Most people who come to a hospice for the first time would not expect to open the door on a new skill they didn't know they had.
June didn't want to come to Butterwick. She believed a hospice was a place you came to die. However, she was persuaded to try it once.
On her first day at Butterwick's Bishop Auckland Day Hospice she sat apart from everyone with her husband who had come along for moral support. June remembers that day well.
"I felt out of place, as you do when you are amongst people you don't know. I did enjoy the dinner and I talked to the nurses and was invited to join the other girls in the craft room after lunch.
"There was lots of chatter. Everyone seemed to know everyone else very well and they tried to make me feel welcome to but I had never made any kind of craft and I thought 'I can't do this'.
"At the end of the day I decided it hadn't been so bad and the following week I went back again."
"The second week I felt a bit better, people were starting to look familiar. I chatted to the nurses and to the other girls and had my first go at making the crafts."
The rest, as they say, is history. June was bitten by the crafting bug and the whole supportive social scene that is Butterwick Day Care.
June found she had a real talent for the crafts she was learning and started taking work home with her. She made gifts for her family and friends, and then gifts for friends of family. Soon orders were coming in for her to make items and people were giving donations towards the work of the Hospice for her crafts.
June has raised hundreds of pounds through her crafts and has since bought items to improve the Day Care lounge where she attends.
"Now I protect my day at Butterwick. When we are making arrangements, Thursday is Butterwick day! Its great. You can talk honestly to other people experiencing the same things as you without fear of upsetting anyone."
"I would recommend this to anyone it is offered to. Try it once, you've got to. Everyone is so friendly and you can learn new skills you never knew you had.
