MARY Stevens Hospice is hosting a celebration to mark its 30th anniversary.

A celebration will be held on Wednesday September 15 at St Mary’s Church, Oldswinford to celebrate the work of the hospice over the last three decades and to highlight some of its plans for the future.

The event comes after the charity's annual summer fayre returned with a bang on September 4 and raised £18,600 to help the hospice continue to provide free, specialist end of life care to people in the Dudley borough and wider Black Country area.

The celebration will include an update from hospice CEO, Claire Towns, music from the Mary Stevens Hospice Choir, who will be joined by young soloist Emily Carew-Gibbs - a sought-after classical soprano, and senior adult nursing lecturer at Wolverhampton University, Andrew Bagnall will be a guest speaker at the event.

And in the spotlight on the night will be two aspects of the hospice’s work that are undergoing significant development, the day services unit and bereavement support.

Anyone wishing to attend the anniversary celebration is asked to let the hospice know by filling out an online form here. via this short form here.

Keith Judson, spiritual care co-ordinator at the hospice, said: “We’ve held a remembrance service at St Mary’s for many years but wanted to do something different for our 30th anniversary.

"It will be a great opportunity to celebrate the work of the Mary Stevens Hospice and hear about some of our plans for the future.

"There will be an opportunity for folk to remember loved ones and we also wanted to mark the loss of so many lives in the pandemic. However, our hope is that this will be an uplifting and inspiring occasion for all who come.

"We’re really looking forward to it.

"One thing that has remained a constant for the hospice throughout the past 30 years is their dedication to serving their community with the ethos of ‘care, compassion, kindness’ at the heart of everything that they do."