Benefiting Charities
St Luke's Hospice in Plymouth is where Andy Thomson spent his last days and with their amazing level of care made him as comfortable as humanly possible.
They provide care to hundreds of people a year from throughout the South West of Devon and the South East of Cornwall. The care is not just medical and nursing, but incorporates practical, financial, emotional and spiritual support as well. Patients can receive this care as an outpatient, by visiting the Day Hospice or by a stay at the Hospice, which normally lasts between one and two weeks. The majority of these stays are for those looking to have their symptoms controlled so they can return home to a higher quality of life.
The Hospice is staffed by over 700 volunteers and 200 paid staff, and they and many others are able to benefit from ongoing training from the Education department. St Luke's costs over £5.0 million a year to run, with over £3.5 million being given by the local community. Many of those who give have experienced the care given by the Hospice when a family member, friend, work colleague or neighbour has been cared for by St Luke's. It is the closeness of people to the Hospice that inspires such generosity and without which St Luke's could not carry on its caring work.
The Royal Marines Benevolent Fund is to benefit persons who are serving or who have served in the Royal Marines, or their dependants, to relieve need, hardship or distress.
The fund was formed in 1997 and subsumed the following funds and their purposes:
a. The Upton Kelly Memorial Fund. The aim of the fund is to relieve distress or necessity amongst officers who have served in the Royal Marines and their dependants.
b. Royal Marines Tercentenary Relief Fund. The purpose of this fund is to provide on the death from any causes either serving Royal Marines or a Reservist on duty a sum of money for the widow or recorded next of kin and thus relieve the initial financial problems. The sum of money authorised may be altered from time to time by the Trustees, the grant is currently £2,450.
c. Royal Marines Welfare Fund. The income to this fund may be used to relieve distress among serving and retired Warrant Officers, non commissioned officers and men of the Royal Marines, their widows and dependants.
d. Royal Marines Band Benevolent Fund (RMBBF). The RMBBF is used to relieve needy or distressed or retired RM Band Service ranks or their dependants by making case grants. The income is derived from donations, dividends and interest.
The Deal Memorial Bandstand is located on Walmer Green near Deal and will the starting point for the ride.
It is a memorial to the 11 musicians killed when the Royal Marines Barracks was bombed on 22nd September 1989.
Eleven sides of the twelve-sided structure have engraved tablets bearing the names of those that lost their lives.
Concerts are performed on Sunday afternoons from May to September, commencing at 2pm. The concerts are free, as are chairs and programmes, although the committee do hold a collection and sell raffle tickets. There are also a couple of Wednesday evening concerts and a Carol Concert held in December.