My name is Jim Nichoslon and I have been the gardener at Wigan and Leigh Hospice since August 2016.

I am married to Sam, who is a vicar of two churches in Wigan. We have 2 children: Jake (23) and Izzy (21).

I have not always been a gardener. In fact, this is my first gardening job, and I love it! Many years ago I trained as a nurse and did District Nursing in Liverpool. When Izzy was born, I decided to take a short career break to look after our two small children whilst Sam carried on “vicaring”. This break lasted nearly fifteen years!

Gardening has always been a joy to me and thanks to living in a vicarage, we have always had a good sized garden to play with. The gardens of both vicarages that we have lived at were very neglected when we moved in. But with some hard work and lots of TLC they have ended up looking good, if I say so myself.

About 6 years ago I started to get a bit bored and decided to do some voluntary work at the hospice down the road. I jumped at the chance to help the other volunteers when it was suggested to me that I could work in the gardens. A year later the hospice decided to employ a part time gardener and asked me if I’d be interested in applying. I was delighted, especially when I was offered the job.

So here I am – “The Hospice Gardener”!