The League of the Friends of Pembury Hospital

Welcome to the Twentieth newsletter of The League of the Friends of Pembury Hospital. This is published regularly to update our existing members and to attract new members. If you would like more information about the League or matters in this newsletter, please contact Alan Davis, Honorary Secretary,

Letter from the Chairman

In 2004 we are celebrating 50 years of support to Pembury Hospital,and we can be very proud of our achievements over this period. All departments at the hospital have benefited from our fundraising efforts, and in recent years we have been able to provide significant funding for cancer related projects in particular.

I would like to thank all our volunteers, past and present, who have contributed to our success, and for the general public for supporting us.

Our Annual General Meeting takes place on 29 April 2004, and in my Annual Report I highlighted another successful year with over £173,000 donated to the hospital during 2003, including £121,000 on cancer related projects.

Looking forward now, we now know that the new hospital is to be built at Pembury, and we are making plans for the future, which should lead to an eventual merger with our Friends from the Kent & Sussex League. We are holding a joint summer ball at the Spa Hotel on 11 June 2004 as we begin to work more closely together.

We are always looking for new volunteers to help us-please give us a call if you are able to give something back to our hospital.

Gary Purdy

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Fundraising 2003/2004

A very successful raffle was held in 2003 with the draw taking place prior to the Trust board meeting in December. The main prize was donated by Richard Hochfeld Ltd, and just short of £1,700 was raised.

In March 2004 a rummage sale was held at the Pembury Village Hall, with some hard work put in my Council members organising collection and sorting of items for sale. In all the sum of £358 was raised: an outstanding effort.

In june the Summer ball is to be held at the Spa Hotel, together with our colleagues from the Kent & Sussex League.

Street collections also continue, and any volunteers to assist with this task would be welcome.

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Hospital News

Following judicial review, it was announced that the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council had acted correctly in giving outline planning approval to the Trust to build a new hospital on the Pembury site. As a result the Deputy Prime Minister's office turned down the planning appeal for the Knights Park site.

These decisions, therefore, gave the go ahead for the Trust to start actively building the new hospital. This spring the Trust is advertising throughout Europe for a Private Finance Initiative consortium to build the new hospital. Plans are well advanced, and it is expected that the new hospital will open in 2010.

League News

£18,000 has been donated to the Cytology Department from the Howell Charity for equipment to enable staff to improve the work done on increasing the detection of early cancers, and provide faster and more accurate information to the surgeon or oncologist. The staff prepare and examine samples from patients with suspect cervical or prostate cancer or pre-cancer cells. By avoiding the need to send samples to London, the hospital saves both time and costs. The equipment includes an ergonomic microscope for training.

This new split sample technique using liquid based cytology has been praised by the Kent Cervical Screening Committee, and is being submitted to the local ethics committee for approval. The League has been very pleased to be able to support this ground breaking work, and with the Cytology Department all success in developing this technique.

Gift Aid

From April 2004 the Inland Revenue have set new arrangements in place whereby individuals who complete a self-assessment tax return can nominate a charity to received any tax repayments to which they are entitled as a donation.

If you wish to give to the League in this way please contact the Treasurer for details on how to do this.

This new scheme does not replace existing Gift Aid, and we will still be pleased to receive donations together with the usual declaration, which enable us to reclaim the tax from the Revenue.

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