Building work is set to start this summer on the new Bury Hospice – a state of-the-art facility to provide palliative care to the people of Bury.
Thanks to the generosity of local people and a large legacy the fundraising pot has now swelled to £3.6 million – enough to give the go-ahead for building work to get underway on the new hospice to be located on Rochdale Old Road.
Hospice fundraisers are now on the final push to raise £500,000 to provide all of the funds to fully build and equip the new hospice, which will be built by Bolton-based construction company GJ Seddon.
Michael Garrity, Chair of the Bury Hospice Trustees, said: “We are delighted to announce that the building phase can now get underway. As a board of trustees we wanted to be satisfied that enough money had been raised to fund the building programme.
“We have been working very closely, behind the scenes, with GJ Seddon to finalise the costs of the build, materials and equipment. We now have a definitive figure and are confident for work to get underway.
“Our fundraisers have also been working extremely hard raising money, increasing the profile of the campaign and telling people why we need a new hospice in Bury.”
Despite a challenging economic climate the Building a new Hospice for Bury fundraising campaign has got off to a good start.
Mr Garrity adds: “We have been overwhelmed with the generosity and support we have been given by the people of Bury. They have truly embraced the campaign and come up with some innovative fundraising initiatives.
“However, now that we are on the final sprint to the finish line we continue to encourage people to give us their support.”
Preparations are now underway for building work to start in July. However, before the foundations can be laid, ecology specialists will arrive on site to relocate a colony of great crested newts to a new home 500m behind the development. This has to be carried out in the spring once the newts have come out of hibernation.
The great crested newt is a protected species. As a result, GJ Seddon has had to apply for a special licence to survey the site as part of the planning process.
Ecology experts are now set to build a newt fence around the site of the new hospice to collect the great crested newts and relocate them to the neighbouring pond. This process follows strict guidelines set by Natural England.
Following the final costing of the development we will now be able to increase the number of inpatients who could be cared for at the new hospice from five to 12, instead of the 10 beds originally planned for.
The new hospice will provide state-of-the art palliative care equipment to allow individual packages of care to be developed - providing more choice for end of life care for the people of Bury.
The aim is for doors to open to the new Bury Hospice in January 2013.
As well as contacting the hospice team with your fundraising ideas, a new text to donate facility was launched recently.
Simply text Bury02, leave a space and text the amount you would like to donate after a £ sign and send your text to 70070. At the touch of a button contributors will be able to donate £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10. The choice is yours. The donation will then automatically be added to your monthly bill, for example, to donate £5, text Bury02 space £5 to 70070.
For even more information on how you can help build a new Bury Hospice or to make a larger donation, contact the campaign hotline on 0161 763 1545, visit the dedicated website www.buildinganewhospiceforbury.org.uk or visit the Facebook page Building a new Hospice for Bury.
