IT is amazing to think a charity launched via an appeal at a public meeting 30 years ago now provides services worth £5.1million every year.

That’s exactly how St Helena Hospice was born.

And on May 20, 1985, less than five years after the campaign started, the first patients were admitted under the watchful eye of the hospice’s first medical director, Dr Elizabeth Hall.

This month, a host of events are being held in recognition of the charity’s anniversary, which provides support to the terminally ill and their families across north Essex.

When it opened, it cost £305,000 a year to run. Now it costs £5.1million and all its services are free of charge.

Rosy Stamp, hospice director, said the charity has survived because so many people living in Colchester and the surrounding areas believe in it.

She said: “Since our opening, St Helena has changed and developed in many different ways.

“We have moved the focus of our work out into the community.

“Our inpatient unit has been updated to provide 21st century standards of holistic care in a safe, modern environment.

“We have developed a psycho-social team with expertise in the pre and post bereavement support of children.

“We have an Education centre, which is a national leader, and this has enabled us to develop a high proportion of clinical staff with specialist training and degrees.

“However, at the heart of the hospice remains the same passionate belief in the right of each individual patient to choice and dignity, and the same commitment to do our best to deliver this.”

Over the years, its doors have been opened to a number of special guests, including Diana, Princess of Wales. She officially opened the Joan Tomkins Day Centre, in 1988, which this year will undergo a massive modernisation project costing more than £500,000. The majority of the cash has come from a Department of Health grant.

Dr Hall said: “It is difficult to believe 25 years has passed since May 20, 1985, when we gathered to admit the first patient to the hospice.

“Memories come flooding back of a biscuit tin of donations, endless talks to hundreds of groups, and the gathering of a fantastic crowd of volunteers and fundraisers organised by Pat Gosling.

“The first sod cut by the Duchess of Norfolk with a giant digger to the strains of ‘Hi ho! Hi ho! It’s off to work we go’, the opening of the hospice by the Queen Mother, and the day centre by Princess Diana, were all memorable occasions.

“My initial hope was this centre of pooled experience would influence care wherever it was needed.

“This has mainly been achieved with inpatient beds, nurses in the community, day centres, Hospice at Home, and of course, the Education Centre.

“It has been a great privilege and a lot of fun to be involved in St Helena Hospice for more than 25 years.”

Now the centre is focusing on the future, having developed a strategic five-year plan.

Mrs Stamp said: “We need to continue to be reflective and respond to external drivers in Government strategy, quality measures, legislation and finance.”

Ian MacInnes, of Chase Lane, Dovercourt, has terminal cancer.

Like so many people in north Essex who have the disease, or whose friends or family have been affected by it, he and his wife, Beryl, have turned his attention to raising money for St Helena Hospice.

The 79-year-old, who attends the charity’s Tendring Day Centre, in Clacton, once a week, said: “The hospice is a wonderful place. I only wish I could do more for them because they do so much for me.”

Mrs MacInnes raised £1,000 for the hospice with a coffee morning last year, and now plans to take part in Colchester’s Midnight Walk to raise more.

The couple are backing a campaign by the hospice to encourage more people to take part in its fundraising lottery, which has raised more than £1.5million since June 2001.

For information, visit www.sthelenahospice.org.uk