£3m appeal launched to build hospice for children (From Gazette)

East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices' new appeal

8:40pm Friday 19th March 2010 in Colchester By Gareth Palmer

AN appeal has been launched to raise £3million to build a hospice for children from north Essex.

East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices is raising money to build the Treehouse to replace its bungalow.

Melanie Chew, the charity’s director of fundraising, issued a rallying call at Colchester’s East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice shop in Short Wyre Street.

She said: “We want to raise this money in as short a time as possible so we can provide a much better service to our families.

“People are already getting in touch and telling us about what they’re going to do and looking for companies to take on the challenge to raise £10,000 for us.”

A site in Ipswich has been anonymously donated to the charity and plans have been drawn up for a hospice, which could open by late next year.

Mrs Chew said: “At the moment, we work from a converted bungalow in a residential cul-de-sac.

“The new building will have rooms for six children sharing three bathrooms and a family suite. Currently, we have three rooms, but often only two can be used because of children’s care needs.

“Our staff, families and children have to share one bathroom, and when parents need to stay over, all we can offer is a sofa bed, which is just not good enough.”

The new hospice will also feature a music studio, hydrotherapy pool, sensory garden, meeting room, offices and a kitchen.

The charity works with 80 families in north Essex and Suffolk.

Mrs Chew continued: “Our research shows there are 400 families in the area who need our help and the sooner we can open the new hospice, the sooner we will be able to help many more of them.”

The charity runs three hospices across East Anglia and employs 130 staff.

l For more information, visit www.each.org.uk/treehouse