Three decades of voluntary work for Rennie Grove

Eight dedicated individuals have each chalked up an impressive 30 years of voluntary service to Rennie Grove. Their achievements were recognised at an afternoon tea hosted by ​our Chairman, Professor Stephen Spiro and Chief Executive, Stewart Marks.

Rosina Clarkson from the Beaconsfield Fundraising Group said: “I was inspired by a talk given by an Iain Rennie Hospice at Home nurse at my church over 30 years ago and since then I have been passionate about supporting Rennie Grove Hospice Care.

“Our fundraising group has been together for more than 20 years now and we have become friends. What we especially like about raising funds for Rennie Grove is knowing that the vast majority goes directly towards nursing care for patients and that is very important to us all.”

Pat Lea has held a number of volunteer roles for Rennie Grove over more than 30 years mostly supporting siblings of child patients by listening to their concerns and anxieties working through them with creative play and activities. Pat said: “I’ve kept in touch with some of the children I’ve supported over the years including one of the very first. When I first met him he was aged just 3. Now he’s 25!”

Pat has been on the Wycombe and Amersham Fund Raising Team during those 30 years along with Richard Nisbet and his wife Christine. Richard said: “We’ve organised many fundraising activities over the years and the largest was a Last Night of the Proms concert to celebrate 20 years of Iain Rennie Hospice at Home. It took a year to plan and involved 1,500 people. The fundraising group mostly sticks to smaller-scale but ever-popular social events these days such as musical evenings and quiz nights.” “Our wildlife events were hugely popular, and great fun,” added Christine.

Pauline and Chris Langford are another husband and wife team that have supported Rennie Grove for more than three decades. Pauline said: “Throughout my life I’ve always held the view that if I join something, I also like to contribute. Volunteering for Rennie Grove enables more nurses to attend to more patients which is at the core of the charity. I enjoy the teamwork element and have made some good friends too. I love helping whenever I can at a variety of fundraising events and by supporting Chris at many of the concerts or dinners he organises on behalf of the charity.”