40 extraordinary years volunteering at our hospice
When Ron Penfold first stepped through the doors of our hospice in the early 1980s, he was just giving his wife Patricia a lift to work. Patricia had spotted an advert and swapped her job in aircraft catering for a role at our Malthouse Road hospice, and Ron found himself tagging along after sorting out the children. At first he helped with small jobs, washing floors, tidying up after events and pitching in wherever he was needed.
“I used to come in because Patricia doesn’t drive,” Ron recalls. “After a couple of years, I said, well I might as well become a volunteer.”
Over the decades, Ron has turned his hand to just about everything
He’s worked alongside Patricia in our kitchen, helped at fundraising stalls, supported maintenance projects with his electrician’s skills, even wiring up the Tree of Light display, driven our hospice minibus to collect patients for Day Hospice sessions at our Malthouse Road hospice and most recently, joined the gardening team at our Grace Holland Avenue hospice.
Driving the minibus was one of his most rewarding roles. “You got familiar with people,” he says. “The sad thing was seeing them deteriorate and then not coming in anymore, but the sessions gave a break to carers and the patients always enjoyed them.”
One of his fondest memories was taking patients for dinner at Warnham Park, hosted by supporters Jonathan and Caroline Lucas. “They were amazing,” remembers Ron warmly. “I used to love driving the patients there for dinner, it was magic.”
These days, Ron focuses his energy on our hospice gardens
“Every week we turn up and get stuck straight in. Sometimes you think it’ll be a quick job, then two hours later you’re still pulling out weeds,” he laughs.
A lifelong gardener, Ron loves growing vegetables and flowers at home but here at the hospice it’s about more than plants. “It’s a pleasure to do the gardens for patients, and we always concentrate on patient gardens first. Knowing the pleasure they give makes it special. Occasionally we’ll see patients or relatives sitting outside. We try not to intrude unless they want to chat, but it’s lovely.
For me there’s something therapeutic about gardening. You watch the seasons change, the flowers come and go, the trees change colour. It has a rhythm. It helps you slow down and appreciate things.”
For Ron, volunteering has always been about helping our hospice thrive
“I’m saving your charity money and giving something back,” he reflects. “My volunteering gets me out the house and I feel valued here. St Catherine’s gives people a positive end of life experience, and I wanted to help towards that.”
His support hasn’t stopped at volunteering. Ron’s a founding member of our hospice lottery and once ran the London Marathon to raise funds.
Across 40 years, he’s watched St Catherine’s grow from a small, close-knit team into a larger organisation. “In the early days it was smaller, more intimate. Now it’s bigger and run more on business lines, but the care is still there. The patients I’ve known have always been so well looked after. I appreciate the hospice movement and what the staff do. It’s just a shame there isn’t enough money to open your 12 empty beds. If I won the National Lottery, I’d open some of the closed beds!” grins Ron.
In 2013 Ron was diagnosed with cancer himself, needing major surgery and a long break from volunteering while he recovered
Yet he came back. “Volunteering gave me focus again,” he says simply.
The hospice has also been a shared journey with his wife Patricia, who worked there for 23 years. “She retired but I carried on. It just became part of our lives.”
Forty years of volunteering is a remarkable milestone but Ron remains modest
For him, it’s always been about doing his bit. For us, it’s an extraordinary legacy of kindness, reliability, and quiet compassion that has touched countless lives.
As Ron puts it best, “Although the hospice is a place to come and die, it’s quite a happy place. It’s a privilege to be a part of it.”
