"So many memories of Francis House, but the one that springs to mind, because we raised our biggest amount of money, was the 'Can You Sing?' event."
Tim Grogan, Partner at Deloitte LLP
The hospice is celebrating 30 years of providing care, support and friendship to the families of children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.
Francis House now wants to hear from its supporters, hospice families, staff and volunteers past and present, to upload their favourite Francis House memory to a special picture wall on the hospice website.
Among the first happy to share their memories, are long-standing hospice supporters Tim Grogan, Partner at Deloitte LLP, and Nick Rose, Sales Director at Sharp Business Systems in Stockport.
In 2014, Tim, Nick and fellow high profile business leaders took to the stage for ‘Can You Sing? Manchester’ a charity sing-off contest organised by Future pro-manchester and digital agency thisisLDA.
Tim said: “So many memories of Francis House, but the one that springs to mind, because we raised our biggest amount of money, was the “Can You Sing” event where we sang the Take That classic “Pray”. A fantastic evening and lots of money raised.”
The event judged by actor John Thompson and Clint Boon raised more than £50k for Francis House and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Commenting on his own favourite memory, Nick said: “I will never forget working with the amazing team at Francis House for our Guinness World Record breaking 72 hour football match back in 2013. Seeing how much of a difference our support made drove us to achieve something we never thought possible. Memories that will last a lifetime.”
Diana, Princess of Wales officially opened the seven bedroomed children’s hospice on November 25, 1991.It costs more than £12,900 a day to run the service which provides respite care, homecare, day care, sibling support, end of life care and symptom control, emotional support and bereavement support.
David Ireland, chief executive of Francis House said: “It’s a great achievement to be marking 30 years of providing paediatric palliative care to thousands of children and families from across the North West.
“We couldn’t have achieved this without so many dedicated people, supporters, trustees, staff and volunteers who think of us year on year and who give us the confidence to welcome more and more families.
“For the 500 families who use Francis House they live for the moment, and our role is to make every moment count. We help them experience things that provide good memories that will help them in the future.
“As we continue to celebrate our 30th Anniversary into 2022 we hope that lots of people will be part of the commemorations and share their own photographs and memories with us.”
Pictures can be uploaded - in return for a small donation to help towards hospice funds - by visiting www.francishouse.org.uk/30th-anniversary/memories
