Below is what St.Barnabas Hospice Trust had to say when awarding our amazing Bess:

Bess started volunteering in the fundraising department of St Barnabas in the late 1980s but even Bess herself is unable to recall an exact year in the early 1990's. Bess raised money for a specific project of building premises in Gainsborough, from which our services could be delivered to people in that area of the county. When it was complete Bess became a volunteer driver and transported patients to and from the building for daycare. After volunteering her time for approximately 15 years with fundraising and driving, in 2006 Bess chose to train as a Reiki Practitioner and joined the complementary therapy team and delivered Reiki to patients in Gainsborough. Intermittently over the years we have had fewer volunteer complementary therapists than demand for the service has required and at such times Bess has travelled to Lincoln to give treatment at the Inpatient Unit as well as in Day Therapy. She has certainly gone the extra mile giving more time delivering Reiki to patients and carers when appropriate who would otherwise not have benefitted from the treatment. In addition Bess had donated additional time in travelling to and from sites across Lincolnshire to support Patients to access Reiki treatments as Lincolnshire is a large county Bess has certainly been going that literal extra mile Bess has regularly attended team meetings study days choosing to increase her knowledge so she can additionally support patients and carers. Bess has also undertaken additional training outside of our organisation for her own personal growth. Whilst completing mandatory training using information technology may be hard for some people Bess has enthusiastically embraced the challenge and has enjoyed acquiring new skills. Bess is a caring supportive professional volunteer Reiki Practitioner and is a much valued member of my team. Bess very much deserves to be recognised for the voluntary work that she has done in different capacities for St.Barnabas and the People of Lincolnshire over the years.