Visit to Keech Cottage Children’s Hospice by Sue Pready I visited Keech Cottage Children’s hospice on 12th September 2007 for their Annual Open House Visitor’s Day and what a very special place I found it to be. Located near Luton and in the same beautiful grounds as the Pasque Adult Hospice, Keech Cottage provides specialist palliative and terminal care for children with life-limiting illnesses, plus support for their families. The areas covered are not only Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes but also our own Hertfordshire. There are 5 beds for in-patient care, facilities for day visits plus a team of community nurses to provide care in the home. The first floor provides family accommodation for parents, grandparents, siblings and other family members who might need or want to stay at Keech Cottage whilst a child is an in-patient. There is also a first-floor lounge, kitchen area and a gallery overlooking the care area. The visitors’ self-guided tour was quite understandably confined to the ground floor, where we had the pleasure of visiting the teenagers’ sitting room, the truly magical central care area, soft play area, wet play area, games room, imagination room and the fantasy room (which provides a multi sensory experience to soothe or stimulate children and their carers - and in which I could have happily stayed for hours…) There then followed the playground and garden, complete with wheelchair-accessible swings and roundabouts, the sensory garden and the music room - moving on to refreshments awaiting us in the dining room and a view through “the big round window” of the amazing Hydrotherapy Pool. Anyone wishing to enter the Meadow Suite was welcome to do so and I can honestly say that for me, this was a deeply moving privilege. (The Meadow Suite is a special bedroom which can be used when a child dies at Keech Cottage or at home. A specially chilled mattress allows the child’s body to remain at Keech Cottage whilst funeral arrangements are made. As part of the Meadow Suite, there is a sitting room and kitchen available for bereaved families to use and also a small fenced integral garden with external gate; it is evident that a great deal of thought and care has gone into providing such a private, peaceful and comfortable environment where families can have the space to say goodbye to their child - supported by familiar care staff and bereavement counsellors). At the end of my visit, I received a Keech Cottage “goodie bag” including all sorts of information leaflets on: Guide to Services for Children / Fundraising & how we can help / Weekly Lottery / Volunteering opportunities / What’s On 2007 / a car sticker and - a complete surprise to me - a brochure for The Pasque Charity Conference Facility, which shares the same beautiful and peaceful site as Keech Cottage and the Pasque Adult Hospice - and contributes funds to the charity’s work. National Children’s Hospice Week starts on Saturday 15 September 2007 and I am reliably informed that there will be volunteers collecting donations for Keech Cottage in the Howard Centre in Welwyn Garden City on that day. Alternatively, do please contribute if you possibly can by visiting www.pasque.org.