Volunteers and supporters of local hospice, Dorothy House, met the charity’s Chief Executive, John Davies, last Friday morning at the Midsomer Norton charity shop, as he continued his route on ‘One Man and His Dog,’ – an epic walking challenge which began in Bath last Wednesday.

John Davies and his springer spaniel, Myrtle, embarked on their 180-mile walk, which will visit all 28 Dorothy House shops and twenty towns. John spoke to visitors at a Community Trust event in Midsomer Norton Town Hall on Thursday, as he ended his second day of walking.

Over seventeen days, the walking challenge will span the hospice’s 700sq mile region across Bath and North East Somerset, Somerset and Wiltshire, returning to Bath on Friday, 2nd November.

Everyone is invited to get involved by donating funds via the ‘One Man and His Dog’ fundraising page: https://localgiving.org/fundraising/

onemanandhisdog/ or by joining John and Myrtle on a short leg of the walk, attending talks or social events or welcoming him on arrival in your local town at a Dorothy House shop. For information visit: www.dorothyhouse.org.uk/blog/omhd

The walking tour will be visiting around twenty local towns in the region, starting from Bath and Keynsham before travelling to Radstock and Midsomer Norton, Shepton Mallet, Frome, Warminster, Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham, Devizes, Chippenham, Malmesbury, Corsham and Bradford-on-Avon among other places. Highlights of John and Myrtle’s daily adventures will be shared on Dorothy House’s social media channels, so people can find out where to meet John in their local area.

The walking tour launches the hospice’s bold ‘Everyday, Everyone’ plan for 2018–2025, aimed at meeting rising palliative and end-of-life care needs set to increase by a third by 2025 across B&NES, Wiltshire and Somerset. John Davies and the Dorothy House team will be out and about sharing the hospice’s vision for the future, meeting with local people, businesses, charities and community groups and raising vital funds for patient care.

The ‘Everyday, Everyone’ plan is the outcome of a two-year review and analysis into local care needs. The plan outlines how Dorothy House will develop its care and support services in the next seven years, while meeting the challenges of an ageing population and a widening patient base as the hospice supports more people with non-cancer diagnoses. Currently 21% of people cared for by the hospice are non-cancer patients, which will rise to an expected 56% in 2025.

John Davies, Chief Executive at Dorothy House, said of the tour: “Please join me on this walking tour as we seek to meet and inspire the community to support this much-treasured hospice and work alongside us to ensure that outstanding end-of-life care becomes part of the everyday and accessible to everyone.

“I look forward to walking the Dorothy House ‘patch’ and meeting with the public, local businesses, charities and community groups on my travels to share our exciting vision for the future of end-of-life care.

“Part of the Everyday, Everyone’ plan means that our care is going to be driven in the community – last year 1,200 patients spent time in Dorothy House, with this figure set to double, and we are also seeing more people coming to us for medication management and complex, medical needs.

“We hope to further awareness in local areas such as Midsomer Norton and Radstock about the work that we do, and also to work in mutual partnership with others in the field.”

Providing hospice services requires significant funds and for every £1 received from the NHS, Dorothy House needs to raise a further £4 through fundraising in the community, their 28 shops and education programmes.

To get involved in Dorothy House’s One Man and His Dog walking tour or to donate, visit: www.dorothyhouse.org.uk/blog/omhd or call: 01225 721480.