Southland Charity Hospital is very excited to announce the launch of a jewellery line in collaboration with Fabuleux Vous and Country Jewel.

This idea has been in the pipeline for some time and thanks to a serendipitous meeting between Helen Thompson-Carter and Melissa Vining it has come to fruition. 

Blair and Melissa Vining selflessly spent the last months of Blair’s life rallying New Zealander’s to petition for a national cancer agency.

When Blair realised that this was not going to solve healthcare access issues in a timely way he set plans in motion for a charity hospital to be founded to help those in Otago and Southland who could not get care in the public or private system.

It is important to pay tribute to Blair’s legacy and celebrate the community that has contributed to bringing his vision to reality.

Our annual donations drive, ‘Red, Black and White Day’ does exactly that.

Register here for Red, Black & White Day – Casual Friday – 30th July 2021

The colours of Blair’s much loved Midlands rugby club were designed into a rugby jersey for ‘Pack the Park’, first in 2019 and then again in 2020.

Since then, the colours have been used as a tribute to Blair and his impact on kiwis throughout New Zealand.

An artists impression of the completed Southland Charity Hospital.

The jewellery range designed in collaboration with the Southland Charity Hospital and funded by Fabuleux Vous pays homage to events run in honour of Blair in the past. The designs feature the eye catching red, black and white that have become attached to the hospital as well as symbols such as a rugby ball, rugby jersey and white Christmas lily (Blair’s favourite flower).

Not only does the jewellery symbolise where the Southland Charity Hospital has come from it represents connection, relationships and the bonds that have been formed.

Each person who has supported the Southland Charity Hospital has in turn become attached to the legacy of the hospital.

We are excited for supporters to be able to wear their hearts (or in this case jewellery) on their sleeves to demonstrate their support of our organisation.

Sales from the rope bracelets or sterling silver charm bracelets will lead to a $20 donation, the charms $10 and the keyrings will mean that $5 is donated to the hospital.

Jewellery is available for pre-order from today onwards. Click here to view.

Melissa Vining

“It’s funny how some things are just meant to be, Blair was a bit of a romantic and was regularly spoiling me with gifts from Country Jewel in Winton” said Melissa Vining. 

“I received a call from Kerry the owner and she was telling me about one of her fabulous suppliers who is an incredibly inspirational woman, she had been a nurse, faced a major health challenge and started her own jewellery company and that she would like to meet me. I arrived at the Country Jewel store to meet Helen and was presented with a very beautiful bracelet, personally engraved with Blairs dates and “Always” it’s fair to say there were some tears.”

“Helen told me about her business and I mentioned that we were looking for a jewellery piece for Red Black and White day and the collaboration began from there. Helen got straight to work carefully designing pieces that captured the essence of Blair’s journey, the community spirit and his romantic side, the range even includes a lilly which was his favourite flower to give me and obviously the name of our daughter.” 

“Helen and her Team at Fabuleux Vous are inspirational and I feel so proud that our jewellery range is being supplied by a NZ company who share the same values as our community. I look forward to purchasing a bracelet so I can wear Blair’s jersey and the lily as a visual reminder of all of the things he loved.”

The Team at Fabuleux Vous (FV Jewellery) feel proud and privileged to be part of the SCH journey. - Helen Thompson-Carter