Penny's doll spa

Tributes to Hospice Champion Dr Harry Buckland

12 Jul 2023

Tributes have been paid to Grimsby GP Dr Harry Buckland, who was instrumental in the founding of St Andrew’s Hospice, following his death at the age of 99.

We gave a big Andy’s welcome to one of our first children’s hospice patients on his return!

10 May 2023

It was fantastic to welcome back Charlie Marshall – who was one of our first children’s hospice patients, and spent almost two decades under our care.

Meet the new and improved sensory room at Andy’s Children’s Unit

27 Apr 2023

Andy’s Children’s Unit has seen some big changes over the past year, undergoing a once in a lifetime refurbishment which has included a much-needed update to our sensory room.

Strictly Cinema! Joanne Clifton welcomes young visitors with the hottest movie tickets in town!

12 Oct 2022

AFTER months of hard work from a whole range of experts, St Andrew’s Hospice has finally opened its doors to the charity’s new cinema room – and it’s simply fabulous!

Ben Keal takes on mighty Kilimanjaro volcano

1 Sep 2022

A staunch supporter of St Andrew’s Hospice, local man Benjamin Keal has raised huge amounts for the charity during the last few years. His recent challenge will see him head for...

Penny's doll spa

This is Penny and she rescues dolls from the Immingham store and gives them a new lease of life!

It all started back in 2018 when she bought a doll from one of the shops. She explained: “I got charged the wrong price for it and so I knitted her a dress and took it back to the Immingham shop. I then bought another doll from a car boot sale, did the same thing and took it to the shop for them to sell. The manager at the time said: “If I give you some dolls, would you be able to do something with them?” and it just snowballed. It’s become a full-time job!”

Sophie, the current manager, said: “When I moved to this shop in 2023, I would always see her popping in. Once I caught wind that this is what she does, I began keeping an eye out for toys that could use a bit of TLC as well as extra wool or other materials that she could make use of that would otherwise go to waste.”

Penny now comes once a month to drop off any dolls that she’s fixed and pick up new ones. When asked what made her decide to do this, she replied: “It gives me a sense of fulfilment because you’re doing something to help people. I clean them, put new limbs on them, make them unique clothing, no doll is the same. For a few pounds, children have something at Christmas or on their birthday rather than nothing, that’s why I do it.”

Sophie added: “They sell really well at Christmas time. Penny’s given up so much time to fix these dolls. She is so talented and you can tell how much love and joy she gets out of doing it.

“It puts such a smile on her face when she comes in and shows us everything that she's done. She's only recently started sewing the clothes. She normally crochets and knits them, but she wanted to challenge herself. I think it's brilliant! It’s never going to be enough but, on behalf of all of us, I just want to say a big, big thank you.”

To anyone also wanting to help the hospice in some way, Penny says: “If you've got a talent, be it weaving or knitting or whatever, and you're in a position to use your hobby in other ways to help other people, why not? You're showing your talent to others, but it's in a good way, it's for a good cause.”