Later down the line, services like Hospice at Home developed, through a combination of help from MacMillan nurses and the Hospice. An additional Macmillan nurse visiting nursing homes provided more palliative care support. Two decades later, Hospice at Home made over 1000 visits to patients and families in their homes in 2019 alone.

During the years Sue spent at the Hospice a lot took place. From the arrival of Honey – Matron’s PET, or Pets As Therapy dog – who wandered the Hospice making friends with patients and families, to arranging weddings, to winning a TV garden landscaping show that came to Rotherham and redeveloped the Hospice gardens, to a visit from the Duchess of Gloucester for the official opening.

As for the feel of the building itself, Sue remembers that the ethos in those early days was always “a home from home”. For this, Sue tells us that volunteers became the driving force behind that homely feel, ensuring patients and their families were comfortable and had teas and coffees when needed, chatting and laughing with patients every day. To this day, volunteers remain indispensable to the Hospice, providing that same friendly approach and so much more across all of our services.

So much has changed since the late 1990s, but what remains the same is the commitment of our wonderful staff and volunteers to delivering exceptional palliative care services for the people in and around Rotherham, and providing that homely feel the moment you walk through our doors on Broom Road.

“We started to get referrals fast, and so we held groups once a fortnight instead of once a month”.

The increase in referrals highlighted to Cath and Liz that there was a real need for a bereavement support programme specifically for children, and since 2011, Sunbeams has supported over 340 children. 

Over the years Sunbeams has grown and become a vital service that Rotherham Hospice provides. In 2017 Sunbeams opened its own Sunbeams Hut in the Hospice gardens, kindly funded by Eurovia and the Rotary Club of Rotherham for furnishing. The hut offers a welcoming, quiet, creative environment for the group to meet. Mary came on board as a member of staff for Sunbeams soon after, but she had supported Sunbeams as a volunteer since the beginning.

The group play games, they develop their creative sides with arts and crafts, and if you were to wander through our Hospice gardens today, you’d see butterflies on the fence created by the Sunbeams children. Cath tells us that none of this could be possible without the wonderful volunteers who come along to the groups to ensure it runs smoothly.

“Our volunteers are amazing. We couldn’t do it without them”.

This past year – 2020 – has been a challenge on so many fronts, and Sunbeams hasn’t been immune to the difficulties caused by the global pandemic. In the first couple of months Sunbeams had to be put on hold as staff and resources were deployed elsewhere. Though despite the challenge, Cath, Mary and Liz made sure that families knew that Sunbeams was here for them if they needed us.

This February – 2021 – limited online support has been back up and running for Sunbeams, offering support over phone and webcam. Though Cath says that face-to-face group time has so many more benefits;

“You can see it on the kids faces when they realise they can share experiences with each other and know they’re not alone”.

As the World moves back toward a sense of normality, the future of Sunbeams is bright and we look forward to keeping you all updated as it moves into its next decade of providing a vital support service for children in Rotherham.

“We wanted to keep the aims clear; providing care and support for those suffering from a life-threatening illness.” Steve explains. And so originally there was no specific aim for a hospice building. The aim was to raise £1,000,000 to provide palliative care to the people of Rotherham.

Rotherham Hospice was now a charity, and a launch was set. Business leaders, local councillors, GPs, Hospital Doctors, Community Staff, and the media were all invited and the leader of the council Sir Jack Layden approved a grant of £2000 for the launch.

As time went on, more and more was raised through sponsored events, through BBQs, coffee mornings, and even through a football match between Rotherham United All Stars and a Celebrity All Stars team that included stars like Sir Alex Ferguson, and the Chuckle Brothers, and even made its way into The Sun newspaper.

The Hospice was well and truly on its way to the wonderful building on Broom Road; the services that would soon develop such as our community team providing care in homes across Rotherham; our 14-bed inpatient unit; our Day Hospice; and our Sunbeams Child Bereavement Support Group.

The fundraising that has taken place over the years, from midnight memory walks to conquering the 3 Peaks and jumping out of planes, the support from the people of Rotherham, can all date back not just to the opening of the building in 1996, but to that very first fundraising group back in the 1980s.