News

Keep memories alive

21 December 2009

Keep memories alive

A shop in Essex is giving its customers the chance to make dedications to loved ones who have died thanks to its very own “memory tree”.

Jan Dehaney of Crystal Threads created the tree in her Elmstead Market shop in memory of her good friend Nick Spall who died from cancer at St Helena Hospice last October aged just 26.

People can come into the shop and in return for a donation to the hospice, they can make a dedication.

Mrs Dehaney said she was doing the fundraising after seeing the amount of care that Nick, who lived in Colchester, received at the Hospice when he was ill.

And she is also making a donation for each sandlewood candle that is sold in her shop as this was the one Nick, whose family live in Ipswich, used to buy.

After his death many of his friends wanted to buy the candles as they reminded them of him.

She therefore decided to rename them “Nick’s candle” and now donates 15p to St Helena Hospice for each candle sold.

Mrs Dehaney said: “Nick was a very special young man and anyone who met him would see that.

“I know that the staff at the hospice were also very attached to him and he had said that when he got out, he planned to raise money for them as they were so fantastic for both him and his family.

“So I decided I would take on the fundraising for him after he died.”

Mrs Dehaney said the memory tree had proved popular with customers.

“I created the memory tree so that people could come into my shop and make a dedication to a loved one that they wouldn’t be spending time with this Christmas.

“People who make a dedication can then give a donation to St Helena Hospice which will go towards supporting the really valuable work they do in our community,” she added.

St Helena Hospice is for anyone who has been diagnosed with a life-limiting illness and all services are free to patients and their families.

 

James Hore, East Anglian Daily Times, Saturday December 19^th 2009