'We need a national debate on how we can better support and fund our hospices up and down the country'

Readers of the Melton Times will have read recently about the fantastic new collaboration, announced recently as part of Hospice UK's awareness-raising 'Hospice Care Week', between Brockleby's Pies and the much-valued Dove Cottage Hospice.

They have created a new 'Dove Cottage Pie' to help raise much needed funds for the day hospice based in Stathern.

Brockleby's have linked with Dove Cottage Day Hospice

placeholder image — Brockleby's have linked with Dove Cottage Day Hospice

I recently had the pleasure, and privilege, of visiting Dove Cottage Day Hospice as Stathern's local MP, and saw for myself, first-hand, the amazing work the dedicated team of staff and volunteers do there.

I met with chief executive, Dan, and her team, and talked to some of those using the day hospice.

In this 30th anniversary year of Dove Cottage it is a timely reminder of just how important it is to our community here in Melton, the vital work it does, but also the challenges it faces in securing the funding it needs every year.

With only around five per cent of its funding being provided by the local NHS, it relies on the generosity of local people and businesses, and its own fundraising work.

Alongside this, hospices face increasing costs on their most precious asset - their amazing staff - from increases in employers' National Insurance Contributions, with no matching increase in the NHS/ Government funding provided.

Dove Cottage also serves south Nottinghamshire but the NHS in Nottinghamshire makes no contribution to running costs so I am calling on them to do so and also for a broader national debate on how we can better support and fund our hospices up and down the country.

In the meantime, I would encourage everyone, if they are able, and particularly businesses who are able, to consider supporting this amazing place and this amazing team in their fundraising in whatever way they can.

I, for one, am looking forward to buying my first Dove Cottage Pie!

I also recently had the pleasure of officially reopening the refurbished Stag and Hounds pub in Burrough on the Hill, alongside its owner, Dipak Kumar, who also runs the Berkeley Arms in Wymondham.

The pub, which has been closed for around two years, has seen its new owners make a significant investment in a new bar and kitchen, and in the pub's outside space.

Judging by significant local turnout for the opening, I suspect the pub will enjoy strong support from the local community, and wish the team at the Stag and Hounds all the best for the future.

More broadly, I make no apologies for regularly speaking up for, and highlighting the importance of, our local pubs, particularly in our rural communities.

The pub, and broader hospitality, sector continues to face very challenging times through increased costs to employ people, rising energy costs and tough competition from supermarkets and others, but the 'local', the village pub, is so central and so important to community life, particularly in a rural village like Burrough on the Hill, and it deserves our support.

So, while I hope that everyone will help this reopened pub thrive, amidst challenging times for pubs and many stories of pub closures, it is heartening news to see a much-loved pub reopen.