Christmas tree – mendous! Hospice at Home’s Barbara loves collecting those used real Christmas Trees.

For the last ten years, (except for two pandemic years) Hospice at Home health care assistant, Barbara Melling, with partner of twelve years, Dave, have been some of the first people in for their bacon butty and coffee/tea on the mornings of Christmas tree collection weekend.

Ahead of the briefing and handing out of route planners, all the volunteers are fed and watered before heading out to collect the Christmas trees our community have kindly made a nice donation for us to pick up.

Barbara told us,

“Dave and I look forward to it immensely. The bacon butty and the early meeting with all the other people who have given their time to help the hospice is all part of it.

Everyone’s chatting and looking forward to the day ahead.

Dave’s got his own small gardening business so we use his van to pack in as many Christmas trees as we can before offloading at the pre-arranged sites and then we’re off for the next set of trees.

It’s brilliant fun. We wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

Barbara loves what she does at the hospice in her day job too.

As a health care assistant in our Hospice at Home team her main role is visiting people to deliver our support visits. She provides friendly companionship for people living at home with life limiting illnesses and a chance for family members who may need to go out shopping or to meet other family and friends.

This year Barbara received her ten-year long service award from the hospice.

“I’ve met literally hundreds of people and their families since I started at the hospice.

Our team have a special level of trust given to us, being welcomed into people’s homes when they are going through the most challenging times.

It’s a true privilege.”

At the hospice we know the difference that Barbara and her colleagues make because of the many Thank You cards and letters we receive and also the number of family members who make kind donations and enter challenges to help support the full range of hospice care we provide.

Deservedly, Barbara looks forward to her pre-summer holiday in Lanzarote and also her annual trips to Florida, meeting family who live out there at Thanksgiving time.

In 2026 she’s hoping to go out earlier as her dad’s brother, Uncle Tom, will turn 100 years of age in April. Wow!

Barbara is also a keen member of the Singing Our Socks Off community choir who do loads of events around Merseyside for many charities. She got the bug for singing as a member of the Wirral Hospital Players theatre group when they were performing some years ago and as well as often being a proud member of the chorus she also played various fairy tale princesses from time to time.

As well as getting stuck into the Christmas tree collections, Barbara will support hospice events. Most recently she completed Glow with the Flow with Hospice at Home colleague, Tracy, and she’s been a frequent visitor to the fundraising office to pick up Christmas cards and calendars she helps to sell for us too.

So, when it gets to Saturday 17^th and Sunday 18^th January at around 8.45 am when Barbara is tucking into her bacon butty, before driving off with Dave to pick up those used real Christmas trees, you know she will have more than earned it.

Thank You Barbara for everything you do for Wirral Hospice St John’s.

If you would like to make a kind donation for Wirral Hospice St John’s to pick up your used real Christmas tree (minus its decorations of course) please find all the details at www.wirralhospice.org/treecollection or call our friendly fundraising team on 0151-343-0778 and they’ll be delighted to help.