Wonderful news, but the work’s not finished yet
You’ve done it!
Confident
 “I was always confident we would raise the money, but I never expected to do it so quickly.
“This is the second time we’ve raised £10 million in a country as small as Scotland and just 12 years after we did it the first time.
“We asked a lot from people but they came through for us.
“We’d never have raised so much so quickly without The Sunday Post and I can’t thank your readers enough. We’ve been blown away by people’s generosity.”
One of the first visitors to Robin House will be a very special one indeed. Little Robyn Watterson has been the face of the second hospice’s campaign and has featured on posters up and down the country as well as sharing photo shoots with the likes of Ewan McGregor and Sharleen Spiteri.
Campaign
But Robyn isn’t just the face of the campaign to build the new hospice, she is the embodiment of it. She is what Rachel House and Robin House are all about.
Parents Gilbert and Sylvia know that Robyn’s condition won’t be reversed and that it will claim her life.
When her involvement with this campaign began in 1999 she was a livewire three-year-old, full of fun and mischief and nearly impossible to keep in one place.
She’s now eight and her voice has all but gone, she’s lost the use of her legs, she’s almost deaf and she can’t eat solids.
There have been times in those five years when she was so ill that Gilbert and Sylvia thought they were about to lose her.
Rachel House hasn’t been able to change any of that — as you know, they can’t offer miracles.
What they have been able to give is a way of coping with it all, offering Robyn the best care possible and badly-needed respite for Gilbert and Sylvia when they needed it most.
Love
More than that, everyone at Rachel House has fallen in love with Robyn and the difference that can make to a little girl’s happiness shouldn’t be underestimated.
As a result Robyn is a cheery, content wee girl despite all her setbacks. In many ways she has reverted to being a toddler but she’s a happy one.
Gilbert and Sylvia have a whole new bunch of friends among carers, volunteers and other parents.
They have a huge support group to fall back on and they have somewhere to go when the going gets tougher. It’s somewhere Gilbert says he can get sleep and a hot cup of tea — home life means there’s always something to deal with that leads to that tea going cold.
“I am so proud at being involved with this,” Gilbert told me. “It’s the best thing I have ever done.
“And I am so proud of my wee girl. Ten million pounds? How many other children have achieved something like that by the time they are eight?
Recognise
“The other great thing about her involvement is that people now recognise her for who she is, not what she is. People come up to her in the street and say ‘Hi Robyn’. I love that.
“It also means my name has changed. I’m now known as ‘Robyn’s dad’. Mind you, living in the west of Scotland and being called Gilbert that’s maybe not a bad thing!”
Gilbert, Sylvia and Robyn have got so much from Rachel House but they have also given so much back.
They have been tireless in their efforts to support the campaign and have made themselves available at every opportunity, no matter their own troubles.
“When we were approached about Robyn featuring in this campaign, Andrea
Cail, head of care at Rachel House, spoke to us and made sure we knew everything that would be involved, worried that it might be too much.
“I remember saying to her, ‘Andrea, they’re our weans. They need a second hospice. What do you want us to do?’ We had to give something back.”
Agnes Malone admits it’s been a bumpy ride, but is absolutely delighted that the target has been achieved in such a short time.
“There have been so many highs and lows along the way. The lowest point for me was when our original contractors went into administration, meaning work was suspended for five months and we had to seek another firm to build the house.
Setback
“We had just got over the hurdle of the planning permission row and everything had been going so well. It was a big setback but thankfully we got over it and things got back on track.
“The high point? Well that’s still to come.
“It will be a wonderful day when the doors of Robin House finally open and our first families come to stay. I can’t wait.
“I want to thank our new neighbours at Balloch for their support and patience while construction has been going on. They’ve had to put up with a lot but we’ve not had a single complaint.
“Above all, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone, particularly Sunday Post readers.
“What they have done is remarkable.”
|
You can e-mail us at:
hospice@sundaypost.com
|
CHAS chief executive Agnes and little Robyn have become firm friends over the course of the campaign to raise money to build the new hospice.
