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A South Bucks family has raised more than £19,400 for Thames Hospice in honour of their beloved wife, mother and nana, Yvonne Ive, who was recently cared for on the Inpatient Unit. Yvonne passed away peacefully at the Hospice on 1 September 2022 surrounded by her loved ones.
Yvonne’s daughter, Simone Markham, owns MyBoutique, a thriving independent ladies clothing store based in Farnham Common and online at myboutique.online. Mother and daughter have always shared a great passion for fashion, both enjoying highly successful careers in the industry, including modelling and working for well-known brands, as well as high profile TV shows and magazines.
In August this year, Simone, together with her nearest and dearest, organised a huge in-store and online sales event of their summer stock, with all proceeds going directly to support the work of Thames Hospice. Through her extensive network of friends and local business contacts, Simone also secured a large number of fabulous prizes to be won in a raffle. These included a flight to the Isle of Wight with a delicious lunch, kindly gifted by Gerry Hoodras, two cases of prosecco and champagne flutes donated by La Cantina del Vino and gift vouchers from local hair and beauty salons. Simone is on track to smash her fundraising target of £20,000 before the end of 2022, which is enough to fund a month’s care for a patient at the Hospice.
Simone Markham, said: “Thank you to all my wonderful customers, friends and family who supported us by purchasing something or buying a raffle ticket. We are so proud of the amount we have raised for this wonderful charity, which has cared for my much-loved mum and the entire family so beautifully over the past months.
“It meant so much that mum was still with us at the time of our fundraising event and I know how deeply proud and humbled she was by the outpouring of love. Mum adored the Hospice; she felt safe there, often describing it as a ‘magical place’, with ‘angels supporting her every need’.”
During Yvonne’s stay, she and Simone also got to meet Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal at the Hospice’s official opening event in July this year, as well as the charity’s Ambassador Anita Dobson.
Simone added: “It was one of Mum’s proudest moments to meet Princess Anne; we were both quite nervous but Her Royal Highness put us at ease immediately.
“In what was a very difficult time for our family, we still continued to have hope, joy and laughter every day at the Hospice and will be forever grateful to their wonderful team.”
Amy Chambers, Director of Fundraising & Marketing at Thames Hospice said: “Words can’t express how grateful we are to Simone and her family for raising this extraordinary amount for us. I’m also so delighted to announce that Simone has committed to support us by agreeing to become a Hospice Ambassador. She has made, and will continue to make, a huge difference to Thames Hospice, for which we are so incredibly thankful. I know it means a great deal to Simone to be able to support us in her mum’s memory and she would be so proud of her.”
Anne Jones, Head of the Inpatient Unit at Thames Hospice, added: “Our patients and their loved ones are all dear to us, but Yvonne in particular seemed to touch so many hearts here at the Hospice. Staff, volunteers and fellow patients described her as ‘overflowing with kindness’, ‘a ray of sunshine’, and ‘totally glamourous right to the end’.
“The photos and videos she allowed us to take of her and share with others in order to help dispel the myths around hospice care is a legacy her family must be very proud of. She was the centre of their universe, a joy to know and a privilege to care for.”