Art for Arthur Rank Hospice

The auction is being staged at the Cripps Conference Centre and Gallery, Magdalene College, on Chesterton Lane. Viewing will be from 2-4pm with the auction from 4-5pm.

It will feature work donated by leading regional artists to raise money for the charity. Items for sale include photographs, paintings, prints, metal work and textiles. Many would make suitable Christmas presents.

Artists who have donated their work include Barbara Mniszko, Sue Bailey, Sarah Blake, Kay Goodridge, Katie Hastings, Will Hill, Pamela Hughes, Issam Kourbaj, Phil Martin, Paul Scott and Lynn Stover.

Magdalene College is providing the venue free of charge, and Cheffins is making no charge for its auctioneering services.

Arthur Rank House provides specialist palliative care services, for people over 18 who have a life threatening illness - including cancer.

The auction has been organised by Sarah Blake, a gallery teacher at the Fitzwilliam Museum, whose late husband Jim Blake was cared for at Arthur Rank House at the Brookfields Hospital site on Mill Road in Cambridge earlier this year. Jim was a software engineer at Cambridge Assessment, and was in his mid-30s when he died of cancer.

Sarah said: “Arthur Rank offers people a setting that’s quite different to a busy ward, where the emphasis is on medical care. It’s much more than just palliative care. Arthur Rank looks after the whole person as well as their family and friends.”

She continued: “Arthur Rank offers help on every aspect of what’s happening at a really difficult time, including how to talk to children about dying, and how to try to come to terms with loss.”

Arthur Rank House has to raise £700,000 each year. Funding for the 'Hospice at Home' service, which gives vital care for the terminally ill in the comfort of their home, has recently been cut by the Cambridge Primary Care Trust. To ensure this service can continue, an additional £175,000 needs to be raised.