This weekend – The Rosemary Ramble is on Sunday!

STOP PRESS: April Keefe and her family are the first to open a fundraising page on MyDonate for this event. Many thanks to you all for your support. Their page can be found at https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/aprilkeefe1 We hope all our supporters will open a page – it is really easy – just click on thislink to begin.

Sarah Jackson, her Mum, and her sister Helen are also doing the Ramble in memory of their dad Adrian Milne. They have also set up a page for donations at https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/sarahjackson2. They would be grateful for your support and so of course would we. Good luck, girls!

ROSEMARY RAMBLE 2013 – Sunday 16 June

At the Queen Elizabeth Country Park beside the A3 south of Petersfield

After the huge success of our inaugural Rosemary Ramble in September last year, we are delighted that this year, the Ramble will be taking place alongside the Petersfield Post Festival of Food and Drink at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, which this year is sponsoring The Rosemary Foundation to raise funds for the vital work of our nurses in the community.

ROSEMARY RAMBLE 2013 Sunday 16 June

There are three scheduled walks to choose from and you should arrive half an hour before your walk to register.

The 10 mile walk starts at 09:00, the 5 mile walk at 09:30 and the 2 mile walk for children, which will include a Treasure Hunt, starts at 10:00 . The entry fee is £10 for adults and £5 for children. 

Entries will be accepted right up to 16 June, but please note that it will not be possible to provide you with a T shirt if we have not received your entry by Wednesday 12 June

Entry packs for the Ramble can be collected from One Tree Books in Lavant Street, Petersfield.

You can set up a page on MyDonate to collect sponsorship on line.  We have our own page at http://mydonate.bt.com/events/rosemaryrambler/98257 and you can link to this from your own page. (We recommend MyDonate as there are no commission charges, unlike other services.)

Completed forms and entry fees should be returned to One Tree Books.

Please bring any sponsorship money with you on the day. It would be very helpful if you are able to bank cash sponsorship and bring a cheque to cover it.

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact The Rosemary Foundation office on 01730 266329

PETERSFIELD POST FESTIVAL OF FOOD AND DRINK 2013 Saturday 15 June and Sunday 16 June

This year the Petersfield Post Festival of Food & Drink is moving to the countryside!

There will be more space and free parking for visitors at Queen Elizabeth Country Park – situated on the A3 just South of Petersfield. All money generated by the Festival will be given to The Rosemary Foundation.

Entry £3 per person (free to Rosemary Ramblers). Together with all stall holder fees and sponsorship the entry fees will go directly to the Rosemary Foundation. Please support this wonderful cause.

For more information click here

If you have never visited the Physic Garden this oasis is behind the High Street in Petersfield. Turn left out of Boots and you will find it on your left after just a few yards

Dying Matters Week focuses on five key actions that people can take to be ready for the end of life. These are: make a will; record your funeral wishes; plan your future care and support; consider registering as an organ donor; tell your loved ones your wishes.

On Wednesday 15 May members of The Rosemary Foundation will be at the Physic Garden in Petersfield from 10:00-4:00 to welcome anyone who would like to call in for a chat to discuss any of the above points. For more information go to this  link

Mark Anthony stars as Elvis in “If I can Dream”

What an opportunity! On 9th May the Kings Theatre Southsea proudly presents the world famous Mark Anthony as Elvis Presley in “If I can Dream”, the story of the Life and Music of the King.

The Performance starts at 19.30 and tickets, price £20, can be bought from the Kings Theatre box office on 0239 2828282. The Rosemary Foundation will benefit from a bucket collection kindly arranged in the theatre.

See a trailer for the show here

STOP PRESS!

For a complete contrast – or if Elvis is not your scene on the preceding night Wed 8th  also at 19.30 we can offer:

A Concert in the Bach Pilgrimage series

Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin played by Thomas Bowes.

At the Church of St John the Evangelist West Meon Hants

Tickets: Free admission with request for donations. Proceeds to be split between The Rosemary Foundation  and maintenance of St John the Evangelist Church

Contact details: Louise Clay 01730 829235 or 07831 828023 email clay.vinnells@talk21.com;

For a flavour of this concert click

To read more about this unique concert tour click

Cliff stars for The Rosemary Foundation!

“Old Herbaceous” is a one-man play in which 80 year old Bert Pinnegar (played by Cliff Mullins) relates his life story from schoolboy to retired Head Gardener through a very personal account of what life was like in the heyday of Britain’s large country estates. The setting is the ramshackle greenhouse that Bert lovingly regards as his second home; come along and learn about our horticultural history, gain a few gardening tips and receive one or two cookery suggestions. “Old Herbaceous” is a witty comic portrait of the most archetypal—and crotchety—head gardener ever to plant a row of bulbs at a British country house!

