Celebrating a life on film
Your legacy is so much more than the home you own, your valuables and physical assets. Your legacy can be a way of reflecting on life and sharing unique experiences, observations and beliefs and feelings.
Every person who uses St Mary’s Hospice services is different and we believe in caring for the individual. We aim for this series to showcase the faces and stories of the local people who we have had the privilege of meeting since opening our doors in 1989.
As a collaboration between the St Mary’s hospice bereavement team, their marketing team and Andrew, a gentleman who has received support from the bereavement team following the death of his partner Carole last year, we have released the first episode of a video series to mark the 30th anniversary of the Hospice.
Whilst using our services Andrew expressed a deep worry that ‘people would forget’ Carole’s story and was keen to create a lasting legacy which reflected Carole’s spirituality and zest for life. Through bereavement support and listening sessions Andrew shared his partner Carole’s love for storytelling and poetry, capturing memories through photography and also writing and recording audio diaries. This was something that she started in her late teens and it was during one of her first audio diaries that she spoke about her hopes of becoming an air hostess. Carole had a passion for travel and aimed to ‘see the world’.
The St Mary’s Family and Bereavement Support Team were given a copy of one of Carole’s audio diaries and this can be heard in the film. Carole always wanted to publish her stories so the film will be a way of honouring that for her.
After working on the project we found the people involved had found it an enjoyable experience and some described it as a way for them to relive their memories. We will be continuing the series with episode 2 which will be released in June and will follow the journey of Helen who came to the Hospice with her husband Patrick and now following his death helps others by volunteering.
Episode 1 is titled ‘Tales from my holidays by Carole Pidduck’ and is available on our Youtube channel ‘St Mary’s Hospice Ulverston’.
If you’d like to hear more from Carole her ebook is available on Amazon