Prospect Hospice has been providing end of life care to the people of Swindon and north east Wiltshire for over 40 years. Find out more about where we've come from and who we are here.
Find out about the range of end-of-life care services that we offer to patients and their families. These delivered free of charge and are designed to provide compassionate, personalised support during every stage of a life-limiting illness in every kind of care setting, to anyone who needs it.
We couldn’t do what we do without considerable support from our local community. Find out all the different ways in which you can support Prospect Hospice, including fundraising, volunteering and purchasing from our shops. All contributions are greatly appreciated and enables us to deliver care that is free of charge to our patients and their families.
The memory of his beloved wife of 46 years encouraged Richard Newport to take on the challenge of swimming the Thames, raising over £1,000 for Prospect Hospice.
He decided to swim the length of the river – a whopping 215 miles – after his wife, Carol, used services provided by the hospice for 10 days in September 2017. Richard was aided in his challenge by Marlborough leisure centre where he swam one mile a day in their pool (approximately 64 lengths). Towards the end of his training, after being away on holiday, he spent some mornings swimming up to 128 lengths a day!
Despite not seeing himself as a particularly competitive person, Richard is a member of four separate clubs for swimming, tennis, badminton and table tennis. He motivated himself during the Thames challenge by keeping a map on the Marlborough leisure centre noticeboard and on Facebook, marking off milestones along the way. He started his challenge in January 2018 and finished in November 2018, raising an incredible £1187.10 for Prospect Hospice.
Richard described the care and support he and his family received at Prospect Hospice as ‘second to none’. “When Carol first came into the hospice, a member of the IPU team took my 14-year-old grandson into a private room and spoke with him about everything,” Richard recalled. “They listened to his worries and really helped him understand. It meant an awful lot to the family”.
Challenges fundraiser, Sally Bere, said of the achievement: “We cannot thank Richard enough for his hard work and determination throughout the year in order to complete this amazing challenge. To swim an average of 64 lengths a day throughout the year is just incredible! Well done Richard, and thank you so much for your support.”
12 March 2019
08 March 2019