History of Blythe House Hospicecare
Blythe House was founded in 1989 and we’ve come a long way since then, but our mission remains the same: to provide free care and services to anyone in our local community affected by life-limiting illnesses.
Blythe House Hospice was founded in 1989 when Stan Blythe left a £1,000 legacy to Reverend Betty Packham:
‘Stan Blythe, a local secondary school teacher, keen birdwatcher and the longest serving president of Buxton Field Club, had retired early due to encroaching blindness. He lived alone in Fairfield and was on my list of visiting parishioners.
‘I changed parishes and sometime later received a request to visit Stan in hospital where he had just been told that he had cancer. He wanted to tell me that he was determined to die at home. My visits resumed and it was painful to watch this tall, erect and gentle man gradually getting weaker and less able to cope. As it became obvious that he was unable to care for himself, I invited him to come and live with us.
‘Fiercely and stubbornly independent, he refused until the time came when he could admit his frailty and so for the last four months of his life he had a bedroom overlooking the garden, listening to and identifying the birds. He had the regular care of a supportive medical team and was waited on hand and foot by his many friends who came to prepare his meals and be with him during the day.
‘On the morning that he died a voice on his beloved radio sang “….the birds are singing and I don’t know how to say goodbye.” So Stan had a peaceful death enveloped in the loving care of his many, many friends.
‘Stan left me £1,000 and I knew immediately that I wanted to build a hospice in his name. Blythe House is a fulfillment of that dream – a memorial to a wonderfully warm and brave man.’
