A St Oswald's Hospice Premiere - Our Gifts in Wills video

One day in every week here at St Oswald’s Hospice, is funded by Gifts left to us in people’s Wills.

It is a really simple yet powerful way to support the work of the Hospice and has recently been the heart of a very special project. Over the last 12 months we have explored with our supporters, staff and volunteers the importance of Gifts in Wills and how best we can share stories and generate these important conversations.

Working with local film company Turps Film, we have produced a video series that will be launched in Spring, sharing the stories of our wonderful supporters explaining why they have chosen to remember St Oswald’s in their Will. We recently held a premiere and was attended by our cast of staff, volunteers and supporters to be the first to view the exciting new video series. The finished product isn’t just a St Oswald’s video…it’s a community’s video, thanks to everyone across the Hospice and our network who played a vital part and helped to shape the vision and produce the fantastic final result.

Katy Final (Senior Fundraiser) who led the project said:
“It was so exciting to share our Gifts in Wills video with the fabulous team of people who helped us with this project. When we set out to make a video we knew that for it to be a success it had to be authentic. It was so important to us that the video told the story of St Oswald’s with real people – real supporters, real patients and families, real volunteers and real staff. We’re so grateful that people were so generous with their time and enthusiasm, allowing us into their working spaces and bravely stepped out of their comfort zones to be filmed, learn lines and speak so openly about their own reasons for supporting St Oswald’s.

“One day per week is funded by Gifts left to us in people’s Wills. It’s so important to St Oswald’s and I hope the video will inspire more people to consider supporting us in this really special, yet simple, way.”

The video was produced by Turps Film; Director Luke Holland has been a supporter of the Hospice for a number of years and continues to assist our fundraising team in creative projects; including our new video series.

Luke Holland said:

“Working with St Oswald’s Hospice is such a privilege for all of us at Turps Film. We’ve seen first-hand how vital their services are to the North East and any opportunity to help them secure additional funding is a task that we’re honoured to be able to help with.

“Attending the premiere was a lovely experience. Seeing everybody’s dedication and work come together and celebrating it under one roof was a fantastic way to sign off the project.

“On a personal note, I have witnessed the unbelievably high level of care provided to a close family member and wanted to do anything that I could to be able to support the hospice. St Oswald’s Hospice helped my family through an incredibly difficult time and although that resulted in a tremendous loss, our memories of the hospice are that of laughter, staff who genuinely cared about the patients and most importantly, special time with our family member. I hope our films can help the Hospice secure more Gifts in Wills to ensure that care continues to be available to other families during their toughest times.”

The team are very excited to launch the video in Spring so keep an eye out across social media and our Newsletter for a chance to watch this new advert style video and spot a few familiar faces!