June 1979 - A vigil of prayer at St. Peters Church, Berkhamsted resulted in a commitment to provide hospice care for local people.

Snowball Coffee mornings raised £25,000.

Invited by the Sisters of St. Francis to use their Convent in Shrublands Road as a base.

July 1980 - 1st nurse employed to work alongside Community Nurses caring for the dying at home.

1981 - First Church Links

Sisters of St. Francis are recalled to their Mother house. St Francis House became available for purchase.

£100,000 needed to buy and modify the Convent.

1st September 1982 - Purchase of St. Francis House completed and rebuild undertaken.

1983 - The 'Three Bells Club' was established - a bereavement club to provide mutual support over a simple meal, named after the bells in the tower of the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.

1983 - Boxes are provided for private homes to encourage the saving of small change. [link]

1984 - Day Hospice opens on Tuesday and Thursdays supporting 8 people each day.

What next? - inpatients

£500,000 needed to fund conversion and provide future income.

June 1st 1986 - IPU is built (1 single room, 1 triple room and 1 double room).

Nuns from the Order of St. Francis attend to bestow their blessing on the renewed purpose of their previous home.

September 1st 1986 - IPU officially opens for patients, 1st patient admitted the next day.

Spring 1988 - New stained glass windows arrive from Charres to complete the Chapel.

1988 - After much deliberation the 'Three Bells Club' is disbanded.

The Pilgrim Group emerges.

The Bereavement Telephone Helpline introduced.

1991 - 'Friends of the Hospice' launched.

1992 - The possibility of extending the current building is explored, more space is desperatly needed.

The house adjacent to St Francis is put up for sale.

'Blue Mist' is purchased. Day Hospice, Education, Volunteer Co-ordination and the Medical Director move in.

1992-1997 - In-patient, Day and Home Care of patients is carried out.

Bereavement services strengthen.

Services gradully evolve and meet ever growing needs.

1997-2003 - A time of renewed energy and vision.

A Fundraiser is appointed, Hospice Shops are launched (1999, 2000, 2002), Canceri launched, Education expands dramatically, Home Care team grow, Family Support introduced, Medical team grow and thrive, etc, etc

1999 - Decision made to build a new Hospice - the search for a new site begins....

1999 - Abbots Langley shop opens
2000 - Hemel Hempstead shop opens
2002 - Berkhamstead shop opens
2003 - Bovingdon shop opens
2005 - Chesham shop opens
Nov 2006 - Number Twenty opens

1999 - Opening of offices in Church lane to relieve space pressures on main buildings. Finance, Cashiers, Covenants, Boxes organiser, Links organiser, Fundraising and Appeals move in.

2002 - Kings Road office opens, all Church lane staff move in as well as other non-clinical staff.

Communication and cohesion are challenged.

2001 - Shootersway site indentified - the battle for planning permission begins.

May 2002 - Submitted 1st planning application to Dacorum Borough Council (DBC)

July 2002 - DBC vote to take application further, pending site investigations.

March 2003 - DBC refer application to Office of the Deputy Prime Minister re: Green Belt.

July 2003 - Outline planning permission granted under 'Special Rules'

October 2003 - Site purchased - a double rainbow appears during a deeply moving boundary walk.

A new building in which to continue our story.

January 2004 - Construction Team formed & brief for new building developed.

May 2005 - work begins below ground to regenerate the site in the capable hands of constructors, Jarvis Contracting Ltd and Skanska Cementation.

June 6 2005 - the Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Sir Simon Bowes Lyon joined representatives of the Hospice to turn the first sod.

The above video file is in .wmv format. A suitable player will download automatically or can be downloaded manually from the Microsoft web site.

October/November 2005 - regeneration completed and a borehole to 100 metres discovers water on site, enough for many years to come. To celebrate this we held a well blessing ceremony on 14th November. BBC Three Counties Radio were on hand to intervies the happy event.

Interviews with Liz Richards and Yvonne Pettingell
Interview with Roger Sharp
Interviews with Jenny Burrell and Liz Hughes
Interviews with various guests
Interviews with various guests and Penny Bird
The Well Blessing ceremony and interview with Alison Briant

November 2005 - work begins above ground and we receive a donation of 25 bricks fired 70 years ago at the brickworks on this site. These have since been sold for £1000 each to raise funds.

June 2006 - local MP's David Gauke and Mike Penning join Hospice staff and supporters at the Topping Out Ceremony, to place the last tile on the roof.

Images of the topping out ceremony and building works.

Campaigns:
As a combination of 'The Big Brick Buy', our 'Capital Appeal', the 'Dig D£ep Campaign' and the 'Gift List Campaign' - you have raised over £2 Million to help build our wonderful new Hospice. many thanks.

November 2006 - Kings Road staff move into new Hospice

December 2006 - Blue Mist Staff move into new Hospice

January 2007 - Hospice closes on old site and move into new Hospice

January 15th 2007 - Healthcare Commission Inspection

January 22nd 2007 - Patient care begins on new site with 8 beds open

June 2007 - 9th Bed opens.

October 2007 - 10th Bed opens.

February 2008 - Volunteer numbers rise to over 600

April 2008 - 11th Bed opens.