THIRTY years ago today St Leonard's Hospice took in its first inpatients. Since then, the Tadcaster Road hospice has provided comfort, friendship and the very best of care to countless local people – not to mention relief and support to their families.

There is something very special about St Leonard's. As one patient – interviewed as he was tucking into a glass of sherry – puts it in today's Press, it isn't a place of sadness. "It's like a first-class hotel," Colin Butterwick said. "Everybody here is just wonderful."

The idea of a hospice for York was first raised in 1978. It opened to day patients in 1984, and to inpatients on February 11, 1985.

Last year, the hospice cared for about 850 patients – 350 at the hospice itself, and 500 in their own homes.

Chief executive Martyn Callaghan reckons that in one way or another, the hospice has touched the lives of one in three York people, either by caring for them directly, or for a friend or loved one. Little wonder, then, that it is held in such huge affection.

When The Press teamed up with the hospice in 1998 to raise £2 million for a Millennium extension, we thought it was a huge sum.Yet we reached the target in less than three years.

This year, to mark its 30th birthday, the hospice will be launching a new appeal: St Leonard's Care Everywhere. The aim is to raise £30,000 in the hospice's 30th year, to pay for three support vehicles for staff providing hospice care in people's homes.

It is a comparatively small appeal this time – but the perfect way to celebrate the hospice's birthday. So if you're looking for a good cause to support, why not consider this one?