(Pictured: Ian Sumner, Andy Halford, Russ Perks, Dawn Pierson and Dave Jones)

In September 2024 Springhill Hospice in Rochdale, received a grant from the East Lancashire Masonic Charities grant making committee for the sum of £2,455.56. This total was also matched by a grant from the Masonic Charitable Foundation giving a total grant of £4,911.12, to purchase 2 new hot food trolleys.

Springhill Hospice provides multi-professional, palliative and end-of-life care and support to adults with life-limiting illnesses, as well as providing emotional and psychological support for their loved ones. Springhill Hospice is the only palliative care serving supporting communities from across Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale area. The hospice has a 16-bed inpatient unit and provides day therapies, and has specialist community services, and counselling and bereavement support services.

On Thursday 13 March 2025, Russ Perks ( Eastern Area Charity Steward)  along with Andy Halford (Eastern Area Chairman), Dave Jones (Eastern Area Deputy Chairman) and Lee Reilly (Eastern Area Communications Officer) were kindly invited to visit the hospice by Sophie Ansley (Fundraising Manager for Springhill Hospice) and Dawn Pierson (Fundraising Team) to see how the grant has helped them. The team had a spot of lunch and saw how the trolleys worked and how they have benefited the hospice and all the patients.

Ian Sumner who is one of the chefs at the hospice then explained how the trolleys worked and also how they have benefited in the flexibility in meal timing, as patients often have varying needs and he explained how the new trolleys allow them to serve meals when patients are ready to eat or to serve the meal later if a patient is unable to eat at the scheduled time. Ian explained how the heat retention of the food served contributes to the overall and well-being and comforts for the patient as well. Ian said that the staff and nurses have also benefited on the ward, he explained how each trolley can hold up to 8 meals and when the ward is at maximum capacity the nurses can put the meals into the trolleys instead of having to take them back to the kitchen, which ultimately gives them more time to spend with the patients.

Sophie also explained that when the meals had to be taken back to the kitchen it also had a knock-on effect to the kitchen staff as they would often have to wait till the meal was ready again which at times meant they stayed beyond their shift times. Sam Wells, who is the Chief Executive for the hospice, also said that she cannot thank the East Lancashire Masonic Charity and the Masonic Charity Foundation enough for their very generous grant, which enabled us to purchase the new equipment. Thank you to all of the Eastern Area Freemasons.