8. Dame Dione Digby

Lady Dione Digby was President of the charity from 1990, when the appeal to fund the building of the hospice was launched, until she retired in 2007.

Dione was involved in raising awareness of the project from the beginning, hosting fundraising events at Minterne House. Caroline Nickinson, a founding trustee, created a model of the Hospice to be taken round to the houses of leading members of the community who invited their friends to come to see what was being proposed. The response was encouragingly positive; the Hospice ‘end of life’ movement, begun by Dame Cecily Saunders, was well known and the community in West Dorset wished to be a part of it.

With fundraising going well, the Foundation stone on a Duchy of Cornwall site was laid by Lord Digby, Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, Dione’s husband, on October 1st 1992. He said at the time that Dorset would have ‘one of the best designed and equipped hospices in the country’.

In 1993, with the building nearing completion, the Chairman John Greener suggested to Dione that they should lead a sponsored pilgrimage along the Pilgrim route across northern Spain to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella where a Holy Year was being celebrated. On September 16th, ten intrepid trekkers set off from Astorga to walk 200 miles of the route, climbing over four mountain ranges, and arriving at their destination on October 1st. The following day they wrote post cards to thank all the people who had sponsored the trip, knowing that the keys of the hospice were now in the possession of the Trust.

Dione also remembers the first day when the hospice went ‘live’. She was a board member of Wessex Water at that time, and the Chairman Nicholas Hood had asked to see the new hospice. Following a tour of the building they were standing at the front door when the first patient arrived. Nicholas turned to Dione and said ‘Wessex Water will not be making a charge for the connection of water to your hospice’ this kind gesture saved the charity a considerable sum of money.

Dione says “Thirty years on it gives me the greatest pleasure to congratulate and thank all the dedicated staff and volunteers, who have provided such an invaluable and caring service to the people of West Dorset.”