Gwynedd supporters of Hope House and Tŷ Gobaith children’s hospices have been honoured.
A series of celebrations to mark the outstanding contribution of 104 supporters who have donated between three to 30 years of volunteering have been held.
The hospices have more than 600 regular volunteers who donate their time to do everything from running the charity’s shops to fundraising, helping in admin roles and keeping the hospice gardens looking beautiful.
Among them this year were Meirwen Jones (three years) Megan Roberts (five years) Angharad Chidley Williams, Carol Jones, Doris Jones, Margaret Roberts (all 15 years) Anna Jones, Berwyn Williams, Brenda Chidley-Williams, Janet Hughes, Laura Roberts (all 20 years) all of The Llyn Penisula Friends of Ty Gobaith group.
Also, Ben Thomas and Eirlys Stoddard (both five years) of the Tywyn Friends Group, and Bangor shop’s June Magdzinski, Myfanwy Jones, Philippa Jones, (all five years) and Tom Kirkham (10 years)
Special awards were presented this year to volunteers who had donated three, five, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years of service to the charity. They were delighted to meet two of the children helped by the charity – Esmay and her parents Kim and Richard at Hope House, and Matilda and her parents Michelle and Pete at Tŷ Gobaith.
Chief Executive Andy Goldsmith said every single volunteer helped children with life-threatening conditions to live their best life, whether that was helping to promote the services of the hospice to reach more children, helping to care for the children, or helping to raise the money needed to provide the care.
Vice chair of trustees, Barbara Evans, who presented the awards with the chair of trustees, Steve Henly, has volunteered for 34 years.
She said: “In the early days we had a dream of what the hospice could be and of how we could help local children.
“Now we have two hospices and 14 shops and are able to help hundreds of children and families. So much of that is down to the hard work of our volunteers and I can’t thank you enough for helping our dreams to come true.”