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On the road to Morocco for cancer centre
Matt Eley
BELLY dancers and musicians helped transform a Hampstead hospice into a Moroccan den during a fundraising night.
The Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead is aiming to raise £2million of the £3.4million needed for a major refurbishment of its Lyndhurst Gardens home.
And last Thursday guests were invited to the launch of a trek to Morocco to help the cause. In October 2008, about 40 supporters of the hospice will trek to Mount Toubkal in the Atlas Mountains, hoping to raise more than £60,000 in the process.
Hospice fundraising manager Liz Allen said: "We are really excited about this challenge as for the first time all funds raised by participants will go specifically towards the hospice.
"It's a great opportunity for Marie Curie supporters based in the area to do something specifically for their local hospice.
"The planned refurbishment is vital - basic improvements such as putting in double glazing and upgrading all the patients' rooms will enable us to continue caring for cancer patients and their families for many years to come."
The refurbishment which begins in October will be the first major works at the hospice since it opened in 1976.
The project includes turning two four-bed rooms into single rooms to give patients more privacy, updating the hospice to give it less of an "institutional" feel and putting fully accessible wheelchair toilets and basins in every room.
Last Thursday's Moroccan night was designed to encourage the 50 guests to sign up to the trek or encourage others to do so.
Hospice ward manager David Zilkha previously trekked the Inca trail to raise funds and he was keen for others to follow his lead.
He said: "It was a fantastic experience and as soon as I heard about the Morocco trek I wanted to sign up.
"The altitude is the biggest challenge - it makes you much slower and it is hard work but to be somewhere like that makes it feel like just a minor inconvenience.
"It was such an amazing group of people - all had their own reasons for doing it - or people they were doing it in memory of."
The trek will take place over a long weekend in October. Those taking part will start in Marrakech before heading of on a tough two-day hike up the 4,167m Mount Toubkal, with two nights spent under the stars.
For more information or to sign up, call Liz Allen on 020-7853 3442 or visit www.mariecurie.org.uk.
matt.eley@hamhigh.co.uk
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