St Leonard’s Hospice founding member Rosemary Thompson retires

Colleagues of Rosemary Thompson described her as “an example of dedication” after her final day as the longest-serving member of staff at the Tadcaster Road hospice.

Mrs Thompson, 65, was present at the first meeting of founding members of St Leonard’s in the late 1970s.

“I started fundraising when we first began back in 1978,” she said. “That was when the hospice was started in the Tempest Anderson Hall.

“I was interested in the hospice as a project and I said I would love the privilege of being involved as a nurse, but first we had to raise the money.

“Several of us where asked to lead fundraising groups in our area and I led the group in Heworth.”

Mrs Thompson was then asked, along with a colleague, if she would work on setting up the hospice’s day-care section.

“We did that in 1984 as the building was being built, so we had to set up day care in a stable block in the grounds. The main building opened in 1985.”

Working as a family care nurse, Mrs Thompson combined the role with that of bereavement co-ordinator in 1992 and was eventually overseeing a team of between 30 and 40 volunteers.

Looking back on her years at the hospice, she said: “I still feel the same now as I did when I started about being part of a team that cares. The hospice is a community project and that is how it has to carry on.”

Martyn Callaghan, chief executive of St Leonard’s, said: “If you want an example of dedication, Rosemary certainly fits the bill. She is St Leonard’s longest-serving staff member, in a variety of roles – and she has always been well-respected by colleagues and by our patients and their families. “She has contributed so much to the success of the hospice, and we know that she will continue to give us her full support in her well-deserved retirement.”

Mrs Thompson, a grandmother of two, said she had been very busy since her retirement.

“Friends keep asking me how I ever found time for work,” she said.