Garden Party held at West Berkshire Community Hospital to honour volunteers
A garden party was held this week to celebrate the volunteers who kindly contribute their time to help out at West Berkshire Community Hospital.
Over 40 individuals volunteer at the hospital, offering a range of services including our Sunday service helpers who are part of our chaplaincy team, the listening team who support our palliative families, social volunteers who visit the wards offering support and companionship to patients, and our gardening team. Not to mention the therapy dogs and their owners who are there each week visiting the patients and staff!
The party was also an opportunity for Berkshire Healthcare to recognise the 75th anniversary of the arrival of passengers, on board the HMT Empire Windrush, to the UK. The day will celebrate the contribution and achievement of the Windrush generation, many of which joined the NHS in its inauguration back in 1948, and whose descendants continue to be part of our diverse staff force, which we are both proud of and grateful for.
Patients and volunteers were joined by both Mark Lillycrop, Mayor of Thatcham, and Cllr Nigel Foot, Mayor of Newbury, as well as the Trust’s Deputy Chief Executive Alex Gild and Director of Nursing and Therapies, Debbie Fulton. Wellbeing Therapist Chrissie Stockwell who organised the occasion gave a small speech thanking the volunteers for their service, followed by Alex Gild who spoke to the attendees about the Windrush Generation.
Chrissie Stockwell, Wellbeing Therapist, said: “the party in our beautiful therapy garden at the hospital was a huge success. It is so important that we thank our brilliant volunteers for all they do for us here at the hospital, and with Windrush Day this week, I thought it was important to start the celebrations for that as well, highlighting the Windrush generation’s importance to the NHS, both back in 1948 and today.”
Thank you to Waitrose who kindly donated John Lewis vouchers to all of our volunteers, and gifts for the therapy dogs too, in recognition of their kindness and commitment to helping patients and families at the hospital.