Anne’s Story
Anne’s Story: A Hospice Fundraising Film for Phyllis Tuckwell
Phyllis Tuckwell wanted to raise awareness of the care and support it provides to patients and their families. However, the charity needed more than a traditional service-led film.
It needed a human story.
NRG Studios created a sensitive hospice fundraising film centred on Anne, her husband Pete and their family. Through Anne’s experience, the film shows how Phyllis Tuckwell supported the family before, during and after Pete’s death.
The result is an authentic and deeply moving story. It demonstrates how emotional subject matter can be handled with kindness, professionalism and care.
The Challenge: Showing the full range of support with kindness and compassion
Phyllis Tuckwell provides specialist care, practical support, guidance and reassurance across Surrey and Hampshire. Support is available at the hospice, at the Beacon Centre in Guildford, in patients’ homes and throughout the local community.
However, many people still associate hospice care only with clinical settings, sadness and the final stages of life. As a result, families may not understand the full range of support available until they need it.
Therefore, the film needed to challenge those perceptions. It also needed to help patients and families understand what receiving support from Phyllis Tuckwell can feel like.
The content needed to:
- Capture attention quickly
- Reassure patients and families
- Explain the breadth of care available
- Show the people and services behind the charity
- Build trust in Phyllis Tuckwell
- Help more families understand when and how support is available
This was not simply an awareness film. Instead, it was an opportunity to show the compassion, expertise and practical support that Phyllis Tuckwell provides during some of life’s most difficult moments.
Our approach: Putting duty of care first
Rather than producing a traditional hospice fundraising film led by organisational messages, we focused on one family’s lived experience.
Working closely with the Phyllis Tuckwell marketing team, we identified Anne as the film’s central storyteller. Anne, Pete and their family had received support from the charity before, during and after Pete’s death. Consequently, their experience could reveal the impact of Phyllis Tuckwell’s services in a personal and relatable way.
The subject was highly sensitive. Therefore, Anne’s wellbeing remained our priority throughout the production.
Before filming, we spent time with Anne and clearly explained the interview process. We discussed the questions in advance and talked through the scenes we hoped to capture. This preparation helped Anne feel informed, comfortable and supported.
During production, the NRG Studios team created a calm environment and allowed Anne’s story to unfold naturally. The aim was not to manufacture emotion. Instead, we wanted to give Anne the space to share her experience in her own words.
Building the film around a real journey
We structured the film around Anne and Pete’s journey. This approach allowed the audience to discover Phyllis Tuckwell’s services through the family’s experience.
The story naturally introduces support including:
- Hospice at Home
- Specialist clinical care
- Practical guidance and reassurance
- Support for the wider family
- Bereavement support
As a result, the film communicates the breadth of hospice care without becoming a list of services. Instead, each form of support is connected to a real moment in one family’s life.
The Outcome: Demonstrating the impact of care and support
Rather than simply describing hospice services, the film shows what receiving that care can feel like. It places Anne and Pete’s relationship at the centre of the story while revealing the people, compassion and expertise behind the charity.
The hospice fundraising film:
- Humanises the support available before, during and after bereavement
- Challenges misconceptions about hospice care
- Raises awareness of Hospice at Home services
- Shows how Phyllis Tuckwell supports patients and their families
- Builds trust through a genuine lived experience
- Creates an emotional connection that service descriptions alone cannot achieve
Most importantly, the film presents Phyllis Tuckwell as more than a place associated with death and dying. It shows a charity providing care, reassurance and practical support when patients and families need it most.
Watch the full film below:
Why it Matters: Building understanding through trust
Complex and sensitive topics become more relatable, understandable and accessible.
- Real stories build trust more effectively than service-led messaging.
- A hospice fundraising film can help challenge misconceptions about hospice care.
- Sensitive storytelling makes complex healthcare topics easier to understand.
- Emotional connections help charity messages resonate with families and communities.
- Authentic patient and family experiences can increase awareness of available support services
More importantly, the film demonstrates how a carefully crafted charity fundraising video can build understanding, create emotional connection and help more people recognise when support is available for themselves or someone they love.
”The whole team at NRG were professional, supportive and flexible throughout the project. They really understood the emotions involved and what we were trying to achieve, and worked together with us, listening to our thoughts and feedback, to create a very moving, impactful film that we are so pleased with.”
Becky BornMarketing Lead, Phyllis Tuckwell
”Can you please pass on my thanks to Rob and his delightful team, who made the experience so much easier than I worried it might have been. They were unfailingly kind, supportive and caring, and I feel very privileged to have been able to put Pete at the heart of something so special.
Anne
It’s hard to find the right words to describe how I feel, but this film, and the memory of making it, is something precious that I will treasure.