LAURA MILLAR thinks of her 15 years associated with St Margaret of Scotland Hospice as her mother’s legacy.

The senior procurator fiscal depute knew nothing about the hospice, except its wonderful reputation, until her mother Mary was dying from a particularly aggressive form of lung cancer.

The help Mary, Laura and her father John received from caring staff has never been forgotten and now Laura serves as a non-executive director.

“I remember feeling the first time we came down here there was a tremendous sense of calmness, relief, being in very capable and loving hands and being able to spend the time with my mum rather than worry,” she remembers.

“It struck me there was a sense of purpose in the hospice, there’s a lot of laughter and a lot of happiness and that seems at odds with the time people are at in their lives.

“There’s an old saying that how somebody dies lives on in the lives of those who are left behind, and it made the whole transition easier than it might have been.

“For the last five days she was here I stayed overnight. I was here 24 hours and saw everything first hand. There’s no difference between night and day here. It is just superb.”

The family maintained close links with the Clydebank hospice and attended fundraising events. In the years after Mary’s death at the age of 66, John nominated chief executive Sister Rita Dawson for the Evening Times accolade Scotswoman of the Year. Then Laura took up a position as a board member.

“It has been a pleasure and a real privilege. Sometimes members of the board see letters from people who have had family members in here and it’s quite moving. They very much mirror our experience of what it was like.

“Even though it is coming up for 15 years since my mother died, in a lot of ways it seems like yesterday.”

Every year Laura, from Bearsden, speak at the Ladies Lunch, volunteers on the Christmas bus that visits Glasgow city centre as well as travelling around Clydebank, Dumbarton and Milngavie, and speaks at church meetings about the work of the hospice.

In the time she has been linked with the healthcare facility she has seen the opening of the Mary Aikenhead Centre, that provides 10 single and 10 twin rooms for the frail elderly with complex medical and nursing needs.

“That was from fundraising, it is local people, the ones who come to the ladies lunch, the annual ball, who do the Millport cycle ride, the midnight walk, who helped us to get there,” she says.

“There’s a wonderful poster in the education centre which says: ‘We don’t do adequate, we strive for perfection.’

“From my experience as a family member they achieved perfection. It’s a very special place and I often think of it as my mum’s legacy to become involved, and that makes it all the more precious.”

Scotland’s oldest and largest hospice, St Margaret of Scotland celebrates its 65th anniversary today with visitors including Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop Emeritus Mario Conti, and ministers from local churches.

It was founded in 1950 by the Religious Sister of Charity after a nun, who had recently arrived from Ireland to help with the work of the parish and school, was approached by a man with advanced throat cancer who told her that he had nowhere to go and had no-one to care for him.

She contacted Dublin to ask if it might be possible for them to send over a Sister trained in nursing who would look after this man and others like him, and the hospice was born.

Money was raised to buy a house in Millbrae Crescent, Clydebank, plus equipment, and the man with throat cancer was the first patient.

They quickly outgrew the first house and bought next door too. It time it was clear a purpose-built hospice was the only answer. The first turf at East Barns Street was cut on July 19, 1969, and on September 29, 1971, the new hospice opened to accommodate 60 patients.

Chairman of the board of directors, Professor Leo Martin is a a solicitor in private practice and director of the legal practice course at the University of Strathclyde who is involved in talks with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde regarding funding.

“We are different from other hospices because we have the Mary Aikenhead Centre as well as St Joseph’s Palliative Care Ward,” he explains.

“Part of the discussions which I have in funding with the health board on behalf of the hospice are to do with different aspects of funding. The health board should fund the Mary Aikenhead Centre 100%, however we end up subsidising it through fundraising as well.

“And with St Joseph’s Ward, 50% of funding is approved expenditure.

“The health board is our largest partner because it provides a substantial amount of money but at the end of the day the hospice has to raise £40,000 a week in order to maintain the funding. That comes in through donations, fundraising and people leaving us money in their wills.”

His role is to act in a supervisory capacity to Sister Rita and the senior management team but the most vital link is the interaction with the health board.

“We have to fight for our money from the health board and that has been a constant battle for the last 10 years,” he says.

“There’s a perception, I think, from the health board, that they are giving us money, which is correct. The other side of it doesn’t seem to feature with them, which is that they get a tremendous out-turn for that money and lots of the things that happen here don’t happen because of the health board’s money. It happens because of the fundraising and the hospice and the dedication people have to the hospice.”

When I ask him what makes St Margaret of Scotland different from other hospices, he doesn’t think twice.

“The ethos set up by the Religious Sisters of Charity, the core values that we have, are carried through from top to bottom in the hospice. Everybody is involved.”

Over 65 years that has never changed.

Visit http://www.smh.org.uk or to donate www.justgiving.com/smh/donate