We are asking for donations to be made to Elmside Care Home in Hitchin in memory of James Derek Harrison.

For those of you who knew James, we hope that you will remember him as the generous, funny, silly, loving and caring family man that he was througout most of his life. Thinking of him whenever you eat marmalade, a curry that is beyond most peoples pain threshold or when enjoying a beer on a summers day.

Unfortunately, in the final years of his life James sucumbed to the dreadful disease that is dementia, meaning that it was impossible for him to remain in the comfort and safety of his own envrionment.

Having not had the easiest of starts in life, it was always the last resort that James would ever end up in a care home and the decision for James to move to Elmside was not a decison made lightly by the family. However, the support that was provided by Elmside from start to finish made this difficult decision every so slightly more bearable to live with.

We want to show our thanks to every single person at Elmside, not only for the care they provided to James in his final months, but also for their support of his family, from words of reassurance, a gentle hand squeeze when needed, or mopping up the endless floods of tears... without them this would have been even harder than it already was.

We hope that every donation made will go some way to making someone else’s final stages of life as happy and as comfortable as they possibly can be.

Thank you from all of James’ family.

xxxx