A NEW relatives’ room for the Musgrove Park Hospital stroke ward has officially opened following a successful fundraising campaign by a Hillcommon resident.

With the help of her family, Mandy Brightman, who lives between Cotford St Luke and Milverton, raised a total of £5,500 to provide a relative’s room for the Taunton hospital following the death of her mother, Sue, in 2023.

A concert with Wellington’s JW3 Band and one with the Milverton Music Club were just two of several fundraising events organised to fund the new room which is now in use.

Becky Halley, ward manager on the Dunkery Stroke Unit at Musgrove Park Hospital, said: “I can’t put it into words how grateful we are for all the dedication, hard work and effort Mandy and her family have put into their fundraising efforts.

“It’s great to have this new space, as we can close the door and it just makes things a lot more comfortable for families.”

On Christmas Day, 2023, Mandy was given the devastating news that there was nothing more doctors could do for her mother.

Sue was brought into hospital with a bleed on her brain and was being cared for on the Dunkery Stroke Unit at Musgrove Park Hospital when she sadly died.

With no suitable relatives’ rooms on the ward at that time, it was in a “sad-looking” unsuitable room where Mandy and her sister Jo were told the news about their mother.

Mandy said: “Mum was brought into hospital on Christmas Eve with a bleed on her brain, and at 1am on Christmas morning we were called into a meeting with a doctor, who told us the news.

“I remember the room vividly as it was at the entrance to the ward, and was clearly not being used for anything. It simply had a single plastic chair and a rusty old fridge in it, and it felt an awful place to hear the news about mum.

“As I came out of that room, I remember speaking to a nurse called Jess, and I said to her that I’m going to fundraise for a new room for you – and we did!

“Our fundraising began at mum’s funeral, where we raised over £1,000, before we held a music concert with Wellington-based John Walker’s JW3 Band, from which we raised £700.

“The Milverton Music Club dedicated a whole evening of music to the cause, where they gave us all of the takings, and the clients of Aubrey House, which is a chiropractor in Taunton, donated around £100.

“Other fundraising activities ranged from a group of retired employees of the old electricity board donating from their raffles to the West Somerset Singers who mum sang with donating from one of their concerts.

“In the end we raised an incredible £5,500 for the room in about five months’ of fundraising, which really blew me away.

“Mum had done so much for so many in her lifetime, so this room will be her legacy which will hopefully help people to find comfort during difficult times.”