidence to recover. Encouraging people to volunteer gives them opportunities and builds confidence.
Working in this large hostel can be challenging at times and everyone that works here are the same; hard-working, dedicated and say that the good days outweigh the bad. We’ve got some great volunteers here and across the country.”
Terence is a shining example of how the help and support provided by Alabaré can change lives for the better, and because of it, he has now found a new direction in life that he is passionate about and is able to give back to the community.
Horatio’s Garden – Charitable Champions 2020 – Katrina, Debra, Peter and Wendy
Prior to all volunteering being halted as a result of Covid-19, Katrina worked with Debra and others as part of the clean-up crew in Horatio’s Garden on a Monday.
Whilst in lockdown, the volunteers set up a Horatio’s Garden WhatsApp group which helped everyone to keep in touch. Debra had mentioned that the spinal centre was desperate for help and Katrina thought that this would a brilliant way to continue volunteering and supporting patients.
She has been visiting the spinal centre from 3:30pm – 7:30pm every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, bringing a different traybake with her every time. Needless to say, they’ve become legendary amongst patients and staff! Together with Debra, Katrina’s been doing all sorts of jobs on the ward to help the nursing teams out and they’ve both come to know all the patients really well. Sundays are particularly challenging days for the patients spending time in the hospital, especially as they are currently unable to have visitors, so their company on these days are a well-needed form of support.
Katrina said:
“The camaraderie on the ward amongst patients, staff and volunteers is second to none. Patients have been able to confide in us, but there’s also been a lot of laughter! It always ends up being such a fun-filled time, with plenty of warmth and amusement. It’s certainly lifted my spirits and you get back so much more than you give. You pass on just a little bit of kindness and it comes back to you in spades.”
Back in December, Debra had an operation on her foot that entailed her to three months of non-weight bearing recovery, meaning she couldn’t come to Horatio’s Garden to volunteer.
After being at home for all this time, she was looking forward to coming back to the garden. Alas, she made it in for one week in March before the country was put into lockdown.
Despite living in Wokingham, Debra generously responded to the call for volunteers at Salisbury District Hospital, driving for over an hour every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday to join Katrina on their 3:30pm – 7:30pm shifts.
Alongside Katrina, Debra has been helping out with absolutely everything, from feeding and cleaning to brushing people’s hair and placing small jars of flowers on the windowsills.
Debra said:
“The smallest of things have made such a huge difference to patients and staff. Volunteering on the ward has helped me immensely too during the COVID crisis. It’s certainly been hard work, but it’s been enormously fun too and I’ve enjoyed every minute. The patients have been amazing and inspirational; I’ve become attached to them all.”
Peter, has been volunteering at the garden at Salisbury Hospital to maintain it throughout the duration of the pandemic and lockdown.
“I know, from talking to patients, how important having the peaceful sanctuary of Horatio’s Garden is to their rehabilitation. I felt privileged to be asked to help the Head Gardener, Stephen, maintain the garden during lockdown, at a time when many people were unable to continue their work.”
Regular volunteer Wendy, who has been helping patients with their meals and other important tasks, has explained how volunteers benefit from the peace and sanctity of Horatio’s Garden, as much as the hospital patients do:
“The peaceful haven that Horatio’s Garden provides has come even more into focus. It has looked especially beautiful this summer and was well-used by so many patients. And for those that are not yet clinically able to leave the ward, it has been lovely to be able to tell them about this special place and give them something truly wonderful to look forward to. I have always felt privileged to be involved in a charity which has such a positive impact on the quality of life of people who are coming to terms with genuinely life changing injuries.”
Salisbury Hospice Charity – Charitable Champion 2020 – Juliette
Salisbury Hospice Charity was initially established in 1981 to provide palliative care and support for terminally ill patients within the Salisbury area, the hospice has grown over the years and is now able to accommodate up to ten patients in its purpose-built facility.
The hospice provides nursing and medical care, emotional and practical support, welfare advice, occupational and physiotherapy, complementary therapies, spiritual care and creative activities. Care is provided for people in their own homes and through non-residential and inpatient services at Salisbury Hospice.
To ensure that more people in the local community have a better end of life experience, the hospice also shares specialist skills through education and support for other care providers, such as GPs, district nurses, hospitals and care homes.
Salisbury Hospice’s specialist multi-disciplinary team provides care and support for patients with complex needs arising from advanced, progressive, life-limiting illnesses, and also for their families and carers.
Juliette is a proud mother who was working as a care assistant for around twenty years at Salisbury hospital before the pandemic. From our conversation with her and how she talks about her work, it is clear that she is deeply passionate about providing end of life care. As the country went into lockdown, hospitals were forced to stop staff from making outpatient appointments so there was suddenly areas of the hospital which became overstaffed, the number of shifts that were available became limited and Juliette had free time to fill.
Wanting to continue her passion Juliette started volunteering at Salisbury Hospice, when shielding began there was a huge decrease in the amount of help the workforce could offer which meant there were more ways in which Juliette could become involved. Since then Juliette has been running errands and doing administrative work to help out, she has said that she has seen a huge amount of support from everyone at the hospice throughout the lockdown and how it really is a privilege to help.
Salisbury Hospice has told us that Juliette is a wonderful person and that without her over the past few months, they would have struggled to keep up with some of the essential work they do for our community.
Juliette’s children, Amy and Jon, who are part of the local theatre group, Starcast, would normally be busy helping out at charitable events to raise money to ensure the Hospice can keep providing the high-quality support for those who need it. However, due to the lockdown, there has been a massive decrease in the number of fundraising events that the hospice and its volunteers were able to run this year.
Online DIY Probate Tool Launching Soon!
We offer legal and administrative services to help people through the process of estate administration after losing a loved one. We also offer free advice on will writing and the probate process and are able to take on the administration tasks involved in distributing a will, so you don’t have to.
Our friendly and knowledgeable team can help with more than just administration, such as setting up trusts and advising you on legal matters.
We will soon be launching a free-to-use ‘DIY’ Probate tool online called the Probate Machine. This will allow you to complete the probate process yourself, whilst choosing only to get professional help with select areas, helping to manage the costs compared to using professional services.
For advice on probate or more information and to be kept updated about the soon-to-be-released Probate Machine, you can contact the Steele Rose team on 01722 410009, or email info@steelerose.co.uk. You can also follow Steele Rose and share your charity stories on Facebook: @steelerose and Instagram: @steeleroselaw.