HOLD A BLOOMING GREAT TEA PARTY

Marie Curie Cancer Care is asking people of Surrey to hold a Blooming Great Tea Party this summer. It can be as simple as a cuppa and cakes in the office, a vintage inspired tea party or even a larger ‘blooming great street party’. It’s a great way to get together with friends and family to do something easy and fun for charity.

The official tea party season is from June 12 to July 12 but it doesn’t matter if you’re a little early or late. Money raised from Blooming Great Tea Parties will help Marie Curie Nurses to provide more free care to people with terminal cancer and other terminal illnesses in their own homes.

The charity is hoping to raise one million pounds from the campaign this year which will help provide 50,000 hours of Marie Curie Nursing care. Call 08700 340 040 or visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/teaparty for more information and your free Blooming Great Tea Party fundraising pack.

MARIE CURIE – General Information

Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the UK’s largest charities. Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, it provided care to more than 31,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its nine hospices last year and is the largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS.

Funding

Around 70 per cent of the charity’s income comes from the generous support of thousands of individuals, membership organisations and businesses, with the balance of our funds coming from the NHS.

Marie Curie Nurses

The charity is best known for its network of Marie Curie Nurses working in the community to provide end of life care, totally free for patients in their own homes.

Research

The charity provides core funding for two centres for palliative care research, the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at University College London and the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool. It also supports palliative and end of life care research through its project grant funding streams, the Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme (administered by Cancer Research UK) and the Dimbleby Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Fund.

Supporting the choice to die at home

Research shows around 65 per cent of people would like to die at home if they had a terminal illness, with a sizeable minority opting for hospice care. However, more than 50 per cent of cancer deaths still occur in hospital, the place people say they would least like to be. Since 2004 Marie Curie Cancer Care has been campaigning for more patients to be able to make the choice to be cared for and die at home.