The performance is on Saturday 27th April 7:30pm at The Triangle, Liss. Tickets are £9 and are available from The Triangle on 01730 301000

Cliff Mullins writes: I have been a member of the Highbury Players since 1978, when my wife Linda and I were encouraged to join the group after watching Linda’s mother, Jeanne (already a member), perform on stage. Work wise, I have a technical background, so it was natural for me to take an active part in stage set construction and learn about sound and lighting, although I have played many parts, even leads, in various plays. The most well-known was probably the Inspector in Priestley’s “An Inspector Calls” but my favorite part was MI5 agent, Mr. Stewart, in “Pack of Lies” a spy thriller set in the 60’s.

That was until I read Old Herbaceous. If you see the play, I hope you’ll understand why.

The fifth Recycled Fashion Show to be held at AltonMethodistChurch will be on Tuesday 16 April 2013 at 7pm, with hundreds of donated items priced and modelled, then sold after the Show.  This year the event will support the work of The Rosemary Foundation and the work of Debbie Thomson (known to many as Debbie Thrower) who is Chaplain to the Elderly within Alton.  Tickets for the Show are £5, with customers encouraged to bring their own bags for their purchases.

Judy Nicholls and Karen Booker acknowledge the large team of helpers that make the Show such a happy evening.  Karen said, “This is a time to welcome the community into our church.  It encourages people to recycle, while enjoying the fun of finding a bargain.  Judy and I have been collecting and pricing clothes since January, and plans are well in place for this year’s Show!

A further reduced price sale with coffee morning will take place the following day.  The remainder of the clothes are thereafter donated to the local charity shops, so the recycling continues! This is the last year that Karen will be running this event, so if anyone would like to take it on, do please come along to the evening to see how it works and meet Karen.

Further details are available from Karen at karenlbooker@hotmail.com

Come and meet the Easter Bunny at our Easter Craft Fayre on Saturday 23 March! Relax with a coffee and a hot cross bun and seek out some bargains on the craft stalls. There is also a special craft table for the children. East Meon Village Hall 10:00-1:00, we hope to see you there!

Good News – This event raised around £1200. Well done to all involved!

I attended QA Hospital for a routine out‐patient appointment. I awoke some days later to find that I had come through two emergency operations for colon cancer. From then on, the hospital’s 100% priority was to get me out quickly and I was transferred to Petersfield Hospital for rest and to build my strength back.

Some days later I was asked if I was ready to go home, despite living alone, barely able to walk and still attached by a tube from my stomach to a large vacuum pump; the priority was to free the bed. I went home for care in the community to find it was not easily accessible as the workload of the Community Nurses has increased and there are fewer of them. I have not heard one word from Social Services to this day.

I asked the Community Nurses if I could have a shower and one said that the Rosemary girls might be able to help me.

Now the good news.

A Rosemary nurse arrived and took over my dressings and care. What a difference! Pleasant competent oldfashioned care, no dashing in and out, they arrive when they say and take time for a chat. I am so pleased. I face a short and probably unpleasant future, but with peace of mind that I will receive the care that I need from The Rosemary Foundation nurses.

It’s a sad reflection on our society that the opportunity to access an enhanced level of care within the community appears only to be provided by charities. May your Foundation long continue its excellent work.

Many thanks for all that you have done for me. God bless your endeavours.

A very grateful patient,

Tom Jones

An Apology.

We are reorganising our website to make it easier to find particular subjects or topics. Please bear with us – someone likened the task to re-arranging the pages in a newspaper while someone else is reading it. If you have a problem please email Richard the webmaster on

 webmaster@rosemary-foundation.org.uk

Petersfield – where the Foundation is centred

Our very good friend David Futcher has produced a video about the Rosemary Foundation. It tells the story of three of our patients in the words of their carers . It is intended both as a mission statement and as an introduction to anyone who might need our services.

To see the video merely click on this link . Just click on the arrow bottom left of the screen to start the video.

So wrote Judith Potts in an article in the Daily Telegraph w/c 7.01.13 – and Judith knows what she’s talking about – she was diagnosed with cancer in 2008.

What Judith is proposing is a national database of support for cancer sufferers – she not just proposing it – she is organising it. If you can recommend any cancer support group – local or national then please send the details to Judith at judith.potts@telegraph.co.uk

To read Judith’s article in full go to

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/judithpotts/100197673/lets-help-cancer-sufferers-learn-what-support-they-have-local-to-them/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter