Kind cafe colleagues hand over tips to hospice charity

Colleagues at The Mill café and community hub in the grounds of St Catherine’s Park, Lostock Hall, made a decision when the social enterprise launched in November 2014, that they would give up their tips from customers to St Catherine’s Hospice.

And they have just donated £13,400 collected over 18 months.

The donation is enough to cover the cost of care for people with life-shortening illnesses for a day – which includes the 19-bed inpatient unit, outpatient clinics, day therapy and specialist care for over 200 people at home.

The tips will be used to pay for the charity’s specialised services on Friday, July 8, the 31st anniversary of the in-patient unit opening.

Chairman of the board of trustees at St Catherine’s, Cliff Hughes, presented staff and volunteers with certificates and thanked them for their efforts. He said: “It’s amazing how The Mill project has taken off, and I’m astounded by the impact it has giving patients an opportunity to enjoy social time with family and friends.

“It is a place that people choose to come to because they enjoy it rather than one that they have to because they are poorly.

“The café has become a major contribution to the community of South Ribble, changing the concepts of hospices by showing that we are here to help people live with life-shortening illnesses rather than to simply die from them.”

Chief executive Stephen Greenhalgh said: “It has really touched our hearts that on top of working extremely hard and giving their time, staff and volunteers have also chosen to donate their well-earned tips to the charity.”