The founder of a charity that provides vital support to families with children admitted to hospital has thanked a Hampshire accountancy firm for its help.

Charlotte Fairall said she was ‘deeply grateful’ that staff at chartered accountants and business advisors HWB have voted to make Sophie’s Legacy their charity of the year.

Founded in memory of Charlotte’s daughter Sophie who died of cancer at age ten, the charity focuses on making the lived experience of hospital better for child patients and their visiting families. Among its activities is the provision of parent packs, containing items such as tea bags, toiletries, cosmetics and phone chargers, to help with bedside times and overnight stays.

The charity currently distributes around 50 packs a week to each of 12 hospitals across the south including 13 wards at Southampton General Hospital.

HWB will provide a range of support to Sophie’s Legacy this year. As well as hosting and participating in fundraising events, staff aim to gather donations of items and be hands-on by contributing to the making up and delivery of hospital packs.

HWB Director Michaela Johns:

“We’re keen to offer as much support as we can to such a deserving cause in the community. Sophie’s Legacy is all about helping families locally who have to spend time in hospital with their child.”

Charlotte, a social worker and mum-of-three, said:

“We are incredibly honoured that HWB has chosen Sophie’s Legacy as its Charity of the Year. Their help will make a real and meaningful difference to the children and their families we work tirelessly to support in hospital."

“Sophie’s Legacy was founded in memory of my daughter, Sophie, with the mission of driving vital improvements in paediatric care in hospital. Having HWB stand alongside us in that mission is truly uplifting, and we are deeply grateful for their commitment.”

Charlotte lost Sophie, her second of three daughters, to an aggressive childhood cancer in 2021, a year after an initial diagnosis that prompted intensive chemotherapy and weeks of radiotherapy. The experience prompted her to launch Sophie’s Legacy as a charity dedicated to fixing gaps in family support at hospital that Sophie herself had identified.

As well as distributing packs, Sophie’s Legacy helps families with transport costs, funds therapeutic art sessions for children in hospital and campaigns to reshape hospital care and policy so it is more aligned with people’s lived experience.

HWB’s previous charities of the year include Dementia Support Hampshire & Isle of Wight, Wessex Cancer Trust, Mountbatten Hampshire and Imagine This, previously the Murray Parish Trust.

For more information on Sophie’s Legacy, visit here.

Chartered accountants HWB, headquartered in Chandler’s Ford near Southampton, provides business and tax advice.

Photo: From left: HWB colleagues Emma Kemp, Marketing Executive, Susan Wooding, Tax Compliance Manager and Liz Torkington, Office Administrator, with volunteers from Sophie’s Legacy Dennis Dawes and John Miller.