Page 3 - Ashgate Hospicecare News 2018

Peter knew that who you know was important and so he drew on his contacts to help the Hospice again. His grandson does some work for the entertainer, Bernie Clifton, who lives in Derbyshire.
Bernie Clifton is best known for his Ostrich act which he took to the BBC’s Crackerjack in the 1970s and has more recently appeared on The Voice. So, Peter worked his magic again and asked Bernie if he would like to come into the
Day Hospice to entertain some of the patients. Bernie accepted the invitation and came in to deliver an afternoon of laughter and songs. Unfortunately, Peter wasn’t very well at the time Bernie came in, but it was amazing to see our Day Hospice patients clapping and laughing along with Bernie. Since then, Bernie has kept in contact with the Hospice and hosted ‘The Last Night of the Proms’ at the Winding Wheel in Chesterfield on 27th October, which raised £2,500
Football Club fan, so when GF Tomlinson kindly donated a hospitality table for our supporters and patients to enjoy at the Proact, we knew Peter had to go.
Peter was still determined to
keep fundraising for the Hospice. He bought a helicopter flight in August this year, as this was on his bucket list. He loved it so much that he asked if the company would donate a flight to the Hospice to
be auctioned at our annual ball. Not only was he successful in that, Peter also donated one of the
first Ashgate cookbooks that was originally sold in 1987 to raise funds to open the Hospice in 1988. The two auction prizes raised £520 for the Hospice! Peter also phoned the Samuel Grant Group and sold them an advert in the ball programme,
raising yet more money for the Hospice!
Of course, Peter and his wife, Angela, were invited as special guests to the ball. However, very sadly, Peter died just over a week before the ball.
Charlotte says, “On behalf of everybody at the Hospice and all our patients, I’d like to extend our gratitude to Peter and his family for all their help raising funds and awareness for the Hospice and for helping more people to access the specialist hospice care they need.”
The Oral History Project was launched at Ashgate Hospicecare at the beginning of 2018 as a new patient-centred service giving our patients the opportunity to record
their life story in their own way and in
their own time. A handful of Hospice staff and volunteers went through two days of training to learn about the tradition of oral histories, how to facilitate the recording of
a patient’s life story, how to set up and use the recording equipment, and how to archive the recordings and copy them onto memory sticks and CDs for the patient and their family members to keep.
Peter was the first patient at the Hospice to finish recording his life story. Amy Hughes, Digital Engagement Assistant and trained member of the Oral History Project at the Hospice, describes how it went􏰀
“Peter was a very chatty man and always had something interesting and funny to say. When I would go down to the Day Hospice, he would often tell me entertaining stories about his life􏰁 the life of ‘Powerful Pierre’!
I suggested that he might like to record his life history as part of a new project the Hospice
had launched. He told me that he had always wanted to write an autobiography, but never had, so this was the perfect thing for him to do and the perfect gift to leave to his family.
We recorded it over two sessions. Peter was
a natural in front of the recorder. He had
jotted down a few notes so that he didn’t
miss out anything important, but when the microphone started recording, he put on a show and performed. He told me stories from his childhood, mischievous anecdotes from his teenage years and all about his family whom he clearly adored. At times, I had to hold back my laughter at some of the funny stories he was telling. He told me that he could have gone into lots more detail on some things but, mostly, he wanted to make sure he could finish it.
Just a few weeks later, we received the sad news that Peter, who we had all come to know well, had died.
I feel privileged to have been part of Peter’s life even for a short time and I was so pleased that he
was able to finish recording his life history in the way that he wanted to. I saved it to a memory stick along with some photos and videos that were taken of Peter at the Hospice and gave it to his wife, Angela, at his funeral. He had told me his autobiography would have been called ‘The Boy from Dore Who Made It’, so that’s what I titled the recording.
Recording Peter’s life story was the first I had done as part of this new project and I’ll never forget it. It was a really wonderful experience and I’m looking forward to recording with more patients and helping them to create this special gift for their families to treasure.”
for the Hospice.
We knew we had to find a way to thank Peter for all his efforts, and we also knew that he was a
big Chesterfield
Oral History at Ashgate Hospicecare
Right: Hospice Chaplain, Siobhan, has been recording Sue’s oral history at the Hospice as part of the project
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