THE New Year will be a significant one for local charity Children’s Hospice South West as it marks 25 years since it was founded.

Eddie Farwell and his late wife Jill founded the charity, which supports children with life-threatening or life-limiting conditions in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, in 1991.

Now with three hospices in the South West, Children’s Hospice South West offers helps and support to children that sadly will not reach adulthood, and is the only organisation in the South West to provide hospice care to, not only children but also their whole family.

Since its creation in 1991, CHSW’s mission statement has remained the same, simply to make the most of short and precious lives.

2016 is therefore an extremely important year for the charity and now CEO of the charity Eddie Farwell said: "My hope is that in another 25 years that Children’s Hospice South West will have expanded its services and to support even more children with life-limiting illnesses and that there is still an army of supporters who to help us sustain what we do."

Eddie and Jill’s idea to create a children’s hospice came from their own experiences of caring for two life-limited children. In 1983, their children Katie and Tom were diagnosed as suffering with a rare degenerative disorder which meant they would die somewhere between the ages of 10-20.

It is from their own experiences of trying to make the best of their short lives and how isolating and hard that was for them both physically and mentally, that the idea of a local children’s hospice began to take shape.

At that time the only Children’s Hospice in the world was Helen House, some five hours drive away in Oxford. This hospice gave the family relief and allowed Eddie and Jill time off from the daily caring and domestic duties.

Children’s Hospice South West was therefore established with the aim of providing a much-needed centre of help and support for the families and children for local families in the region.

With the provision now of three hospices, the charity has achieved its goal of ensuring that no one in the South West needs to travel for more than one-and-a-half-hours by car to reach their nearest children’s hospice

From its start in a spare room at the Farwell’s home in North Devon, CHSW has gone on to care for over 2,000 children across the region. It now offers a wealth of services – all of which are free to the families – including medical care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, emergency care, end of life care, respite breaks, sibling care, bereavement support and holistic care including music therapy.

In its 25th year, the charity is already looking to the future and the hope that it can continue to help many hundreds of families across the South West.

The charity is hoping to celebrate its anniversary in a number of ways and would be delighted to hear of any fundraising events in the community. For more information on how you can support its anniversary year visit www.chsw.org.uk/25 or contact or contact [email protected] for more information on how you can get involved.