Each year Otter Garden Centres supports a variety of charities. These are sometimes local and sometimes national.

Our individual garden centres choose the charity they wish to support and organise their own fundraising activities. During 2019 we are supporting:

Ottery St Mary – Hospiscare

Hospiscare was founded in 1982 to provide high quality care and support to people with a progressive life-limiting illness and those close to them living in Exeter, East and Mid Devon.

There are now three hospices: Searle House Hospice in Exeter with 12 beds, offering specialist nursing, medical treatment and care for complex needs and a Wellbeing Suite for day patients. Pine Lodge Day Hospice in Tiverton and Kings House Day Hospice in Honiton provide day services with specialist nursing care, carer respite, support and a range of therapies, such as massage, nail care and crafts.

Services are provided to patients and their families for free.

Plymouth – Shekinah Mission

Shekinah is a Devon & Cornwall based charity that provides opportunities for people in recovery or seeking recovery. This may include recovery from homelessness, drug and alcohol issues, offending behaviours or mental ill health.

Over the last 25 years Shekinah has developed a comprehensive range of services for people and can help with housing, drug and alcohol advice, benefit advice, training, education, employment or just offer a listening ear.

Torbay – Step One

Step One started in 1937 when Dame Georgiana Buller DBE set up St Loye’s College with a vision that support should be available for people with disabilities to develop skills and achieve their potential, overcoming any barriers they faced in society.

St Loye’s merged with Community Care Trust in 2015 and now as Step One provides a range of support to enable people to manage their mental wellbeing and take a positive step forward to achieving their goals.

Wincanton – Yeovil Freewheelers

Yeovil Freewheelers EVS provides a unique out-of-hours free courier service between different hospitals and patients in their homes across the whole South Somerset and North Dorset area.

The service was founded in 1978 by Cecil Turner and is the oldest operational blood bike group in the country. It operates a fleet of three motorcycles carrying urgently needed medical items such as blood, biological samples, medical notes, x-rays and medicines. The service is provided completely free of charge to the NHS and all members of Yeovil Freewheelers are unpaid volunteers.

Thank you to all staff and customers who help us to fundraise during the year, making a big difference to these hardworking charities. We look forward to updating you with the totals raised early in 2020.