Sue, who lives in Dronfield, has been volunteering for St Luke’s for the past 12 years and is now a familiar fixture at the charity’s calendar of annual events and also at the St Luke’s Ecclesall Road South site, where she offers support to the many patient activities on offer.
Her passion for giving time to her favourite charity was born when her dad Les became a St Luke’s patient as he reached the end of his fight against cancer.
“We’d had a very tottering time with the hospital but I came home one night, phoned St Luke’s and asked for their help,” she recalls.
“He came to St Luke’s the next day and when I walked onto the ward my dad smiled at me for the first time in ages and asked if he’d already died and gone to heaven – and he’d only been there one hour!
“What’s just as important, though, is that all the weight was taken off mine and my sister’s shoulders – the staff looked after us all.
“I said that when I got over the grief I would do whatever I could to make sure other people could have what we had and 12 years later I’m still doing it.”
Sue has raised thousands of pounds by taking part in a wing-walk and sky-dive – dad Les had been a paratrooper so she felt a family obligation to take up that particular challenge.
She is a regular volunteer at St Luke’s events, including the annual Festival of Light, Biz Kids and Quiz Night.
And she also volunteers a full day every week at the St Luke’s Ecclesall Road South site, where her tasks include everything from making teas to leading the popular afternoon singing sessions.
“It’s the best day of the week and I love every second of it because you met such wonderful people,” she says.
“The singing group is the highlight for me and I do stand at the front and give it everything – I don’t worry about looking a fool.
“People think hospices mean sadness, death and dying but there’s none of that and all I have met is people who laugh – with me and at me – and when they go home with a beaming smile on their face, that means so much because it is magical.
“I like people and I like to see people smile and I like to listen to them too and there has not been one point when I have ever thought I don’t want to do that again.
“There has been something in every event I have attended that makes your heart sing and by the end you know that you have helped raise the money that will keep St Luke’s afloat.”
Sue is just one of the 800 St Luke’s volunteers being celebrated as part of the hospice’s Be Part of Something Big campaign, which runs throughout May and reaches its climax at the beginning of June, which is national Volunteers’ Week.
The aim is to highlight all the St Luke’s volunteer opportunities and encourage people to book a taster session available at the St Luke’s shops and at the charity’s busy Donation Centre.
For further information contact the St Luke’s Volunteer Team at www.stlukeshospice.org.uk/volunteer/about-volunteering