Christmas can be a very hard time for those who have lost loved ones at this time of year. It can be hard to prepare to celebrate Christmas without feeling guilty or sad, or simply missing their presence at this special time of year.
The Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity Tree of Light commemorations are open to anyone in the community who is grieving for friends and family members, or for whom this time of year re-awakens past emotions, regardless of whether their loved ones were cared for by the Hospice.
“You spend that time remembering and you can cry and grieve a bit and you feel you’ve honoured the relatives and now you can enjoy Christmas, which is probably hard for everybody,” says Sue Merrison, whose husband Ron went into the Hospice just before Christmas and who died at home a few days later, cared for by the 24/7 Nightingale Team.
“The Tree of Light gives you that chance: no matter how many times you go, you know that every year around Christmas you go and do the Tree of Light so you feel you’ve done something, by doing that you are still supporting the Hospice nurses,” says Sue.
To support the Hospice, people can sponsor a light to honour someone special and write a dedication or tribute to them to appear in the Books of Honour which can be viewed at the Hospice in December and early January, and at the two Tree of Light events. Everyone who dedicates a light can choose to receive a personal card of acknowledgment and have their loved one’s name listed in the Tree of Light commemoration in the Bucks Herald in December.
The first Tree of Light event will take place at the Head Office of Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity at Walton Lodge, Walton Street, Aylesbury, on Sunday 3rd December at 5pm. The second will take place at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Buckingham on Saturday 9th December at 4pm.
To sponsor a light in memory of someone, please call our Fundraising Team on 01296 429 975 to request a Tree of Light Form or find out more at www.fnhospice.org.uk/tree-of-light-2017
