Merry Christmas from everyone at Viva

Given the year we have had, I think there is a real appetite for some seasonal joy this year. At Viva we’ve been touched by all the help and support we have received to get us through 2020. However, we have seen some of our friends, clients and suppliers suffer.

That is why Viva is making a £500 donation to Pendleside Hospice.

It’s a client hit hard because it relies so much on fundraising events — many of which simply haven’t been possible this year.

Pendleside means a lot to all of us at Viva, but it means a lot to our colleague Alan Simpson.

Here’s Alan’s story:

It’s almost six years ago to the day that I first had intimate contact with Pendleside Hospice.

The passing of my wife Gail changed my ignorance of what Pendleside is – and it was a change I will always cherish.

Until that day, my perception was Pendleside was a building with dimly lit corridors and rooms shrouded in sadness. A gothic abode of doom and gloom. It was a place, I believed, where people just went to die.

While Gail never actually made it as an inpatient, the Hospice At Home service provided a nurse who was an expert at making both Gail and me at ease with the inevitable. The nurse showed an incomparable compassion. I had never met a nurse like her before.

And it was her dedication in helping us comfort Gail through her final hours that was the spark for me and my daughters to decide to raise money for the hospice in Gail’s memory. And so it was then that I made my first visit to Pendleside to discuss my plans.

Any apprehension I had disappeared the second I walked through the door. What a shock. The place is a palace of positivity. A haven of happiness.

Far from being a tearful place to die Pendleside is a lovely place to live. Yes, a lovely place to live.

There is not a more serene and beautiful sanctuary to spend your last few days with the ones you cherish most. And, best of all, Pendleside isn’t only about those final touching memory-filled moments.

Pendleside is a whole community in itself. A caring, sharing, community that celebrates the future rather than miserably mourning the past.

It’s about the hundreds of Hospice At Home patients and day care patients who receive supportive attention during what could have been their darkest days. It’s about the army of 400 or so volunteers who help to keep the hospice machinery turning. And it’s about the thousands and thousands of Burnley and Pendle people who daily go beyond what’s normally expected to raise much-needed funds to ensure the doors stay open.

The physical and mental determination Pendleside ambassador Jordan North showed during his recent I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here appearance epitomises the day-to-day character of the hospice.

And while Jordan cited Turf Moor as his ‘Happy Place’, I know Pendleside is close to his heart.