This year I have chosen two smaller and lesser known charities to benefit from our competition. I have personal connections to both of these and know that fund raising during the pandemic has been very difficult.

We will donate 15% of the prize fund to these great causes. In 2019, we raised £909 for Macmillan Cancer Support so I hope to beat that this year and hopefully our small contribution will do some good.

Home Start Hertfordshire

Home-Start works with families in communities right across the UK. Starting in the home, our approach is as individual as the people we’re helping. No judgement, it is just compassionate, confidential help and expert support. Across all four nations of the United Kingdom, 13,500 home-visiting volunteers support over 27,000 families and 56,000 children to transform their lives. There are over 200 local, independent Home-Starts working in 71% of local authority areas across the UK.

At the heart of each Home-Start’s work is home visiting volunteer support. Families struggling with post-natal depression, isolation, physical health problems, bereavement and many other issues receive the support of a volunteer who will spend around two hours a week in a family’s home supporting them in the ways they need. Home-Starts across the UK also support families in groups, hold day trips and Christmas parties and help access local services, as well as lots of other support.

https://www.home-startherts.org.uk/

https://youtu.be/BrMADaP-l_A

Sidmouth Hospiscare

We are a local charity, funded by the local community, and our mission is to ensure that care and support is provided to people in the Sid Valley with life limiting illnesses, as well as their carers and families. Since becoming a charity in 1985 we have been commissioning and funding a specialist palliative nursing team providing care to patients in their own homes, day centre care in Honiton, and in-patient care in the hospice in Exeter. We also have an amazing team of specially-trained volunteers who provide transport, sitting and befriending services, and bereavement support. Our aim is to work with each patient and their family to understand their individual needs and wishes and provide them with the care and support they need to have the best possible quality of life and to enable the patient to remain in their preferred place of care.

https://www.sidmouthhospiscare.org.uk/