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Photo by alex Leith<br />
tr a de secr ets<br />
Tell us about the hospice. The hospice movement<br />
aims to enable people with terminal illnesses to live<br />
the last part of their life with dignity. St Peter & St<br />
James is a very positive place for residents and day visitors.<br />
The day centre offers a wide variety of courses<br />
and activities, including massage, painting and talks.<br />
Patients also have access to physios, consultants and<br />
doctors offering advice, help and reassurance. It’s<br />
often an empathetic experience for our patients, who<br />
meet other people with similar life-limiting diagnosis.<br />
Who works there? We employ seven community<br />
nurses, who support the patients and their families.<br />
It must be expensive to run. This year we need<br />
to raise over £1.8 million to keep the hospice going<br />
(more than £5000 per day), and only receive a small<br />
percentage of this from government sources.<br />
Who pays? Everything at the hospice is free at the<br />
point of service for our patients, so we need to raise<br />
the money ourselves.<br />
And that is where your role comes in. As head<br />
of retail I’m responsible for our trading activities,<br />
including our shops, Christmas card sales and vintage<br />
china hire service.<br />
China hire? We often receive beautiful china, but<br />
rarely a full set, so we started hiring out mixed sets for<br />
parties and functions. We cater for up to 400 for tea<br />
and <strong>10</strong>0 for dinner. Prices start from £1.50 a setting.<br />
How many shops do you have? Five, including<br />
two in <strong>Lewes</strong>. Our High Street shop opposite the<br />
Law Courts has been running 12 years, whilst our<br />
T HéR è SE W IL SON - S T pET E R & S T JA MES<br />
furniture & home shop behind Waitrose opened just<br />
over a year ago.<br />
Who organises your stock? Initially everything goes<br />
to our warehouse before being delivered to the shops<br />
by our five-strong delivery team. They also deliver<br />
goods to their new owners, and take any lower quality<br />
goods to be recycled, another great way to raise funds.<br />
Any delivery problems? We ask people to measure<br />
things carefully before purchase. <strong>Lewes</strong> has narrow<br />
doorways, and we’ve had a number of instances where<br />
it’s been impossible to get things in the house.<br />
Any unusual or expensive items? People are incredibly<br />
generous - and we sell a lot of high quality jewellery<br />
and watches. Higher value items sometimes go to<br />
auction - recently some beautiful Lalique glass sold<br />
for several hundred pounds, and a nineteenth century<br />
grandfather clock in the region of £<strong>10</strong>00.<br />
If someone has something they want to donate...<br />
Ring our donation line on 01444 470205. We will then<br />
schedule a collection.<br />
Any fundraising activities coming up in <strong>Lewes</strong>?<br />
Fundraising is key for us, and on Sat 3rd Sept we have<br />
a ‘Cruise on the Ouse’ Family Fun Day at the Anchor<br />
at Barcombe from 11 – 3pm.<br />
Most unusual question?<br />
Q) Have you seen my cat?<br />
A) A few months ago a young cat somehow managed<br />
to ‘escape’ in our van, but after a few days we were<br />
able to trace it to our warehouse and reunite it with its<br />
owner! Interview by Nick Williams<br />
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