Last year, sadly, I lost both of my mothers-in-law, Joan and Tessa and in 2020 my lovely Mother died. Both Mum and Joan benefitted from the support of their local hospices and were able to be cared for in their own homes. If Tessa had been in our area she could have accessed an Admiral Nurse for specialist dementia support.

So I decided that I wanted to do something in their memories, to raise money for Garden House Hospice Care, where I have the privilege of running the Hospice at Home Service. We support people to stay at home in their last weeks or days, if home is where they want to be. It will cost £8.5 million to provide our hospice services this year and only 29% of our funding comes from the NHS, so we have to fundraise the remaining 71%.

Garden House Hospice Care provides specialist palliative care for patients, families and carers facing life-limiting illnesses, to enable them to have the best possible quality of life by providing care and support in the setting of their choice, without discrimination.

So next week the lovely Holly from Foundlove Hair Salon in Hitchin will be shaving all my hair off! I would be delighted if you could make a donation to support the hospice and my mad-cap idea. Those who know me understand how attached I am to my hair and I cannot remember when I last even had it short!

I will also be donating my hair to The Little Princess Trust, who make wigs in support of children up to the age of 24 dealing with hair loss related to both cancer and other diagnoses.

Please help me to make a real difference, thank you.