A famous London hospice is planning to revamp some of its tired wards after winning big in a national competition.
St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham finished second in Selco Builders Warehouse’s Community Heroes competition after a public vote.
There was more good news for the hospice when Selco announced the prize money had been increased five-fold from £1,000 to £5,000.
St Christopher’s – the home of the modern hospice movement started by its founder Dame Cicely Saunders – has around 1,800 patients in its care at any one time.
“We were delighted to finish second and to win £1,000, but it was such a fantastic surprise when we heard the prize was being boosted to £5,000,” said John Vickers, Director of Finance and Corporate Services at St Christopher’s.
“Most of our service users are cared for at home, but we also have people with particularly complex needs that stay on our wards.
“We are planning to upgrade these wards as they have not had much work done to them in a decade. This funding from Selco will make a big difference – and will also allow us to buy specialist, noise-reducing equipment so that disruption is kept to a minimum while the work takes place.
“It has been very exciting to be part of Community Heroes and we are grateful to Selco for their support.”
Selco invited organisations, schools and charities to enter its Community Heroes initiative, which had a total prize pot worth £21,000.
More than 2,000 groups put themselves forward, with 12 winners selected over the course of six months, each winning £500 of building materials from their nearest Selco.
The dozen finalists went before a public vote to decide the winners. The overall winner was Fox Wood Special School in Warrington, which secured more than a quarter of the 9,000 votes to scoop £10,000, a prize that was increased from £5,000.
Simon Humpage, Head of Multi-Channel Marketing at Selco, said: “It was fantastic for our teams to visit our two Community Heroes champions and to be able to tell them we had decided to significantly increase their prize money.
“Community Heroes is our flagship initiative for charities and community groups or organisations that always captures the imagination. We are proud to be able to demonstrate our commitment to supporting good causes right across the country at a time when, for many, the need is so great.
“We look forward to launching Community Heroes 2025 shortly.”
With hundreds of trade brands always in stock, Selco’s branches are firmly focused on helping tradespeople complete their jobs as quickly and effectively as possible.
As well as offering trade services, Selco also has a strong digital presence including Click & Deliver and Click & Collect services and an app – as well as a ‘Dial & Deliver’ telephone service – to make life as convenient as possible for tradespeople
