My Journey at Wigan & Leigh Hospice

Kath has been a Wigan & Leigh Hospice volunteer on the reception team for five years. She also helps to cover any shifts where needed as a bank receptionist. Here is her story.
A New Opportunity
“I was first introduced to the hospice after my husband was referred there when he was ill. My husband passed away on Christmas Day 2019 and after that I offered to become a volunteer.
My role on reception mostly involves answering the phone, seeing to visitors, sorting parcels if any arrive and much more, there is too much to say. But our main job is answering the phone and directing calls to the correct people. Since being in my volunteering role, I have become a bank receptionist and cover any holiday or annual leave that the main receptionists may have.
The reception team are all lovely, nice and friendly people. Everyone in the hospice is helpful and will look after you and everybody helps one another. If I am ever faced by a question from a member of a patient’s family, I draw on my own experience I had with my husband. I worked in the Transport for Greater Manchester travel office as an assistant, so many of the skills I developed in that role have helped me in my role here at the hospice.”

New experiences
“During the early times when I first became a volunteer through the Covid pandemic, it wasn’t very nice. We were all separated and I was only speaking to people over the phone. But now, it is so different, and I am seeing more people in person rather than simply over the phone and being able to speak to them face to face is great.
One thing that sticks out to me as being a great experience is getting closer and building a relationship with one of our corporate partner companies, Greenmount Projects. They have done some incredible fundraising for us and I had the opportunity to go to Wigan Stadium with them and they treated us very well. The work they are doing with us to fundraise is amazing.
The hospice is a lovely place to be and a very nice environment. I would recommend it to anybody.”
If you would like to join the Hospice team, see our current vacancies here.
Published October 2024