April 5, 2019 4.44 pm This story is over 59 months old

Call for donations for hospital patient ‘wedding boxes’

It will contain items to support a wedding at short notice
An appeal has been launched to create a trio of bespoke 'wedding boxes' for patients tying the knot in hospital. Photo: Stock image

An appeal has been launched to create a trio of bespoke ‘wedding boxes’ for patients wanting to tie the knot whilst in hospital.

The appeal was launched by staff across Lincolnshire hospitals for the Swan Boxes. They will be available to end of life care patients on the oncology wards at ULHT hospitals in Lincoln, Boston and Grantham.

The boxes will contain all the necessary items to support a wedding at short notice. The teams are now looking for donations off items including confetti, battery-operated fairy lights, balloons, wedding cards and disposable cameras.

The boxes form part of ULHT’s swan scheme which helps ensure consistent end of life care is provided to all hospital patients.

Outpatients Clerical Administrator at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Jan Joyce, is coordinating items for the wedding boxes.

She also helped introduce goodie bags for chemotherapy patients attending appointments on Christmas Eve last year.

Jan said: “We sometimes get requests from patients and their families who want to hold weddings in the hospitals, so we felt that providing a special box including bits and bobs they might need would help take any added stress away at such an emotional time.

“One of our volunteers is working on an adapted wedding dress for patients who are bedbound and we have also been in contact with the local Tesco supermarkets, who have agreed to provide cake vouchers that we can use for the weddings – we are really very grateful.”

The full list of items required includes:

  • A wipeable box with lid approximately 16″ wide x 10″ deep to store the items in
  • Confetti
  • Battery-operated fairy lights
  • Fabric/throws for beds
  • Disposable cameras
  • Photograph frames
  • Notebooks/wedding books for guests to write messages
  • Silk flower bouquet/button holes
  • Decorative hair pieces
  • Balloons
  • Plastic champagne flutes for juice
  • Serviettes
  • Wedding cards

Anyone wishing to donate to the Swan Boxes should contact Jan at Pilgrim hospital on 01205 446454, Claire Fowler at Lincoln County on 01522 572350 or Wendy Sprigdens at Grantham on 01476 464345.