ST Teresa's Hospice director Jane Bradshaw previews an exciting year of events for the charity in her first column of 2013.

I'D like to start off my first column of 2013 by wishing everyone a very happy new year! Although 2012 was the official end of our silver anniversary, 2013 is already shaping-up to be a very exciting year for St Teresa’s Hospice.

Upon returning to work, it was wonderful to see how many enquiries we received over Christmas about volunteering for St Teresa’s Hospice. We’re always happy that people are interested in giving up their time to help our cause, and we look forward to welcoming all the new faces who will be joining us over the coming year.

We’ve made no secret of the fact that we know Santa very well, and we’ve had another successful year assisting him with replying to children’s letters. Thanks to this brilliant scheme, we were able to make Christmas a little bit more special for 122 children, raising £996!

On the first Saturday of the year, members of Darlington Rotary Club turned out in force to help us run our annual Christmas Tree Collection. A dozen collection teams, comprising more than thirty Rotarians, were invaluable in picking up nearly 400 Christmas Trees across Darlington and the surrounding area! Quite simply, we couldn’t provide this fantastic service without them, and thanks to their help and the generosity of our local community, we raised a fantastic £2,724.51!

This makes me very proud to be a member of Darlington Rotary, and I’m equally excited about another of the club’s upcoming events. The Darlington Rotary Triathlon is a popular event in our calendar, but on 5th May this year, we’re going up a gear! With an all-new route, chip timing, and sponsorship from our good friends at Nordic Pioneer, this year’s event is going to be spectacular and will benefoit many good causes, including the Hospice. To enter go to trihard.co.uk, click on: Entry Live, Enter Events, then scroll down to our event: Darlington Triathlon 05 May 2013.

Later, our Midnight Walk will be returning to South Park, Darlington. This event is always a great night, attracting hundreds of participants – quite a few in hilarious costumes, including chickens, leopards, and lots of bunnies! We’re hoping to see some equally brilliant things on May 17th.

Speaking of walks, March 2013 will mark the beginning of construction of our Woodlands Walk. This new path will allow patients and visitors to explore our garden, with each stone inscribed with messages of love and support. Anyone who would like to dedicate a stone is welcome to speak with us.