Digital News - Demelza Hospice Story Idea

Demelza Hospice Care for Children works within Kent, Sussex and South East London. They are a charity that supports children and young adults with difficult illnesses that could range from being terminal to life long lasting effects from the illness. They provide a service that allows families to build memories with their children for the time they have left together and also provide bereavement support for that difficult time after they have lost someone dear. 
Demelza Phillips 
The organisation was founded in 1994 by Derek and Jennifer Phillips, parents to Demelza Phillips who tragically died aged 24 due to a brain tumour. Demelza volunteered at Acorn's Children's Hospice in Birmingham and was inspired by their work. This lead to her parents creating the charity Demelza Hospice Care for Children. After 4 years of fundraising and campaigning Derek and Jennifer Phillips finally found the funds to open the hospice in Sittingbourne, Kent. The building itself was designed by Derek as an architect and opened by their Patron, the Countess of Burma in 1998. 
Jennifer and Derek Phillips 1998
Demelza's mother Jennifer sadly passed away in 2001 but is remembered in Demelza Hospice's 'Garden of Tranquility'. This is a place where many children who have passed away at the hospice or have been involved with the hospice are remembered and it is a very important part of Demelza. It allows family members a place to come and grieve and remember their children in a safe environment allowing them to share experiences with others who have been effected in some way or another. 

 This 'Garden of Tranquility' is a possible story lead as it could shed some light onto what it is that makes Demelza so special. We could hear from family members and staff about what it is about the garden that they love and how it helps bereaved parents to cope. 
Demelza Ball
Looking into their website further there is plenty of information on  what Demelza Hospice is doing. They have recently held a ball at Kensington Palace raising £50,000 for the charity. More than 200 guests attended the event enjoying a three course meal which ended with an auction helping to raise the substantial amount of money. This would be a fantastic story to film however the only problem with it is that it has already been and gone therefore as a group we would not be able to get any live footage of the event. 

 On the 12.09.2016 Demelza was shortlisted to be guaranteed an £8,000 grant by Tesco's to build on their currently unused ground spanning 6 acres. They are going to build a sensory garden, which will be a theme of Chinese water gardens with sensory smells and lights to create an atmosphere of calm for the children. Demelza have the opportunity to win up to £12,000 for their sensory garden project and will be decided by Tesco shoppers across Sittingbourne and Faversham. The vote will take place September 26th through to October 9th where the vote will close and the winner will be announced. 

 This would be an excellent story to follow up as its right in our time frame and we would be able to interview people form Demelza both staff and parents as to what the sensory garden is and what it will do for the charity. We could get 'live' footage of the vote taking place in Tesco with the shoppers choosing their charities to win and interview them on why they have chosen their charity and what they think is good about it. I think this would be the best way forward with this and I shall continue to do more research into this story to see where it takes me. 


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