Join us in person or online for our very special service of celebration and remembrance.
Welcoming you all to the Hospice for Light Up a Life is one of the things we most look forward to each year, it’s very much a tradition for us. We’re delighted to be holding an intimate, Carols Around the Christmas Tree service this year on Thursday 9th December, at 6:30pm.
We would love to see as many of you in person as our usual Light up a Life service, but as our hospice continues to be severely affected by the ongoing impact of the pandemic and so we are again asking you, if possible, to join us for this event online instead.
Light up a Life 2021 will be the same warm, uplifting event as it has always been. We will have readings and music – and the highlight will be the lighting of our Christmas trees, each light twinkling in dedication to someone very special.
We’ll be live streaming the service straight to our Facebook page so you can stay warm and cosy inside, whilst celebrating the life or your loved one.
Shine a light on our Christmas tree
If you’ve received our Light up a Life letter in the post, you’ll be able to write a message in memory of a loved one and return this to us to hang on our hospice Christmas tree throughout the festive period. We love reading your touching messages.
We also have a very special virtual Christmas tree, where you can make your dedication online to a loved one. Just click on the tree below and you’ll be taken to our dedication site where you can choose a decoration, add a photo and make a donation to support our hospice this Christmas.
Each dedication and donation you make ensures that we can keep supporting patients and families across Birmingham and the surrounding areas when they need us most. Families like Christine’s …
“My husband Phil found it very difficult to accept his diagnosis. He always had a fear of doctors and hospitals and so, when he arrived at the hospice he was very grumpy. But the staff never minded; they were so patient with him, so understanding. They treated him with calm kindness, respected his wishes – but made sure we knew they were only a moment away if either of us needed them. 
One of the nurses, Deborah, kept coming back to chat to him and, gradually, slowly, she built a bond of trust with him. “She sees me as a person,” he told me – and that meant everything to him.
Phil and I had been together for over 30 years. I spent those last days together with him, and our children, in his cosy hospice room, talking to him, reading poetry, playing his favourite music. I was by his side when he died in early December, peacefully and out of pain. Looking back, I cannot imagine a better ending.”
How your donation helps
£20.50 will help a nurse to look after one patient for one hour at Birmingham St Mary’s or
John Taylor Hospice
£54 which could go towards the Bereavement Team supporting a grieving family with
dedicated counselling sessions
£138 enough to cover the cost of two community visits by a specialist nurse, helping to
keep a patient at home with their family
£492 an incredible gift which could help pay for a whole day’s worth of nursing care on the
inpatient unit for one patient
To order more memory stars please contact our fundraising team on fundraise@birminghamhospice.org.uk or by calling 0121 752 8779.
Bereavement support over the festive period
We understand that Christmas is a particularly emotional time for people remembering loved ones who are no longer with us. If you’d like to speak to one of our bereavement counsellors during the Light up a Life period, the following counsellors will be available by telephone on the numbers below, Monday to Friday, 9am -5pm until the end of December
Adult Bereavement
Maureen 07966 185 811
Beth 07966 165 287
Claire 07966 185 803
Maxine 07966 186 024
Bereavement support for a child or young person
Sally 07966 165 215
Sam 07980 785 194
