Women of our time

On Friday 19th November 2021 we were honoured to be presented with Oakhaven's Hospice "Woman of our time" award at their annual fundraising luncheon at the Chewton Glen.

It was the first time that the award has been presented to a team rather than an individual. All of us had tears in our eyes when Oakhaven Hospice Trustee, Debbie Ware, talked about força - strength against cancer and how we have helped to make a difference.

The award was a complete surprise to Carla, who thought she was just out for a nice lunch with friends!

The força charity has supported services at Oakhaven Hospice for a number of years, including raising funds directly for the hospice, supporting Southampton General Hospital’s Outreach Programme and creating the Nourish programme to provide nourishing meals for patients to take home after treatment.

We are touched and feel incredibly honoured to receive the Woman of our Time award. It is especially poignant to us as força is celebrating its tenth birthday. A decade ago we came together to support our dear friend, Carla, when she was diagnosed with metastatic cancer and it is especially touching that Carla is here with us today, still as wonderful as ever. From helping Carla, força grew to help many others in our community. All volunteers, we support individuals and run our Nourish and Support programmes with minimum overheads, ensuring that the funds we raise all go towards helping others.