The Mill calls on the community to help name rooms!

An exciting new development currently taking shape in the grounds of St Catherine’s Hospice is calling on the creativity of its local community to help name the different rooms inside.

The Mill at St Catherine’s Park will be a café open to everyone to enjoy, but it will also be an informal place where people affected by life-shortening conditions can access therapies, information and support. The idea is to help people help themselves and each other to live more comfortably and independently.

The Mill will also be a community space with rooms which can be hired out to local companies and organisations to host everything from light exercise classes to business meetings.

A competition has now been launched online and in the community inviting local people to put their ideas forward for what the rooms should be called. Not only will the winners have the prestige of being part of a pioneering new development, they will also receive a meal for four in The Mill café.

The areas to be named include the therapies room – which will be used by complementary therapists offering treatments including massage, reflexology and Reiki – a craft room – designed to host everything from drawing classes to jewellery making sessions – and a training room – an ideal base for business meetings, seminars or light exercise classes such as yoga and Tai Chi.

Entrants could take inspiration from the site’s history and heritage as a 19th century Lancashire cotton mill, or perhaps the beautiful grounds on which it sits, now known as St Catherine’s Park. The development of the green space is an on-going project, but already includes a delightful sensory garden – with plants, flowers and features which appeal to the five senses – a small wetland and a woodland area.

Nominations could also be based on what each room will be used for or the thoughts and feelings it is hoped the activities they are used for will evoke.

Lynn Kelly, one of the project managers for The Mill, said: “Whether it’s something literal or abstract, we’d love to hear as many ideas as possible to help breathe some further life and character into this exciting new development.

“The Mill is all about welcoming our community in and connecting with more people locally. We want to do this right from the very start – so what better way than to involve them in the naming of some of the key elements of the project.
“We’re very much looking forward to hearing the suggestions!”

The competition will be judged by a selected group of hospice staff and volunteers, with the winners announced week commencing August 11th.

People can take part online by commenting on the hospice’s Facebook page – ‘St Catherine’s Hospice, Lancashire’ – by emailing their suggestions to themill@stcatherinespark.co.uk or writing to The Mill at St Catherine’s Park c/o St Catherine’s Hospice, Lostock Lane, Lostock Hall, Preston, PR5 5XU. The closing date is Wednesday August 6th.

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