New patron: MP Steve Baker at the Light Up a Life event
Celebrating: MP Steve Baker with Hospice CEO Jo Woolf
MP Steve Baker helped lead a poignant remembrance service at The South Buckinghamshire Community Hospice – and then revealed he is to become a patron of the charity.
Mr Baker opened the Light up a Life evening on December 9 with a reading of ‘High Flight’ by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
This was followed by hymns and other readings in what will be the last service of its kind before the Hospice moves to its new £4.8m building in Totteridge, High Wycombe, next year.
Afterwards, the Wycombe MP told how he had accepted an invitation to become a figure-head for the Hospice in its landmark year of 2017.
“I know this community Hospice is going to grow and expand to provide loving care to many people in their last days and I am very proud to have accepted the invitation this evening to become a patron,” he said. “I look forward to supporting the Hospice as it grows and develops and shows a new model of care which I hope will prove to be transformative right across the UK.”
The Light Up a Life service gave people the opportunity to light a candle and write a special message to loved ones they have lost on a star hung on a Christmas tree.
Mr Baker took part by remembering two close relatives. He said: “My wife and I lost her mother to cancer two years ago, and before that, I lost my step-father to cancer. So we have both been through that kind of bereavement twice and seen how valuable hospices can be, and we have walked the family’s journey and seen what those who are ill must go through.”
Other dignitaries joined Mr Baker among the dozens who attended at Pusey House in High Wycombe.
Cllr Suzanne Brown, vice-chairman of Wycombe District Council, described it as a ‘lovely and poignant service’, which was a mixture of cheerfulness and remembrance. Cllr Tony Green, a local district councillor, called it a ‘very pleasant, moving service’. And Richard Pushman, an Honorary Alderman of the area, labelled it a ‘fantastic evening’, saying the Hospice provides a tremendous and much-needed service to the community.
Attendees at the multi-faith service also enjoyed mince pies, hot chocolate and carols. A choir, led by Royal Grammar School Head of Music Tim Venvell, performed Christmas songs for the guests.
Sam Solomon, from High Wycombe, attended with her six-year-old daughter Grace. Mrs Solomon – who was there to remember her mother - said: “I didn’t expect it to be so moving. It was poignant to be here the last Christmas before it moves.”
Jo Woolf, Chief Executive Officer of the Hospice, said: “It was, as always, a deeply moving and wonderful evening. This year it was especially significant because it is the last Light Up a Life at Pusey House. And it was made extra special by the fact our MP so kindly agreed to become our patron.”
