Tag Archive for: community

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Light Up a Life 2025

We believe in celebrating the special people who are no longer with us, especially during the festive season, which can sometimes be particularly difficult.

As you know, at St Luke’s, we are here to support terminally ill patients and their families who will be spending their final Christmas together, as well as those facing their first Christmas without a dear loved one.

The one thing we never forget is that people are not just their illnesses – their illness is something that happens to them. With that in mind, we make sure we focus on the entire life of each individual patient and what matters most to them and their family members. We do our best to provide the support that allows them to enjoy and make the very most of the time they have left together. And later, we carry on being there for those left behind as they cope with the pain of loss.

We invite you all to join us at our Light Up a Life Remembrance Services on Tuesday 16 December to remember and celebrate those we have loved.

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St Luke’s opens Plymouth’s largest charity shop at Charles Cross

St Luke’s has opened the doors to its brand-new flagship store at Charles Cross – claiming the title of Plymouth’s biggest charity shop.
We have relocated our flagship furniture store from the former Toys ‘R’ Us building at Western Approach to a prime city-centre location, just yards away from shopping hub Drake Circus.

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How schools can support grieving children and parents

St Luke’s Compassionate Schools programme encourages and empowers conversations in schools and colleges about death and dying so that staff and pupils can help support and comfort children and young people, and their families, when they are facing the loss of someone close.
Figures show that one in 29 children in the UK are affected by the terminal illness or loss of a close family member – that’s roughly one child in every classroom. Through our close contact with local families in times of crisis, we know how important it is for grieving children to feel well supported not only by their class teachers, but also by their fellow pupils and other school staff.
Adopting the Compassionate Schools ethos means better understanding of bereavement and the emotions associated with it, and an attitude of caring and kindness becomes an integral part of the school day.

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Mini-Moor, Mighty effort: Five-year-old Lenny rides for St Luke’s

At just five years old, Lenny Harrison from Plympton is gearing up for a challenge that’s bigger than most children his age would dream of – taking part in the 11km Mini-Moor route of our Tour de Moor. Not only that, but he has already raised over £1,300 for St Luke’s and he hasn’t even crossed the start line yet.
Lenny, who turned five in April, lives with his mum and dad, Mica and Dan, and his older brother Parker, who’s nine. He has recently discovered a love for cycling that’s taken off in a big way.
“Although he’s been great on a balance bike for a while,” says Dan, “he only really became confident on his current bike around April or May this year. But now it’s clicked, we just can’t keep him off it!”

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Mrs M makes her mural magic shine for St Luke’s Guiding Lights

With her signature blend of nature-inspired creativity, her passion for protecting the environment and her strong sense of community spirit, Plymouth artist Ellie Johnson, aka Mrs Murals, is a beacon of enthusiasm for St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth’s Guiding Lights art trail and auction spectacular that’s set to dazzle the city’s streets in summer 2026.
As one of two launch artists, alongside St Luke’s patron and celebrated city painter Brian Pollard, in May Mrs M proudly unveiled the design she created for a small scale lighthouse that will travel to different locations across South West and West Devon and into Cornwall in the lead-up to the event, encouraging public engagement and support for the hospice.

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Global Learning: How a Gibraltar nurse is bringing St Luke’s learning to life

Here at St Luke’s, our services go beyond hands-on care. One important strand to our work is educating and empowering people in what good end of life care looks like.
Daniella Bright is our first overseas student studying our online module titled ‘Enhancing end of life care and palliative care practice’ in collaboration with the University of Plymouth. The aim of the module is to enable health and social care practitioners to develop a critical and reflective approach to caring for those living and dying with a life-limiting condition.
Daniella has been using her learning to assist her in her role as a Night Sister at St Bernard’s Hospital in Gibraltar, where she has been working since qualifying as a Staff Nurse back in 2013. Prior to her role as Night Sister, she was the Charge Nurse of the hospital’s Rehabilitation Ward.

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St Luke’s charity shop Tavistock reopens after refit

Already a favourite fixture for value, variety and sustainable shopping, St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth’s charity shop in Tavistock town centre has relaunched with a brand-new look. The fresh design and layout are designed to keep customers flocking in to browse and buy in support of local hospice care.

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Making memories matter: Walking midnight miles for hospice care

Big-hearted walkers wore sunny smiles and vibrant pink T-shirts as they strode through the city’s streets on Friday (11 July), celebrating precious memories of much-missed family members and friends, while raising funds to support the compassionate care St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth delivers.
The charity’s annual, family-friendly Midnight Walk attracted an incredible 1,125 entrants taking on a choice of four routes – 2.5, five, 7.5 and 13.5 miles (the equivalent of a half marathon) – making it accessible for people of all ages and levels of fitness.

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Age is no barrier for Jean and Bernie

Age is no barrier when it comes to our Midnight Walkers. At 78 and 87, Jean Turfkruyer and Bernie Massey will be some of our oldest participants at our Midnight Walk on Friday, but the friends are not letting their age stop them from taking part and making a difference.

Jean and Bernie are two of our Compassionate Friends who volunteer at our Friends in the Park Compassionate Café at the Well Being Hub at Central Park.

The pair first met four years ago when the café was first set up for members of the community who are experiencing loss, bereavement or maybe affected by life limiting illness to meet.

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Walking our Midnight Walk in memory of David

It will be cherished memories spurring on the friends and loved ones of ‘family man’ David Hambly at our Midnight Walk on Friday 11 July, as they will be celebrating his life after he sadly died earlier this month.

Louise Peters’ very good friend David, 46, was being cared for by St Luke’s in his final days. In honour of his memory and as a way of saying thank you to St Luke’s for the care he and his wife and two children received, Louise will be completing the 5 mile walk along with lots of friends, colleagues and one of David’s brothers and his family, including his young niece.

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