Teesdale medic's fundraising effort in memory of her dad

A MEDICAL professional has teamed up with her neighbours to support hospice care in her father’s memory.

Kalpita Kunde-Potts, from Windmill, will host a free charity fete on land in front of her house this Saturday (August 19) from 11am until 4pm to raise money for palliative care services in India.

The mother-of-two was inspired to act after she lost her father to cancer in 2013 aged 68.

She said the chronic lack of specialist hospice care available in India had made his death all the more difficult.

Mrs Kunde-Potts said: “I remember when I was in Mumbai talking to the consultant and I asked when my dad was going to get physical respite and palliative care – they all asked me what it meant.

“They just didn’t have a clue what I was talking about and that shocked me.

“Unfortunately, in my opinion, my dad passed away in a lot of physical pain.”

Mrs Kunde-Potts grew up in Goa and has lived in England for the past 20 years working as a consultant for the NHS.

She now holds a position as a senior clinical psychologist and much of the maternal side of her family work in healthcare in India.

But the concept of palliative care is not as culturally embedded as here in the UK with only a small handful of hospices in Mumbai and Goa.

“I know first-hand how incredibly beneficial and crucial these services are for terminally ill patients and families,” added Mrs Kunde-Potts.

“So, outside of my family and work, I’m now raising awareness in Mumbai and Goa about palliative and hospice care. I want to do something to prevent families going through the horrid experience we had, so I started a fundraising campaign to develop palliative and hospice care in those two Indian locations.”

Her experiences triggered her to act and her Windmill neighbours have rallied around to help with the fete.

Volunteers have gathered together a wide range of stalls, businesses and games for the day including Simon Raine’s Weardale Cheese, Eleanor Lowther Jewellery and up and coming band Street-Legal.

More than 170 prizes have been gathered for a tombola on the day and Hamsterley Hoppings have also chipped in donating their coconut shy and other games.

Mrs Kunde-Potts added: “It’s such an amazing community in Windmill – it’s very close knit and if it wasn’t for my neighbours and family I would not have done it.”

Traditional Goan cuisine will also be centre stage with Mrs Kunde-Potts donning the apron and cooking up some of her organically grown produce. A special literary addition is also to set further boost the campaign’s coffers in the coming months. Mrs Kunde-Potts explained: “I am publishing a cookbook of tried and tested Goan recipes – it was an ex-Portuguese colony for 500 to 600 years so there is a lot of Portuguese influence in there.

“My dad was a big foodie so I thought what better way to connect it together. He would have been very proud and there are certain recipes that were special to him.”

The book entitled Jevpak Yo, which is Konkani for “come dine with me”, will be published later this year with all proceeds going to the hospice fund. To attend the fair, head to DL14 0PT in Windmill.