PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release

27 June 2016

Conference: Make living with dying better through volunteering

Making a positive difference to someone in the final chapter of their life will be the focus of a special event held by a Suffolk Hospice.

St Nicholas Hospice Care will be holding their Conference: Make living with dying better through volunteering, to help give people the tools they need to help those approaching the end of their lives.

Barbara Gale, Chief Executive Officer at St Nicholas Hospice Care, said: “Death can be a scary concept and recent research has suggested that managers can be fearful of using volunteers in the community, but they really don’t have to be. Being with people who are facing death can be life enriching and can making death less frightening.

“Volunteers have a crucial role when visiting those with life-threatening or life-limiting illness in the community, yet unlike many other countries, the use of community volunteers to support people at the end of life is relatively uncommon in the United Kingdom.

“This conference will be a chance for volunteers and their managers to look at how volunteerscan make a difference,and the important part they can play in making the wishes of those approaching the end of their lives come true”

The conference, which will take place on Thursday 1 September from 9.30am to 4pm, at Rowley Mile Race Course in Newmarket, is sponsored by Orbital Food Machinery.

The conference features a full programme of speakers and workshops.

These will include:

  • Your volunteering journey, being a volunteer, what you need to know- what to say to people who are dying or bereaved
  • Managing and coordinating a community volunteer service
  • Being a Dementia Volunteer - what to say to people who are dying.

The event will also draw on examples from St Nicholas Hospice Care and St Joseph’sto show that volunteer schemes within the community can be managed safely.

Barbara said: “We want to share what St Nicholas Hospice Care and St Joseph’s Hospice have learned from developing a successful volunteer service.

“Hospice Neighbours and Compassionate Neighbours have made a tremendous difference to communities across Suffolk. The help they provide supports those who wish to remain at home at the end of lives; they help give them a choice.”

The conference is free for volunteers, and costs £55 for staff, lunch and refreshments will be provided.

For more information and to book your place you can visit

Picture caption: Barbara Gale, St Nicholas Hospice Care, Chief Executive Officer. Pippa Wilding, St Nicholas Hospice Care, Head of Education and Outreach

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For more information, please contact Katie Anderson, Press and PR Officer, on 01284 715580 or email

Notes to Editor:

  • St Nicholas Hospice Care is a local charity which looks after people with terminal and life shortening illnesses.This can include cancer, multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease and the advanced stages of heart and lung disease.
  • As a registered charity, St Nicholas Hospice Care has to raise £11,000 every day through the generosity of the local community. We need every penny.
  • St Nicholas Hospice Care provides care and support throughout West Suffolk and Thetford. This may be at our Hospice site in Bury St Edmunds, or wherever the patient isvia support from our Community Hospice Team.
  • More information on the Hospice is available from