Travel Tips

You may already have picked up on Berni's homepage the details posted by Colin and the rest of the family. They said they would pass any donations received to the Sheldon Ward Fund at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn.

This was where Berni received a significant part of her care and was a place she always spoke of very warmly (especially the dishy doctor with the warm hands!).

Having consulted a few members over the weekend and made initial contact with the hospital concerned, I have a proposal to make that will ensure that friends around the globe, as well as those in the UK, may make donations in Berni's memory.

The hospital service in charge of donations of this nature, has explained that they can provide us with an account number and a payment reference to which anyone may contribute from anywhere. The money can be accounted for in Berni's name and, should Carl and the family wish to do so, they may agree with the director of the Sheldon Ward how they would like the money to be used.

Following the input of some VTers this weekend, I have asked specifically about certain issues:

Contributions are made directly to the hospital – no one will know how much has been donated by whom. They will go directly in the hospital accounts and confidentiality will be respected. (For those who responded to my message, just to let you know, I never intended there to be another arrangement than this... ie no VT account as such!!!)

They will send me the bank details so that donations may be made from abroad. I have asked specifically that they look into how donations may be made by credit card rather than by bank transfer (which can incur significant costs). Someone just asked me about PayPal – I didn't think of this when I spoke to the hospital, but I'll raise it once I receive their information.

The hospital has promised to get back to me later this week with the information that we need. I'll pass on the bank account and payment details when they arrive.

I'll also speak to Berni's family to see if they wish to post the information on Berni's page (it would probably be best there, rather than here).

Many thanks to all who helped me sort this out from the seeds of an idea. Please pass this information on to all members you think may be interested.

Stay tuned!

I received the following information from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital a little while ago:

I can confirm a new fund will be set up in the name of 'The Berni Shand Memorial Fund' the fund number is 01219 (this number must be quoted as a reference number). The ward sister on Shouldham ward (Nicki Pearce) will be the main manager of the fund and the family will need to liase with Nicki regarding any expenditure and Nicki is aware and very happy with this arrangement.

I still need to finalise some details regarding international payments, which I'll post soon.