In just over a month - on February 11 - it will be 30 years since St Leonard's Hospice welcomed its first in-patients. STEPHEN LEWIS reports.

ANYONE who has visited St Leonard's Hospice can't help but have been struck by its atmosphere of laughter and hope.

Yes, this is a place where those with terminal illnesses come to spend their last days and weeks.

But St Leonard's is as much about celebrating life as it is about easing the way into death.

"I would recommend it to anyone!" said one patient, speaking to the Press in 2010. "When my nurse mentioned the hospice I thought that was it for me. But when you get here it's more of a 'we will sort you out' attitude.

"There are people dying in here. But if I had to die anywhere, I would prefer it to be here. The nurses are marvellous - and the food is like you find in a restaurant!"

That was five years ago, when the Tadcaster Road hospice was celebrating its 25th birthday. Today, however, as the hospice approaches its 30th birthday - on February 11- those sentiments remain as true as ever.

Thousands of people have been helped to spend their last days in dignity and peace since the hospice opened to in-patients in February 1985. Tens of thousands more appreciate the support and care given to loved ones in their last days by the hospice's dedicated staff and volunteers.

Just how big a place the hospice has in the hearts of York people was proved in 1998, when the Evening Press teamed up with St Leonard's to launch the Hospice 2000 Appeal, the biggest fund-raising campaign ever in the newspaper's then 117 year history.

Remarkably, that £2 million target was smashed in less than three years, as the city's people rallied round, getting involved in everything from sponsored bed-pushes and head shaves to 'sponsor a brick' schemes and fashion shows.

The money was used to build an extension to the hospice'sTadcaster Road site, so as to increase the number of beds from 16 to 20. The extension was officially opened by the Duke of York in 2002.

It wasn't the first time the hospice had been given a Royal seal of approval.

The idea of a hospice in York was first raised in 1978 by four local nurses. Up until then, says St Leonard's spokesman David Winpenny, patients with terminal illnesses were looked after in hospital. "A lot of people thought something better was needed," he says.

A steering committee was formed, and over the next four years a site was found in Tadcaster Road and plans were drawn up. In May 1982 the Archbishop of York Stuart Blanch launched an appeal to raise £750,000 to build the hospice.

Local architect Peter Marshall drew up the plans; Archbishop Blanch's successor, Archbishop John Habgood, laid the foundation stone in November 1983; and the day hospice opened its doors, for just one day a week, in February 1984. A year later, on February 11, 1985, the main, 16-bed hospice building received its first patients. In June that year, it was officially opened by the Duchess of Kent, the hospice's patron.

Named after the medieval St Leonard's Hospital in York city centre, the hospice now cares for about 450 people every year.

It will celebrate quietly on February 11th, 30 years to the day after welcoming its first in-patients.

On June 7, however, to mark the 30th anniversary of its official opening by the Duchess of Kent, there will be a special service at York Minster. The service will be open to all, so that everyone in the city who wants to can celebrate 30 years of this remarkable, caring institution. "The more people who come, the merrier!" Mr Winpenny said.

Make a date in your diary now...