31 January 2013 Alison Rennie Children's Hospice Association Scotland

Last week's meeting at the Westlands Hotel in Dunblane was chaired by President Elect Colin Strachan who welcomed 28 members and 2 guests. Guests of honour were John Lange, representing Parkinson's UK and our speaker for the evening,  Alison Rennie who works as a fundraiser for The Children's Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS). Colin had the pleasant task of distributing cheques of £3750 to each of the charities. The money was raised at the inaugural Beat Beethoven Fun Run held last October in the grounds of Stirling University and was a great success.   

Alison, who has worked for CHAS since 2003, then gave a talk to those assembled to highlight the work of the association under the lead mandate of care, support and connections for children and young persons with life shortening conditions.

From the original idea, 21 years ago, CHAS has now grown to include 2 hospices at Rachel House in Kinross and Robin House in Balloch, with the recent addition of the new 'CHAS at Home' service.  Alison explained that this new key initiative is aimed at bringing the hospice to the individual, to provide respite/give Mum a break and to allow the hospice service to be distributed across the entire country.  She gave a moving account of some time she spent assisting one of the teams in Aberdeenduring a home visit, an experience that only redoubled her determination to continue in her fundraising role.

Alison explained that the club's contribution was a vital part of the £21000 per day it takes to run the CHAS service. She thanked the club for their ongoing support which has now raised in excess of £40000 for CHAS since 1983.  Club member Mary Fraser gave the vote of thanks for a most informative talk.