Farleigh Hospice holds weekend of family fun

On the Saturday, we held a garden fete with visitors enjoying stalls, games, face painting, refreshments and live music. Highlights included a performance from the Farleigh Community Choir and animals from the Maldon Promenade Petting Zoo.

Our Commercial Director, Pauline Harvey-Jones, the Mayor of Chelmsford, Councillor Linda Mascot, and the Mayor’s Consort joined our Patron, his Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Mrs Jennifer Tolhurst as she buried a time capsule to mark our recent 40th birthday. It was full of special mementos including pictures drawn by competition winners Finley Webster, aged 9, and Sophia Childs, aged 10.Sophia said, “I’m excited that my picture won a competition. When they dig up the capsule in the future, they will see how important Farleigh Hospice is at helping people.”

The following day, around 300 cyclists gathered at the hospice to take part in our 25th Cycle for Life bike ride.There were cyclists of all ages and abilities, from families enjoying a relaxed ride to professionals looking for a greater challenge. They had a choice of cycling 20, 50 or 100 kilometres through the beautiful Essex countryside and villages, with the longest route taking them as far as Thaxted and Finchingfield.

Alan Hunt cycled the 20km route. He said, “Cycle for Life was brilliant – quiet roads, beautiful scenery and a nice, family atmosphere. My father, Donald, was cared for at home by Farleigh Hospice and they looked out for the whole family. Farleigh was absolutely fabulous.”

It costs over £21,271 every day for us to provide our services free of charge. We are very grateful to the many cyclists who collected sponsor money or gave a donation and hope to have raised £25,000.

Pauline Harvey-Jones said, “Thank you to everyone who came along to our garden fete and took part in Cycle for Life. Farleigh Hospice could not be here to care for the increasing number of people who need us without our kind supporters. It was an absolute pleasure to join our Patron, his Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Essex, as she buried the time capsule celebrating the 40 years that we have been part of this wonderful community in mid Essex.”

You can see photos from the weekend on our social media.

Garden Fete photos

Cycle for Life photos

Our next event is the Santa Fun Run – a fun, family, festive 5K in Central Park on Sunday 3 December. Please click here to find out more and book your place.