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TEESSIDE HOSPICE-

• In 1979 it was recognised that there was a need for specialised care for the terminally ill in the Tees Valley area which sparked a campaign to introduce such a service. The campaign's steering group went on to form Teesside Hospice, which was officially registered as a charity in 1982. 'Teesside Hospice now in it's seventeenth year, was the first provider of specialist care for the terminally ill in our region.'
  
  
• At Teesside Hospice we strive to relieve the pain and distress our patients are feeling. We take great care to ensure that they retain their dignity and that they are in control of their treatment. We have a Multidisciplinary team which offers our patients holistic care - ensuring that their physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs are cared for through a skilled mix of medical, nursing, rehabilitation and diversional expertise. We also extend our care to the families and carers of our patients. All our services are provided free of charge.
  
  
• Our service began with two Macmillan Nurses, who looked after patients in their own homes. We now fund seven of these Nurses along with a comprehensive home loan service of equipment to enhance the comfort of patients in their own homes.
  
  
• In 1987, Diana Princess of Wales, officially opened our first Day Centre, which has expanded over the years to provide respite care for 16 patients, four days per week. In 1992, a "Help Us Care" appeal was launched to raise E1 million to build a purpose built hospice, which was opened in 1994. From our purpose built hospice we have identified many more needs, and from this our services have developed to include a satellite day centre in Brotton for our East Cleveland patients, the lymphoedema and outpatients clinics, and the children and young people's bereavement service "Forget-Me-Not".
  
  
• Recently, the Teesside Hospice was awarded £675,000 from the National Lottery Charities Board to enable us to extend the existing Day Care Centre and to add an education and counselling annexe. Since the opening of our in-patient unit, the need for services such as counselling, complementary therapies and specialist clinics has become apparent and we have catered for this need by being creative with the space available. The money from the National Lottery Charities Board will pay for the bricks and mortar needed to give us the physical space in which to provide the very best care we can, but we do need your help to ensure that the future of these services is secured. Our annual running cost is £1.2-million, and only 42% of this is financed through our local NHS. This means that every day of the year we need to raise R2,000 to keep our Hospice running.
  
  
• There are eight Teesside Hospice Charity Shops, which bring in E200,000 towards the running costs of the Hospice. Each shop relies on the generosity of the surrounding community for donations of clothing, furniture and household goods and their valued custom, and, of course our 700 superb volunteer shop assistants.
  
  
• Teesside Hospice started out with a group of local people concerned about the lack of Hospice care in their area. From these beginnings, a wonderful organisation has grown which has touched the lives of so many people. Thanks to everyone for their kind support - as long as it continues the future of Teesside Hospice will be secure.

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Autumn 99

Toadstools and fairy rings can be a problem at this time of year. Very difficult to eradicate completely. The best solution is to brush away the offending toadstools and feed the grass to mask the ring of discoloured grass that often accompanies the fairy ring. Worms can be an even bigger problem as they increase their activities and produce unsightly worm casts. There is no longer a chemical control available for worms, thank goodness, as they do a great job throughout the rest of the year making their holes under the grass which improves drainage and allows air to the roots . In addition they add goodness to the soil by dragging underground pieces of leaves and decaying matter.

Do not tread on the wormcasts or run a mower over them until you have cleared them away as the flattened casts will cause bare patches on the grass. Wait until the casts are dry and simply brush them away with a stiff besom brush . If the wormcasts do not dry out because of prolonged wet weather I take a hosepipe and wash the casts away. this breaks them up and spreads them safely over the rest of the lawn giving a beneficial top dressing at the same time.

Leaves will be falling from the trees from now on and should never be left on the grass for more than a couple of days. Large plastic leaf rakes will clear large patches of lawn in a very short time and the piles of leaves can be easily picked up with the large plastic 'hands' now available in the Garden Centres.
I prefer to put the leaves into polythene bags and add them to the compost heap a little at a time between layers of grass cuttings, kitchen refuse and other garden rubbish. GAROTTA powder can be added to the heap to speed up the composting process so that it is ready for use on the garden next year.

Finally, a special Autumn lawn food can be given to the grass to enhance the root growth over Winter to prepare for next season's growth. To give your garden a bright start to next year now is the time to buy bulbs for Autumn planting whilst a full range of varieties is still available. Don't forget to plant your garden tubs with Winter Flowering Pansies, Wallflowers or Forget-me-nots with bulbs in between for a great Spring display.