To celebrate the 50th anniversary of our charity we invited Dr Ronnie Fisher’s daughters to visit our Hospice the Macmillan Unit (in the photo Debbie and Teresa sat with Trust Secretary Neal Williams). Debbie and Teresa were last at the Macmillan Unit when they were much younger, and they remember with fondness and pride the hard work their father put into fundraising for, setting up and then running the Macmillan Unit – the first of its kind in the country, opening in 1974.
We had a very pleasant morning sat in the Hospice garden sharing photographs, press cuttings and memories (the photo shows Dr Fisher sat with a patient circa late 1970s). The garden was a picture of Spring colour and the gentle sound of water falling into the fish pond reminded us how a garden was one of Ronnie’s priorities for patients – as important as the clinical care they would receive in the Hospice.
Debbie and Teresa recalled how their father was also a talented amateur actor. His love of the arts led to him becoming chairman of the Palace Court Theatre, Bournemouth and a director of Louis Michael Theatres, a group including the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, and the London Strand (now Novello) & Richmond Theatres. They recalled the pantomimes that Ronnie would put on with the Nursing staff to entertain the patients, and how he loved to dress as father Christmas and hand out gifts to patients on Christmas morning (a tradition that Ronnie’s successors still do to this day).
Debbie and Teresa remember celebrity and local legend Max Bygraves (1922 – 2012) who would visit patients and staff at the Hospice. He was very generous with personal donations and his time. Max became a family friend of the Fishers.
It was a pleasure to meet Debbie and Teresa and to have the opportunity to show them the expert and dedicated care that is provided in the Macmillan Unit and in our community – thanks to the pioneering work of their father over 50 years ago.
You can read more here about Dr Fisher’s life, his work, the principles of specialist care he set out, and how he made history by founding the first NHS Hospice.
An extraordinary man, a healthcare pioneer, our founder.
