The Joys of Being a Volunteer End of Life Companion

Wednesday 27^th September 7.30pm
The Green House Hotel,  4 Grove Road, Bournemouth BH1 3AX

With Mandy Preece from Macmillan Caring Locally

No one should face the end of their life alone. Macmillan Caring Locally has a team of specialist volunteer end of life companions who sit and support patients and their families. Unlike medical staff who may be very busy, or friends and family who may be overcome with emotion, the end of life companions help by listening to people come to terms with their death and enable them to find peace in their final moments. Mandy Preece, founder of the role, will be giving an uplifting and inspiring talk about the joys of sitting with people. She will share the laughter and the tears, and speak honestly about how sitting with the dying also helps the volunteers gain a deeper appreciation of their own lives. As one volunteer said, “I don’t worry as much. I live much more for the moment and I’ve learnt to truly respect people. It is simple, it’s all about listening.” Donations to Macmillan Caring Locally will be gratefully received.

“Join us to discover the joys of being an ‘End of Life Volunteer Companion”

Free entry (donations appreciated).     Everyone welcome!

(The Green House Hotel can also be accessed via its rear entrance in Gervis Road. The hotel has a small onsite car park, and roadside parking is also available in Gervis Road).

Please indicate your interest in attending this event on Meetup.com and/or facebook as it helps raise our group’s profile on these sites (Meetup also offers you timely email reminders and an easy way to discover other interesting groups in your area). To help you find them, here are the direct links to our event listings on these sites:

http://www.meetup.com/Dorset-Humanists/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dorsethumanists/events/

You can also help us promote Dorset Humanists and this event by displaying an A4 poster. Download an A4 printable copy here, or email Dave at DHcensus(at)hotmail.co.uk for a PDF.

Click here to view details of other forthcoming and recent events on this website.

Donate to Dorset Humanists

If you share Dorset Humanists aims and values and appreciate our work and activities, please consider supporting the group by making a donation, and/or joining as a member.




We’re very keen to maintain free entry to most of our events, and we do rely on our members and supporters for a reliable source of income to fund our activities. 

Here are just a few reasons why Dorset Humanists is worth supporting:

• Dorset Humanists is the only group locally which provides a dedicated forum and activities for non-religious people, compared to hundreds of churches in Dorset. 

• Dorset Humanists have assisted in negotiations to get secular, non-religious philosophies such as Humanism into local RE syllabuses across Bournemouth, Poole, and Dorset, so children can learn to think more broadly about religion and philosophy. 

• Dorset Humanists have written to more than 300 councilors across Dorset highlighting that policymakers need to be aware the government's British Social Attitudes surveys indicate around 50% of the United Kingdom's population are not religious, even if they sometimes tick the ‘Christian’ box as a cultural reflex at Census time. 

• Our events attract media attention and give a voice to people who want a more enlightened approach to public policies such as secular education. 

Dorset Humanists has grown from a handful of members to well over a hundred and fifty in the last few years. With your continued support, we’d like to maintain our growth momentum so we can have an even bigger impact in Bournemouth, Poole, and Dorset.