Ty Olwen

Llansamlet couple Jan and Hugh Jones recently celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary with a party at the Swansea Dockers Club inviting guests to make a donation to Ty Olwen instead of giving presents. Whilst they did receive some lovely gifts, family and friends also gave £635 which the couple recently handed over to Ty Olwen Vice Chairman Paul Murray.

This year the gardens at Ty Olwen have been looking as wonderful as ever thanks to the hard work of volunteer gardeners Arthur and Chris and not forgetting Martin who has been keeping the gardens tidy and looking after the garden furniture. A wonderful job has been done on the Fish Pond and thanks go to the Mid and South West Wales Fire Service who kindly came to refill the pond after it had been cleaned and the kind soul who offered to repair the fountain. This calm oasis at the back of Ty Olwen and the courtyard gardens are enjoyed so much by patients and their families and contributes so much to making it the ‘special place’ that Ty Olwen is.

When Jayne Vaughan of The Hair Boutique in Castle St, Swansea was sorting out some old costume jewellery recently, which had become a tangled mess, she decided that instead of throwing it away she would take a few hours to sort through it and sell it in her shop and donate the proceeds to Ty Olwen, one of the charities she had been collecting for.  Since then family and friends and some customers have donated old jewellery and now this is displayed in her shop window with every single item priced at 50p. Donations of jewellery have also come in from the staff of Cafe Metro at Gower College, Tycoch where her sister Sharon Gard is cook. She has already donated £230 and this is in memory of her brother in law Stuart Gard who was in Ty Olwen in November 2013. The Ty Olwen Trustees would be delighted if anybody who is planning to get rid of some of their own jewellery might like to consider donating it to Ty Olwen and drop it into Jayne’s shop and who knows pick up a bargain for themselves.

The Chairman, Helen Murray, was given a warm welcome by the staff at Santander in Neath recently when she was invited to receive a cheque for £5,362-82.  The money was raised in all branches in the region, with the majority coming from the branches in Neath and Ammanford.  Events included cake sales, a sponsored walk, a fund raising evening and a sponsored head shave.  Our special thanks go to Catrin Richards who bravely volunteered to have her beautiful long hair shaved.  The staff decided to support Ty Olwen to say thank you for the care given to their staff member, Mrs Pauline Davies and the donation is given in her memory.

The donation will qualify for matched funding from Santander and when this is added to the amount the total will be an incredible £8,862.82.

Thank to everyone who organised and supported the events.

Pictured presenting the cheque to the Chairman are Mrs Julie Simonson, Manager at Neath, Catrin Richards and other staff members

Marie’s daughter Rosemary Prosser recently presented a cheque to Margaret Bartlett, Ty Olwen Trust President,  the proceeds of a Garden Party held recently at the home of friend and neighbour Joan Ansell. Rosemary said  “We can’t thank Ty Olwen enough for making my mother’s last few days as comfortable as possible.  Everyone was so kind not just to my mother but to the whole family – and I do mean everyone from cleaners, nurses to doctors (and everyone in between). We would like to thank everyone for the generosity that raised over £700 for such a good cause.”

From the South Wales Evening Post.

A Skewen family have donated £850 to a Morriston Hospice in memory of a cancer patient.

Sam Bennett and his family decided to donate the money they received in lieu of flowers from his wife Mandy’s funeral to Ty Olwen Hospice. Mandy’s daughter Leah Bennett said they were overwhelmed with the donations they received. She said “We were amazed to raise over £800 for the hospice. My mother passed away before she made it to Ty Olwen but we had a Ty Olwen doctor in her final 12 hours. The doctor was brilliant and explained everything to us. It was a huge shock to lose mum at 53 but the doctor helped comfort us.”

Sam Bennett presented the cheque on behalf of the family to Ty Olwen Trust President Margaret Bartlett.

Our dear friend Anna Gabrielli, who makes and sells her ‘Guardian Angels’ to raise money for us, with volunteers Trish and Barbara at the Ty Olwen Tea Tent at the Botanical Gardens in Singleton Park recently. Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far and we look forward to seeing you again. The tent will be there for the rest of August so please support us by visiting soon.

Cerys, Rhian and Ellie Leyshon and Tayer and Kaitland Smith recently visited Ty Olwen to hand over a cheque to Trustee and Unit Receptionist Delyth Gough for £185, the proceeds of their little ‘Summer Fete’ held at the green at Summerland Park, Upper Killay on July 19th. Thank you from everyone at Ty Olwen to the girls for all your hard work and to all who supported them.

The Ty Olwen Tea Tent is now open for the month of August at the Botanical Gardens in Singleton Park. It opens each day between 10-00am and 5-00pm and is selling a wide range of refreshments. Please come along and support our wonderful volunteers raising money for Ty Olwen.