Hailsham Town Council Grant Award: St Wilfrid’s Hospice

Hailsham Town Council has awarded a £500 grant to St Wilfrid’s Hospice as part of its 2026/27 Community Grants Scheme, which supports local community groups and voluntary organisations enhancing the lives of residents.

This grant is part of a wider distribution of £9,000 to a range of not-for-profit initiatives that rely on volunteers, donations, and fundraising to deliver valuable services to the Hailsham community.

St Wilfrid’s Hospice provides high-quality care for people across Hailsham, Eastbourne, Seaford, Uckfield, Heathfield and surrounding areas with life-limiting conditions. Their expert teams support the physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual and practical needs of patients, and their families and carers. Serving a catchment area of over 230,000, the Hospice looks after over 1,500 patients every year. There is also a Hospice at Home team who visit and care for patients in their own homes.

Following a service review last year, St Wilfrid’s made the difficult decision to discontinue its Care@Home personal care service as part of wider measures to secure long-term sustainability. Importantly, its specialist clinical care – including Community and Inpatient services – remains fully operational. Patients continue to receive expert support at home from nurses, doctors, healthcare assistants, social workers and therapy teams, while the Inpatient Unit and advice line remain open.

The Town Council also raised £238 for St Wilfrid’s Hospice through a charity collection held after the recent Prom in the Park event at the Western Road Recreation Ground. The donation, along with the grant award, come at a particularly important time as the hospice continues to face the significant financial challenges affecting hospices across England.

Town Mayor Cllr Chris Bryant said: “The Town Council is pleased to offer a grant of £500 to St Wilfrid’s Hospice, which will help them to continue their excellent work providing high quality specialist palliative and end-of-life care in our local community.”

“The care, compassion and support provided by St Wilfrid’s Hospice makes a tremendous difference to patients and their loved ones during some of the most difficult times in their lives. The dedication of its staff and volunteers, alongside the generosity of those who support the hospice through donations and fundraising, ensures this invaluable service can continue to support people across our area.”

“Our grant scheme is the main way in which the Town Council provides funding and support to the voluntary sector. Most of the time, voluntary groups and charities survive on the generosity of donations from the public, fundraising and the willingness of volunteers to give up their time.”

A full list of recipients of the Community Grants Scheme can be found here.