MARTLETS Hospice is a name that appears in many places across Brighton.

It opened its site in Wayfield Avenue, Hove, in 1997 following the merger of three separate charities offering a facility with 18 beds.

Since then, it has been able to provide its services and support to more than 25,000 people in the Brighton area. 

But, despite this, much of the charity’s work often goes unnoticed.

Argus reporter Harry Bullmore visited the charity’s Hove-based hospice to see behind the scenes at one of Brighton’s best-known charities.

The Argus:

IMELDA Glackin has been the boss of Martlets Hospice for more than four-and-a-half years but has been with the charity for much longer in various other roles.

Therefore, she is in a good position to say what the charity is all about.

She said: “Hospice care is everywhere. It’s delivered primarily in people’s homes, which often surprises people, as well as in hospitals and the hospice itself.

“It’s about supporting people, and one of those people is given the name patient but they are a person.

“It’s about finding what gives their life meaning and making that possible for them, that is what we are all about.

“This allows people to be back in the world living their lives the way they have always lived them.”

The Argus:

Miss Glackin shared a story of one of the hospice’s former residents who had been unable to watch his favourite film.

She said: “We had a young guy here last Christmas who was a massive Star Wars fan.

“The most recent film had just been released but he was very ill.

“He thought he would not be able to go and see the movie, but one of the doctors here took him down to the cinema in Brighton.

“They did it because that’s what he really wanted to do and he absolutely loved it, that was what was most important for him.”

Miss Glackin is on a mission to change people’s misconceptions about the charity’s work.

She said: “Unfortunately, people think hospice care is all about when you are going to die, and there is an element of that which we can support people through really well.

“But, it is about living well until you die.”

Crispin Ellison has motor neurone disease, a progressive neurological disease, and attends occupational therapy sessions at the hospice.

The Argus:

The 68-year-old said: “It is a devastating disease and is very difficult to find treatment or care for.

“Because it’s relentlessly progressive, it usually takes about a year to diagnose.

“Half the people who get it will die within two years, but I am living longer than most and have probably got another two to four years to go and have lived with it for five years so far.”

Mr Ellison is a keen writer and since being diagnosed he has started a new project to tell his grandchildren, of which he has three and another currently due, about his life.

He said: “I never asked my grandparents about their own lives and what they had been through, yet my grandmother lived through five monarchs and two world wars, from the Victorian era to space travel.

“I thought, ‘well if I have got a limited lifespan then I would like my grandchildren to know who Crispin, their Grandpa, was’.

“I wrote a book for my family and close friends which I completed in October.

“I hope they enjoy it when they come to have it read to them, or read themselves.”

Mr Ellison, who used to work at a hospice, praised the staff at Martlets for their work.

He said: “I find the experience of coming here very warm and calming, and I now know many of the staff.

“I spent two weeks in respite here while my wife was away and it was so pleasant, I was surrounded by lovely people.

“I think the staff here want to know who you are and what you are about. Everybody is friendly and has time for a quick chat.”

Martlets Hospice offers a wide range of activities to its residents including art therapy, the Good Vibrations Choir, Tai Chi, mindfulness and the Sow and Grow gardening group.

Sow and Grow is a session that has been running for four years.

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It allows all people, from horticultural novices to seasoned gardeners, to try their hand at planting and nurturing vegetables and flowers in the hospice’s garden.

Coordinator Laura Bailey said: “It aims to nurture a sense of wellbeing through contact with nature in a safe, enjoyable and inclusive environment.

“Horticulture is so therapeutic. It’s an opportunity to be sociable and get away from whatever difficulties that they may be facing.

“There’s always a lot of laughter in the sessions.”

The Martlet is a mythical bird synonymous with Sussex, as it appears in the Sussex County crest and the Sussex County Cricket Club emblem.

Three feature on the charity’s logo with outstretched wings and no feet, a representation of its approach to caring. Always in flight, never resting, always responding.