Train Tameside 500 Column – Willow Wood Hospice
Thu, 22 January 2026
This week’s Train Tameside 500 spotlight focuses on Willow Wood Hospice, a well known local charitable organisation that shows how investing its people helps to deliver positive outcomes for staff, volunteers and local families.
Train Tameside 500 is a boroughwide initiative led by Tameside College to create 500 training and employment opportunities through a partnership between local industry, further education and Tameside Council. By working together, the project is building clear pathways for young people and adults to gain the skills, qualifications and real world experience needed to progress, helping to strengthen the local workforce and support growth across the borough.
At Willow Wood, this commitment to skills and training is supported by Sam Duncan, Director of Fundraising and Communications, who plays a key role in championing learning opportunities across the organisation. For Sam, training helps the organisation to continually improve.
“My personal interest in training and skills comes from the drive to get better and achieve more.” Sam explains. “That mindset encourages people to grow in confidence and capability and helps us to move forward together.”
As a hospice providing essential care and support to local people, Willow Wood’s staff members and volunteers need to deliver high quality services. This underpins the organisation’s motivation to invest in training, apprenticeships and work placements.
“Through apprenticeships, work placements and an army of regular volunteers, we relish the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the community we serve.” Sam says. “Helping people develop their skills and reach their full potential ultimately helps us deliver our goals and ensures we remain an exemplary care provider for local people.”
Training at Willow Wood supports both day to day delivery of services and long term goals. By developing staff and volunteers, the organisation is strengthening its ability to provide professional care whilst creating opportunities for staff to develop.
The benefits of this approach are clear to see. Willow Wood has been able to deliver key fundraising events and activities and further develop its retail stores, all of which generate vital income to support the charity’s services.
Sam says: “Our people have benefited professionally from training and development personally, through improved confidence and the ability to deliver results.”
Knowing they are valued plays an important role in motivating Willow Wood’s workforce. Because the organisation invests in its staff and volunteers, they feel more confident in their roles and committed to the organisation’s goal of supporting everyone in Tameside with a life limiting illness.
In the highly regulated and demanding health and social sector, training is also essential to maintaining patient care. As a Train Tameside 500 ambassador, Willow Wood is keen to encourage other employers to see training as a worthwhile investment and an essential way to ensuring organisations stay up to date with industry standards.
“My advice to other employers would be simple, do it.” Sam says. “The investment of time, and the sharing of your own knowledge and experience, is rewarded tenfold.”
This message reflects the aims of the Train Tameside 500 initiative. Through apprenticeships, work placements and training, local organisations such as Willow Wood are helping to build a highly skilled and valuable local workforce.
If you or your organisation would like to #JoinTT500, become a Train Tameside 500 ambassador or explore how training, apprenticeships and work placements can benefit your organisation, contact the college’s Apprenticeships Team at apprenticeships@tameside.ac.uk or call 0161 908 6735.