Ridgeway Rise invites your child to enter their Dove Box competition!

Ridgeway Rise Care Home invites the students of Swindon to nominate their poems and stories for their Dove Box competition in which your words will be used to help accompany residents at Ridgeway Rise into their next journey as life comes to an end. Students in years 7 - 11 have a chance to demonstrate their creativity by submitting either a short story or poem that will be included in the Dove Boxes.

The poems and stories sent in need to be uplifting as the Dove Boxes are all about creating an uplifting atmosphere for our residents in their time of need. Email [email protected] to enter.

Ridgeway Rise care home and Blackwells Independent Funeral Services would like to invite school students from school years 7 - 11 to participate in the Competition the ‘Dove Box’. 

Ridgeway Rise recognise how emotional saying goodbye to the beloved person can be. When Residents are ready for their final journey, they are joined by Relatives and friends, who want to spend those last days and hours with their loved ones. They often feel helpless and unsure what to say or do. 

Ridgeway Rise care home have partnered with Blackwells and came up with a concept of the Dove Box which will contain some suggestions of how to add meaningful quality to those last precious moments. One of the suggestions is a booklet with uplifting stories and poems describing all the good things and values in life and things that make us happy. 

We would, therefore, like to ask the students of Swindon to help us identify and dress in words those meanings and emotions. Through those expressions, young people will get an opportunity to spiritually accompany the person in their last journey with their works being read to residents by their families and friends in this last stage of life. 

Students who wish to enter the Competition are asked to share their ideas as a story or a poem, either as a single sheet or a booklet. Those can also be enriched with illustrations.

Ridgeway Rise and Blackwells Competition panel will select the finalist from two categories: primary school and secondary school. We will inform winners on 20th February and invite them to present their work at the Award Ceremony on Saturday 29th February, at Ridgeway Rise in North Swindon.

All participants are asked to fill in the entry form attached and submit it with their competing work by 20th February 2020 to Kinga Dabrowska, Ridgeway Rise, 40 Richardson Road, SN25 4DS.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with further questions about the Competition on 01793987730 or email: [email protected].