Chaplain Tom Gordon
The iconic BBC One programme will look at the theme of third age spirituality – examining how people view spirituality as they get older and closer to the end of life.
Programme researchers decided to feature the hospice after reading a poem by hospice Chaplain Tom Gordon.
Tom said: “As people approach the end of life they tend to want to look back over their life, sharing memories, sorting, letting go.
"I wrote The Photo Album of my Life following my experiences of caring for the elderly and those approaching end of life.
“We tend to have one picture of a person as they approach the end of their lives but many pictures make up a life story, that’s what my poem’s about.”
A film crew shadowed Tom for a day and the resulting footage is to make up one of three slots on the programme. Tom was also asked to read a few stanzas from his poem.
He said: “They did an interview with me and interlaced that with shots of me with patients and patients interacting with each other and staff in day services and in our in-patient unit.”
The programme is set to air on BBC1 at 5.20pm on Sunday November 23.
Find out more about the Marie Curie Hospice, Edinburgh here.
November 2008
