One of the oldest hospices in the country is celebrating its 50 years of care in Merseyside.
St. Joseph’s Hospice in Thornton was founded by much-loved member of the local community, Father Francis O’Leary.
On the 19th March 1974, the hospices first patients were welcomed after Father Francis O’Leary managed to raise the funds to convert Thornton Manor into a working hospice.
Since then, the hospice has cared for thousands of local families, providing high quality compassionate care for patients and their loved ones.
Mike Parr, chief executive of St. Joseph’s Hospice, said: “Father O’Leary’s devotion and tenacity were second to none and he spent every waking hour raising funds so that his vision of providing a peaceful and caring hospice for our local community could be realised”.
“As a charity, there is no cost for our services and we take great pride in offering a higher level of care and support to patients, and their families as well. We want to be here in another 50 years’ time to care for the next generation of local families, but we need to find new ways of increasing our funding to enable us to do that”.
To mark this momentous occasion, the hospice has delved into its archives and created a special timeline showing the history of St James Hospice over the last 50 years, which is on display at the hospice.
The hospice is proud to be a Merseyside charity and are proud of their dedicated volunteers who work around the clock to provide end of life care services to over 200 people from across Sefton, Liverpool, Knowsley and West Lancashire.
You can support the hospice through fundraising by emailing [email protected].
