A West Ham legend and his wife have been named as the new patrons of St Francis Hospice.
Sir Trevor Brooking and his wife Hilkka are longstanding supporters of the hospice, attending golf days and the annual ladies lunch but this year they dedicated even more time to the charity and officially opened the hospice’s day services ‘Pemberton Place’ in Havering-atte-Bower following a relaunch.
Sir Trevor said: “The hospice is fundamental to everyone who lives in the area and with people living longer I am very conscious of the challenge and the need for Saint Francis Hospice Services.”
Hilkka continued: “A lady who worked for us a few years ago came here, she was extremely well taken care of and that was the first time I visited here and I must be honest I was in awe of what I found and how well she was cared for, the place wasn’t as daunting as I thought and that’s where my interest started.”
Sir Trevor is now looking forward to starting the hospice’s rescheduled Santathon run on March 25.
The original event was cancelled due to poor weather in December.
Pam Court, charity chief executive said: “I am thrilled Sir Trevor and Hilkka have decided to become patrons,
“They are such genuine, lovely people and they have such an affinity with the hospice and have a genuine interest having already committed their time to us which is priceless.
“A huge thank you to both of them for getting involved.
“When Sir Trevor and Hilkka come to the hospice, our staff, volunteers and patients are always excited to see them.
Sir Trevor is so obliging coming in a number of times to sign memorabilia as he has so many requests.”
When asked if he was surprised by the amount of attention and interest he receives, Sir Trevor said: “I am very lucky because even though I finished playing football a long time ago I’ve had various roles that have kept me in the public eye and we’ve always lived in this area and it seems 80 to 90pc of the people are West Ham fans.”
But Hilkka says she is not really surprised because West Ham fans are incedibly loyal.
She said: “I have always said in our marriage the third person is West Ham United and at least I can say I love her.”
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