'I was a Severn Hospice chaplain for 30 years - now I'm stepping down to offer counselling on my alpaca farm'
A hospice chaplain who has provided spiritual care and support to thousands of patients and their families has bidden farewell to colleagues after 30 years.
Harry Edwards was Severn Hospice’s first chaplain and will be a familiar face to anyone who has attended its Christmas Lights of Love service at any time in the last 25 years.
The former Church of England vicar, whose parish was the Ford, Alberbury and Cardeston group, said it was a privilege to help people facing the most challenging time of their life, working alongside colleagues who truly cared.
“The hospice has a non-religious foundation but it recognised that offering a spiritual dimension to its care was just so important,” said Harry.
“Spirituality is very difficult to define. For some it’s a religion and belief in a greater power, for others not. But everyone has it within them and it’s how they respond to that which defines it for them. My role was to help them connect to whatever was within themselves,” he added.
For patients with a faith, Harry was the hospice’s liaison with local faith communities, ensuring patients were able to access the services important to them.
And his work with the hospice’s Patient and Family Support Services has not just benefited patients.
Caring for staff has always been part of his regular pastoral duties, helping colleagues navigate what can be emotional challenges for them too.
Harry’s role has included arranging and performing wedding ceremonies and blessings for patients, as well as being invited to conduct their funerals – and sometimes the same person’s funeral shortly after their wedding.
“To be allowed into a family’s story at these times is such a privilege,” said Harry.
When not providing support to families, Harry is kept busy on his alpaca farm at Penley – which will now become a place of care too.
He will be putting his vocational calling to continued use and applying his experience and skills to a new venture offering specialist counselling and training services at the farm, named Grange Counselling.
The alpacas will be playing their part too: “Working with a herd of alpacas can really help neurodiverse people, they have a real therapeutic benefit,” said Harry.
“My time at the hospice has been so rewarding and fulfilling, but I’m not retiring - I’m just giving up full-time work,” he said.
