Midnight Walk celebrates the care given 24/7 by Woking & Sam Beare Hospices

The Woking & Sam Beare Hospices have now launched their 2018 Midnight Walk and have revealed that this year's theme will be 'The Night Owls - We care 24/7', raising awareness of the free end-of-life care that is given by the charity's staff and volunteers around the clock.

Sponsored for the third year by Trident Honda - the launch was attended by Managing Director, Richard Roberts, along with the stunning Honda NSX (see photograph[^1]). The 11^th annual ladies-only event will start and finish at Woking Leisure Centre on Friday 25 May, with more than 800 walkers following a new route that will be announced very soon.

Each year the Midnight Walk has an exclusive t-shirt design - for 2018 the participants will be sporting fantastic glow-in-the-dark t-shirts, featuring 'The Night Owl' of the event's theme against a backdrop of the moon and stars on a dark navy t-shirt. The first 300 ladies to register will benefit from the early bird entry fee of just £18, which includes this eye-catching t-shirt.

Director of Fundraising Phil Wormley said:

Within our 20 en-suite bedrooms in our hospice in Goldsworth Park care is given by our nursing team around the clock. But people may not realise that 70% of our care is given in people's own homes through our two community nursing teams, and that we put the patient at the heart of our approach to ensure they receive the support they need, whenever they need it. As our Midnight Walkers pass people's homes en route late at night, they may be passing places where care is being given at that very moment.

Richard Roberts, Managing Director of events sponsors Trident Honda in Ottershaw, has experienced the difference this continuous care makes within his own family, when his dad Michael was cared for at home by the hospice's team before passing away from cancer in the hospice in April 2017. He said:

My colleagues and I are very proud to continue our support of Woking & Sam Beare Hospices, which began in 1992. Trident Honda is also a family business, with my brothers James and Chris also working as directors. Our business had supported the hospice for many years before our dad died but our personal experience of the wonderful care given to our whole family really cemented our commitment, and I am proud to also have been on the board of trustees for the last year.

Just one example of that 24-hour care provided by our `Night Owls' is the hospice's award-winning CoSI team (Co-ordinated, Safe & Integrated Care at Home), which is a partnership in care provision with Princess Alice Hospice, Marie Curie and Central Surrey Health. As the lead provider of CoSI, the hospice coordinates and delivers skilled personal and nursing care in patients' homes as their illness progresses and they require additional support to remain in their preferred place of care, typically in the patient's last 6-8 weeks of life.

The CoSI team delivers high quality end-of-life care and support to patients with a life-limiting illness, their families, carers and those close to them at home, working with the community nursing teams and GPs across North West Surrey. Care is provided during the day and at night seven days a week, with a single point of access, which dovetails with out-of-hours community nursing to provide assistance, reassurance and support. This coordinated service has led to a significant reduction in unplanned, emergency admissions to acute hospitals, helping to avoid unnecessary distress to those needing care and to their families. All funds raised from the Midnight Walk will go towards the £8 million+ the hospice spends supporting and caring for some 1,400 people each year across North West Surrey, and their families.
The Midnight Walk is supported by Freedom Leisure at Woking Leisure Centre.

Further Information

Girls and women aged from 11 and up can register online.

For further information please contact the Events Team on fundraising@wsbh.org.uk or call 01483 881 752.