Eden Valley Hospice is celebrating Hospice Care Week by thanking the north Cumbrian community for its incredible contributions to the charity all year round.

The annual awareness-raising week takes place this year between Monday, October 10 and Friday, October 14, and offers a chance to shine a light on the incredible work of hospices across the country.

Based in Durdar Road, Carlisle, Eden Valley Hospice provides specialist care for people fromnorth Cumbria with life-limiting illnesses by offering a variety of services, including its in-patient unit, day services and through its family support team.

In order to continue offering these services to people when they need it most, the charity must raise more than £3m each year, with the local community continually stepping up to support the cause by fundraising, attending events, playing the hospice lottery, leaving gifts in wills and more.

During Hospice Care Week, Hospice UK who coordinate the celebration, call on communities to ‘go yellow’ in support of their local hospice, for example by hosting events such as a ‘yellow dress down day’ at schools or workplaces.

In Carlisle, some of the key city landmarks such as the Civic Centre, Citadel buildings and Citadel station will be illuminated in yellow, thanks to the support of Carlisle City Council and Cumbria County Council, to mark the occasion and show support for the hospice.

Dr Teresa Storr, medical director at the hospice, said: “We would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone in the community who support us throughout the whole year – whether that be through volunteering, making donations, fundraising, playing our lottery, buying from or donating to our charity shops.

“Without those very special contributions, we could not offer the care and support we do to families from across north Cumbria.

“We know that times are tough for many people in our community so we want people know how much we really appreciate all their continued support.”

The support offered by local residents and businesses to the hospice allows families like Mark Duffell’s to be cared for by the dedicated and skilled team of clinical staff.

In 2017 Mark’s dad Brian, from Carlisle, spent his final days in the hospice and his family were blown away by the care, support and friendliness they were shown by all the Eden Valley Hospice team.

Mark has since joined the board of trustees at the hospice as a way of giving back to the organisation who helped make every moment matter for his family.

Mark said: “It was a tough time, but the way the team was with us as a family and the way they looked after my dad in those last four or five days just blew us away. I’ve said this several times and I mean it, it’s a debt we can never repay.”

To learn more about the hospice and how it can be supported, go to www.edenvalleyhospice.org.

To read Mark’s full story, go to: www.edenvalleyhospice.org/about/your-hospice-stories/mark-duffell.