Helen House celebrates its 30th year (From The Oxford Times)

Helen House celebrates its 30th year

9:30am Monday 21st May 2012 in Oxford

HELEN House, the world’s first children’s hospice, has toasted its 30th birthday with a party.

Children and their parents enjoyed a range of activities, including holding live snakes, in the grounds of the centre in Magdalen Road, East Oxford, on Saturday.

The hospice was set up in 1982 by Sister Frances Dominica after she became friends with the parents of a seriously ill two-year-old called Helen.

On Saturday families and children with links to the hospice celebrated the milestone.

Among them was Michaela Middleton from Arncott, near Bicester, whose three-year-old son Finley receives care at the centre.

She said: “It was a fabulous day.

“Helen House is a marvellous place, I wish people knew about it more. We didn’t know about it until we were referred there and I wish we had known sooner so we could have done more fundraising.”

The hospice site now also hosts Douglas House, which caters for young adults from 18 to 35 years old.

For full details of the celebrations see tomorrow’s Oxford Mail.