Why I'll never stop supporting Saint Francis Hospice

Audrey Cowie was part of a group of dedicated people in the local community who helped make the vision of Saint Francis Hospice a reality.  As the hospice celebrates its 40th year of caring for the community, Audrey reflects on her role in the charity’s history.  

Hospice care is about life and love and laughter, for it is founded upon two unshakable beliefs; that life is so precious that each minute should be lived to the full and that death is quite simply a part of life, to be faced openly and greeted with the hand outstretched.   

I was involved with Saint Francis Hospice for over 22 years and during that time, I was Chairman of the Council of Management and served on many committees. 

How it all started

It all started in the early 1980s when I attended several informative meetings in the Brentwood area to explore the possibility of raising large sums of money for the hospice.   

I had retired from a career as a Chartered Accountant, so I was able to put my skills to good use. In 1991, I was part of the hospice’s Development Trust which launched an appeal to raise £650,000 for a new day centre. A year later we had secured the funds so work could begin on the day centre which is now known as Pemberton Place.  

In the early days, most of the people cared for at the hospice had cancer. There was one bed for people with multiple sclerosis. I was also there to see the beginning of the Hospice at Home service so people could choose to spend their last days at home if they wished to. 

Meeting Dame Cicely Saunders

I was so proud and grateful to be involved. I worked alongside so many amazing people, one of whom was Joan Matthews. She had worked as a secretary to a surgeon in the 1970s and recognised the need for hospice care. After identifying Havering Hall as a suitable location for the hospice and she was instrumental in setting up fundraising groups across the hospice’s catchment area to raise funds for the development of the services.  

I also had the pleasure of meeting Dame Cicely Saunders, the founder of the modern hospice movement. She invited me to St Christopher’s Hospice to meet the people under its care. When she was with people in their care, she sat with them and made them feel that they were the only person that mattered. She was incredible. She had the ability to get alongside people and understand them. 

People still see hospices as a place where you go to die but so many people go home after receiving the compassionate care and support of the hospice - that’s what love does.  

My experience of hospice care 

It wasn’t until my husband Dunlop was admitted to the ward that I experienced personally what hospice care was all about.  

After my son rang me to say Dunlop had arrived at the hospice, I immediately rushed over to find my husband in a sorry state and very disheveled. It was sad to see and I still find it hard when I remember this.  

A staff member put her arms around me and said, ‘do not be distressed, come back later and you will see a different person.’ At that point, I did not believe her as we had been told his condition was now life-threatening and not much more medically could be done. 

On my return, I was amazed. I got my husband back. He’d had a shower, was shaved and was in his own pyjamas. I think he even had a jacuzzi. What a transformation - he had been loved back to life. There was even a staff member to fill me in as to what could be done to make him more comfortable. Nothing was too much trouble. It was wonderful. For me this is what hospice care is all about.  

Why I’ll always support the hospice 

Saint Francis Hospice is such a special place. The moment you walk in, it puts its loving arms around you. I may have stepped back from my role at the hospice, but I never stopped supporting the charity and continue to make a regular donation. We are all going to die, and I know so many people will need the hospice, now and in the future.  And it’s lovely to think that the hospice will always be there.