Tasty partnership supporting Children’s Hospice South West

Taste of the West, the UK’s largest independent regional food group, will be supporting Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW) as its long term regional charity partner.

The group, which promotes and supports local food and drink producers from across the Westcountry, will be supporting CHSW which offers care and support to children and young people with life-limiting illnesses, and their families, through its three hospices across the South West.

John Sheaves, CEO of Taste of the West said: “We at Taste of the West are delighted to be partnering with Children’s Hospice South West. There is a very natural synergy between our two organisations – as the UK’s largest independent food group, we have supported the South West’s food and drink industry for over 30 years and a crucial part of this is supporting the people who live here. We are really looking forward to developing an exciting partnership in the coming months.”

CHSW will be an invited guest and exhibitor at the Taste of the West awards on 12 November at Westpoint where members will be able to find out more about the services offered to families by the charity.

Taste of the West will also become a member of CHSW’s Business Club; a network of local businesses who share a passion to give back to the local community by supporting CHSW.

Hayley Wallbank, Regional Partnerships Fundraiser for CHSW said: “From the moment we started conversations with Taste of the West it became clear that not only are we operating across a very similar area of the South West, there are also so many similarities between our two organisations. We are really excited that our hospices and families will have the support of Taste of the West who, in turn, are supporting local food and drink producers every day. We have some exciting plans coming together for the festive season which we look forward to announcing soon.”

Taste of the West champions food and drink producers in the West Country, as well as the places that serve and sell them. They have over 1,000 members and run an annual awards scheme which sees producers entering their products into the programme to be tried and tested by a panel of industry experts. Alongside this they also run an awards programme for hospitality and retail businesses where judges visit establishments selling food and produce across the region to recognise the best in the industry.

CHSW has three children’s hospices across the South West; Little Bridge House in North Devon, Charlton Farm in North Somerset and Little Harbour in St Austell. The charity is currently supporting over 500 children and young people who have been diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. The hospices provide those children and young people with a place to visit with their families for short breaks, resilience stays, palliative care as well as end of life care and bereavement support.