For more than 30 years St Helena has been helping local people with incurable illness, supporting them and their families, friends and carers. Over that time we have brought comfort and relief to tens of thousands of people.
Throughout our history we have relied heavily on the help and generosity of our fundraisers, donors and volunteers. Without them we wouldn’t exist and without them we wouldn’t still be here for the people of North Essex. On behalf of all the staff and trustees at St Helena a massive thank you to everyone who has so generously supported us over the years.
“When St Helena was planned there were fewer than 10 hospices in the UK. At that time people were not always open about diagnoses and prognoses, pain and symptom control was poor. There was little bereavement care and the needs of the children in a family were ignored.”
Dr Elizabeth Hall MBE, co-founder of our hospice
Key dates in our history
1979 - A public meeting was held in Colchester Town Hall in July bringing together a Steering Committee of health and social care people with the finance and legal expertise needed to get the project off the ground. By December an appeal was launched for £250,000 to fund The Hospice.
1983 - Myland Hall was acquired in February and in November the Duchess of Norfolk visited for the ground-breaking ceremony as work began to develop the site, while the Steering Committee instigated the work of specialist nurses in the community.
1985 - The Hospice opened! We were proud to be able to support our first patients in our 15 beds.
1986 - The Hospice was officially opened in May by The Queen Mother.
1988 - Diana, Princess of Wales, officially opened The Joan Tomkins Centre in April - built to host our day therapies services, thanks to a generous donation from local businessman Robin Tomkins, in memory of his wife.
1993 – The innovative STARS programme (Supporting Talking Adjusting and Remembering Someone Special) began providing intensive bereavement support for young families.
1995 – The Education Centre was opened to share our expert knowledge and promote our philosophy of total support among health and social care professionals across North Essex.
2002 – The Tendring Centre opened in the centre of Clacton-on-Sea providing a wide range of day therapies and bereavement support services.
2007 – The Hospice was extended and refurbished.
2010 – The Joan Tomkins Centre was extended and modernised.
2011 – The Learning and Development Centre was extended and modernised.
2015 - St Helena celebrated 30 years of supporting our community; radio and television presenter Dermot O’Leary became patron; SinglePoint, a 24/7 telephone advice line and care coordination centre, was introduced, along with the My Care Choices Register which empowers people to plan ahead and share their choices.
2018 – With your continuing support we look to the future with a bold new identity and ambitions to extend our circle of care to achieve our goal of being here every step of the way for everyone who needs us, helping life go in the face of dying, death and bereavement.
2020 – With your support could this be the year where are able to extend and refurbish The Hospice? We are committed to increasing the beds available to support local people with complex symptom management and excellent end of life care, and have plans to increase our total beds to 20. We need your support though to end the desperately sad situation of some people dying while waiting for a St Helena bed at The Hospice - donate now.