Five lighthouses for a hospice, and a mile walked 50 steps a day
Two sisters spent almost £14,000 on lighthouse sculptures at a Plymouth hospice auction that raised £200,000, and a Newcastle man told he would never walk again covered a mile on a walking frame for a new hydrotherapy pool.
Forty-two of them had stood on Plymouth's streets for ten weeks over the summer, as part of Guiding Lights, an art trail run by St Luke's Hospice with the public art producer Wild in Art. Each was painted by an artist and sponsored by a local business. 12
Another 42, designed by schoolchildren, were shown at The Box museum. Ten more toured venues across Devon. 12
On 1 October they went under the hammer in a marquee at the University of Plymouth, and the people who had walked the trail turned up to bid. 2
Plymouth has Smeaton's Tower on the Hoe, and a lighthouse is what shows people in rough water where the safe line is. 2
The hospice said that is what it is trying to be for families at the end of someone's life. 2
Five of them went to one family
Kim Hill and Nicola Oliver are sisters, and both had used the hospice before the bidding started. Their mother was cared for at its specialist unit at Turnchapel in 2024. 1
Hill's husband Brian was looked after at home by St Luke's nurses for the last three weeks of his life. He died in June. 1
"I wanted ones that were connected to Plymouth," Hill said. Her husband was Scottish, had served in the Royal Navy and had lived in the city since 1977 or 1978. They were together 46 years. 1
She had hoped to walk the trail with him. He knew the lighthouses were going to auction and that she wanted one. "He would approve of me buying the lighthouses, I'm sure," she said. 1
Hill bought three: Light of Plymouth for £4,200, Mega Murals for £2,800 and Devon Delights for £2,600. 1
Oliver bought two: Walkies!, covered in painted dogs, for £2,000, and Just Keep Swimming for £2,200. Between them, almost £14,000. 1
Oliver's son, who has a disability, walked the whole trail in its first week and then went back two or three times a week through the summer. He wanted one to keep. 1
Why a painted lighthouse pays for nursing
St Luke's is an independent charity, and like the rest of England's adult hospices it raises most of its own money. 3
The National Audit Office reported last October that government funding made up about 29% of the sector's income in 2023-24. Donations, fundraising, legacies and shops made up most of the rest. 3
The charity says £200,000 is the equivalent of hospice care at home for more than 200 local families. 2
Its head of fundraising, Penny Hannah, called the project "absolutely magical" and said the money would make a difference "for more than 200 families in our community". 12
Hill said the auction was an easy way to give the hospice a large sum, because a donation of that size had never crossed her mind. 1
"You hope you're never going to have to use the facility again but if you do it's there," she said. 1
Fifty steps at a time
In Newcastle, a man was counting steps in a back garden. 4
Keith Dungait injured his spine when he hit his head in a swimming pool, and was told he would never walk again. When the Alan Shearer Foundation launched Move a Mile, he decided to try one. 4
He could manage about 50 steps a day on a walking frame. The mile took him a few weeks. He raised almost £3,000. 4
"Years ago, I was told I'd never walk again," he said. "I like a challenge, so I thought, why don't I try and walk a mile?" 4
He added: "When you can walk, you don't think about it, but when you can't, the mechanics of walking are really hard." 4
Alan Shearer, whose foundation runs the campaign, made the trip to the house. "It's one of the biggest and best stories that's come out of this campaign," he said. "I think we're all in awe of Keith." 4
What the miles are for
Move a Mile is one strand of the foundation's Million Pound Mission, a 12-month campaign to raise £1m for a second hydrotherapy pool at the Alan Shearer Centre in West Denton. 45
The centre is free to use. It was built for people with complex disabilities and acute sensory impairments, and it holds a hydrotherapy suite, sensory rooms, a ball pool and a music room, with hoists and overhead tracking throughout. 6
More than 10,000 members rely on it, and the foundation says the existing pool cannot keep pace. 5
The campaign counts miles on its front page: 52,719 of them, one for every seat at St James' Park. By Sunday morning it had logged 6,305. 5
Among the donors is Keith Dungait, £5, with his location given as "My house!" 5
Where that leaves things
Three of the lighthouses stand in the sisters' own gardens in Plymouth, one beside a swimming pool. The other two went to Hill's children. The £200,000 is with the hospice. 1
References
- 1
- 2St Luke's Guiding Lights
stlukesguidinglights.com
- 3
- 4
- 5Move a Mile
alanshearerfoundation.org.uk
- 6The Alan Shearer Centre
alanshearerfoundation.org.uk
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