Twenty-eight years of asking for a hospice — and a 16-year-old who rebuilt his race car nut and bolt
A hospice that Great Yarmouth and Waveney spent 28 years asking for has finally broken ground at Gorleston, and a 16-year-old in Staffordshire who built his own championship-winning race car with his father won 14 of his 18 races.
On Tuesday morning, in a fenced seven-acre field off Sidegate Road in Gorleston-on-Sea, two women in hard hats held ceremonial spades in front of a yellow excavator. Judi Newman runs St Elizabeth Hospice. Charlie Royall is the clinical nurse specialist who will lead the team in the new building. 1
The request behind those spades goes back to 1998.
The women who kept asking
Roberta Lovick's daughter Louise died in 1998. Lovick founded the Louise Hamilton Trust and spent the following years campaigning for hospice care in Great Yarmouth and Waveney.
"When my daughter Louise died in 1998, I vowed to dedicate my life to improving end-of-life care in this community and across the country," she said this week. 2
Margaret Chadd took up the same cause around 2000, raising money to buy the land and secure the first planning consent. 2 She died in 2018, aged 96, after 18 years on the campaign. 2
Her son Jonathan stood at the fence on Tuesday. "Today is a tremendously important milestone ... one I know my mother ... would have been thrilled to see," he said. 2 He had promised her he would see the project through. 1
Why it took so long
The campaign ran into money, and into a disagreement about where the hospice should sit. 1
The land arrived through East Coast Hospice, which merged with St Elizabeth Hospice in 2023. 3 Planning approval from Great Yarmouth Borough Council came a little over a year ago. 2
Why these beds matter
Only 2.1% of people in Norfolk and Waveney die in a hospice. Across England the figure is 4.4%. 1
Demand for hospice care in the area is expected to rise by 35% by 2040. 1 Between April 2025 and March 2026, the charity counted 352 local patients who would have been referred for inpatient hospice care had a bed been available. 2
St Elizabeth's nurses already work in the area, through district nursing, outpatient clinics at Beccles Hospital and Martham Medical Centre, and support at James Paget University Hospital. Since 2019 that partnership has reached more than 7,000 patients and families. 2
Who pays for a hospice
Hospices in England are charities. Government money, including from the local integrated care board, came to about 29% of the sector's income in 2023-24. 4 Donations, legacies, fundraising and the shops supplied most of the rest. 4
England has 135 independent adult hospice charities. Together they cared for around 251,000 people in 2023-24, made roughly 1.2m community visits and supported about 69,000 family members and carers. 4
At St Elizabeth, the fundraising shows up on one thank-you page: £113 from a construction firm's bake sale, £1,202 from a church's festive fundraiser, £9,400 from two cyclists who rode 10,000km through Africa. 3
The range on that page is what struck me. A hundred pounds and change, in a campaign that still has to find £16m.
What is being built, and what is still owed
Inside will be up to 16 inpatient beds and an outpatient and community hub for day services and therapy. 2 The building also holds a base for local hospice staff and a community café. 2
The building will cost around £16m and take up to two years. 2 Mark Hart, of Barnes Construction, reckons his firm hands over the keys in about 61 weeks. 1 About two-thirds of the money is in. 1 A capital appeal for the rest launches soon. 2
A car built nut and bolt
Dara McInerney, 16, of Mow Cop in Staffordshire, finished his second season in the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship with 14 wins from 18 races, and a podium finish in 17 of them. The organisers say 14 wins is the most recorded in a single season. 5
He and his father Craig built the car. Craig came to it from a background in mechanical engineering; between race weekends Dara strips the Fiesta down, checks it and rebuilds it. 5
"Every nut and bolt has been off it," he said. 5
His earliest memory is sitting on his father's lap, steering while Craig worked the pedals. 5 He was in his first go-kart at three. 5 He is homeschooled and wants to race in World GT one day; Craig says the next step depends on finding backing. 5
What you can do from here
The care is running already. OneCall, the charity's specialist palliative care advice line, answers 24 hours a day for people in Great Yarmouth and Waveney on 0800 567 0111. 3
A GP or hospital doctor usually makes the referral into hospice care, and some hospices take self-referrals. 6 Care is free to patients, their families and their carers. 6
The beds are the part still being built. Anyone wanting to put money into them can give through the charity's Gorleston hospice appeal.
References
- 1
- 2First Spade in the Ground for Landmark Gorleston Hospice
stelizabethhospice.org.uk
- 3Gorleston Community Hospice
stelizabethhospice.org.uk
- 4
- 5
- 6What is hospice care?
hospiceuk.org
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