Willow is delighted to announce that we are relocating from offices in Old Hatfield to a new home in central Welwyn Garden City from Monday 1 June 2015.
The move to Welwyn Garden City maintains the charity’s close associations within Hertfordshire. Willow founders, Bob and Megs Wilson lived in the county for more than 35 years and it has been the charity’s base for 15 years.
From what began as a local charity in 1999 and working from a back bedroom in their home in Brookman’s Park, Bob and Megs Wilson have grown Willow to become a national organisation. Established in memory of their daughter, Anna, who died of cancer aged 31, Willow fulfils a gap in the charity sector by providing quality of life and quality of time for those aged 16 to 40 living with the difficult realities of a life-threatening illness. We are now increasing the number of Special Days provided year on year and the new premises will allow the 40-strong staff to work much more efficiently to meet future demand.
Chief Executive David White is managing the relocation and explains, “As Willow’s service grows and we work towards making more Special Days a reality each year, our premises in Old Hatfield were simply no longer fit for purpose. Like any expanding organisation, a new and bigger home is needed for our team to make yet more Special Days happen.”
The Welwyn and Hatfield communities have always been supportive of Willow, with a large number of volunteers and supporters living locally. Indeed, the charity’s first shop, selling pre-loved goods, is a stone’s throw from the new offices and is proving a success with local shoppers. Our staff and volunteers are all excited to be in the busy town centre and are planning a ‘meet the neighbours’ event on Wednesday 3 June.
Willow Life-President Megs Wilson said, “This is an exciting new era for Willow. We could never have imagined that Anna’s legacy would go on to make such a real and positive difference to so many young lives. Willow hopes to provide a further 1,100 Special Days this year and the relocation is a positive step towards enabling our dedicated staff and volunteers to reach this target.”
To date the charity has fulfilled more than 11,500 Special Days for those living with conditions such as cancer, motor neurone disease, cystic fibrosis and organ failure – offering quality of life experiences to them and their families at the most difficult of times.