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We will be celebrating my birthday this year by walking 12.5 miles at midnight, to support The Katharine House Hospice in Adderbury, Banbury.  The hospice provides care for a community of 140,000 people free of charge, but relies heavily on the generousity of the local community to keep it running.  The cost of running the hospice this year will be about £2.3 million.

The training has started, the boots are worn in and ready.  We are hoping to raise in excess of the £400 we raised last time, for such a worthy charity.

Katharine House is located 4 miles south of Banbury and lies on the borders of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire amidst beautiful gardens where peace and tranquillity prevail. Sheep and cattle graze in the surrounding fields and there are magnificent rural views across the Oxfordshire countryside.

The Hospice building was completed in 1991 and today the specialist palliative care services offered include in patient, day centre, out-patients (medical and lymphoedema), community nurse specialists (Macmillan), and bereavement support.

The main aim of the hospice palliative care service is to support those people with life-threatening illnesses whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment. The aim is to maintain quality of life and for patients to remain in their own homes where this is possible or requested. Patients can be referred immediately after diagnosis or at a later stage in the illness. The hospice services run alongside other services and staff work closely with general practitioners and other health professionals. A consultant radiotherapist visits the hospice weekly.

The hospice team comprises a Medical team led by a Consultant in Palliative Medicine, a nursing team with specialist palliative care qualifications, other health professionals including physiotherapists, counsellors, chaplains and non-clinical administrative and support staff. There is also an active volunteer team. All staff and volunteers share a strong commitment to the philosophy of Katharine House which is to care for people and their families by addressing physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs through an individualised approach.

The hospice stands as a living memorial to the life of Katharine Gadsby who in 1984, tragically died of cancer at the age of twenty.  Since the time of her death her parents Neil and Heather Gadsby, together with friends and many other people have worked tirelessly to raise funds to develop the hospice services. It is an independent sector hospice and relies largely on charitable donations for funding. A grant is received from the Health Authority. No charge is made to patients or their families for any aspect of care.

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