Claire House
helps families
smile again,
when life
couldn’t get
any tougher.
FREE GIFTS IN WILLS SERVICE
When Claire House Children’s Hospice opened in
December 1998 it looked after 10 families. They
now currently look after over 200 children and
young adults. This amazing progress is due in
no small part to the generous gifts that people
have left to Claire House in their Wills. In fact,
last year over 14% of their work was funded by
gifts like these.
Making or updating your Will is easy to put off,
but now Claire House is able to offer Wirral Life
readers the opportunity to have your Will written
free of charge. This offer is supported by a number
of local solicitors in our area and covers the cost
of a simple Will. This means that if you have any
complex arrangements, such as setting up a trust
fund, you can do so - but at an additional cost.
Janet Abraham, Legacy Manager at Claire House
caught up with supporter Elizabeth Pinder-Jones
to have a chat about free gift in Wills schemes.
Elizabeth explains, “To tell you the truth, I hadn’t
really prioritised making a Will, it’s always one of
those things that I was to get around to doing.
What nagged at my conscious was a feature funnily enough I spotted whilst thumbing through
an article in Wirral Life magazine. It gave details
about a gentleman who had left a gift to Claire
House, and mentioned about a Free Will Writing
Scheme.
Not being very familiar with how
making a Will works or the work Claire House do,
I contacted them for more information. It was
suggested that I come in for a chat and a tour, so
I could see for myself what they do and how gifts
in Wills can make a real difference to the help
they can offer the families who use their services.
10 wirrallife.com
I have to say, I was really nervous about going on
a tour as I wasn’t sure what to expect. The very
word ‘hospice’ conjures up all sorts of images in
one’s mind. Claire House was the total opposite
to what I had imagined. It was vibrant, bright,
colourful, everyone was smiling and we got to see
all around the hospice. We were shown where
families get to sit and eat together in the dining
room, the sensory room, the hydrotherapy pool
was amazing, and there was a special room that
had interactive features. The children could listen
to music or trigger off pictures or images on the
floors and walls by movement– I’ve never seen
anything quite like it.
I got to see for myself just how a donation made
to Claire House can be put to use. The support
the Claire House team give to families at difficult
times – it’s just mind blowing.
Needless to say after an informative chat and
seeing for myself how gifts in Wills are used
at Claire House, I am now in the process of
consulting with one of the participating Solicitors
in the Scheme.
I think a free Will writing benefit for supporters is
a really good idea. I’ve had a real eye opener of
an experience and it’s all down to seeing a simple
feature in my copy of Wirral Life magazine.”
If you would like to visit Claire House or hear
more about our free gifts in Wills scheme, please
call me on 0151 343 0883 or email
[email protected]