St  Luke’s is tremendously grateful for the generous gift of £3000 raised by the ladies of the Ramgharia Sabha Gurdwara.   We first met the ladies back in January when they came to visit the hospice and find out about the services that we provide.   On 6^th February Tejinder Singh, one  of our trustees and I were invited to attend the harvest festival event organised by the ladies and to give a short presentation about the work of the hospice .  We  were tremendously impressed by the music, dancing and acting skills of the ladies, and by the professionalism of the young people who acted a comperes for the evening.   We were honoured to be invited back on Sunday to attend the cheque presentation at the temple.

What services does St Luke’s provide?

St Luke’s looks after people whose illnesses are no longer curable, enabling them to achieve the best possible quality of life during the final stages of their illness.  All of our care is provided free of charge, and we are dependent upon the generosity of our communities for over 70% of the funding we need to provide our services, so the support of the Ramgharia Sabha Gurdwara will make a tremendous difference to our patients.

The care offered at the hospice includes the treatment of physical symptoms but also extends to consider the emotional psychological , physical and social needs of our patients and their families

Care is provided either in our 12 bed in patient unit, or in our day care unit where patients can access nurse and doctor assessment and treatment and complementary therapies, as well as considerable peer support.    Our community teams also enable an increasing number of patients to receive expert care and support in the familiar surroundings of their own homes.

How can you get involved?

We hope to stay in touch with the Ramgharia Sabha Gurdwara and in particular hope to welcome some of the ladies to take part in our annual Midnight Walk on the 11^th June.  Thousand of ladies dressed in pink and purple will take to the streets of Harrow to show their support for the hospice and to raise much needed funds.  The event begins with a fun warm up at Harrow leisure centre, and ladies return to the centre after the walk to receive their goody bags and enjoy a well earned breakfast.  We also need lots of men to provide support on the evening as marshalls and to manage the  registration desks.  To find out more go to www.themidnightwalk.org.

For more information about St Luke’s and ways of getting involved through volunteering, or taking part in social and fundraising events go to www.stlukes- hospice.org.