DR Kershaw's Hospice volunteer Eva Chadderton is making waves after she embarked on her first ever scuba diving lesson.

The idea came to light after watching her grandson, Chris, aged 21, scuba dive. So pensioner decided to take on the challenge to raise money for her local hospice.

And since getting the green light from her doctor, Eva was incredibly excited for her one-to-one lesson at the Aquatech Diving Centre in Stockport, who kindly offered her the lesson for free.

Having never put her head under water or swimming in the deep end of a pool, Eva, who learned to swim aged 32, couldn’t wait to do something different for Dr Kershaw’s.

A volunteering for more than 17 years, Eva said: “I’ve done many roles during my time at the hospice, flower arranging, working in the kitchen and being a receptionist. Anything I can do to help raise funds for the charity, it’s such a good cause and I love volunteering here.”

Eva continued: “I thought I’d be frightened but the instructor told me to take my time and I wasn’t scared in the end - I did have butterflies beforehand though.”

“My grandson said people who have never done it before tend to panic but it was easier than I expected!”

“It meant a lot to be able to tick something off my bucket list, it’s definitely my biggest achievement.”

As well as having a whale of a time, Eva raised a splash-tastic £345 for patient care at Dr Kershaw’s.

About Us

Dr. Kershaw's Hospice provides specialist palliative care for adults with non-curable, life-limiting illnesses in a peaceful and homely environment. Palliative care is an area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients. Palliative care is appropriate for patients at all stages of illness, including those undergoing treatment for symptom control or rehabilitation as well as patients who are nearing the end of life.

Dr Kershaw’s Hospice is an independent hospice and a registered charity (Charity No. 1105924). It is partially funded by the Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), circa £800,000 per year, however, the major part of the annual budget of £2.8m is supported by fundraising activities, donations, legacies, income from the Hospice shops and revenue from the Hospice lottery.

The Hospice serves a population of some 220,000 people drawn from Oldham and its surrounding districts and has a close working relationships with Oldham CCG; Pennine Care NHS Trust and Pennine Acute NHS Trust.