I have a number of charities that I would like to support this year, so I have found it difficult to focus on one but I hope you can all support my launch of a new project at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital for a Neo Natal Unit. This unit will be built within Alder Hey and will be the first of its type in the world. It will provide a facility for families to learn how to care for their babies themselves in their own homes after surgeries which will be life saving or life altering. There will also be a garden installed in front of the new building, known as a ‘Foraging Garden’ to assist with mindfulness and understanding nature. The Garden has been installed and will be on show at Chelsea Flower Show but will then be removed and relocated and established at Alder Hey. I’m sure there will be aspects about this project which will be of interest to everyone. I am particularly excited to find this project is to celebrate the first female paediatrician’s work at Alder Hey – Isabella Forshall, who worked there in the 1940s. The project does not launch until June this year.
In the meantime, I’m sure you will want to support Breast Cancer Awareness and Alder Hey’s mental health drive to support children which are amongst other causes in which I have a strong personal interest.
So I am expecting this new club year – our 95th to be busier than usual ! And I look forward to sharing with you the challenges and rewards it will bring.
Lynne Cottrell 25th April 2022