The team behind the Edward Hain Centre, in St Ives, celebrated the organisation’s third anniversary in style at the weekend.
Edward Hain committee members and volunteers in fine voice at the celebration
Mayor Andrew Mitchell was present, along with other councillors, as was Kit Hain, youngest great-niece of Capt Edward Hain, whose family originally built the Edward Hain Memorial Hospital in 1920, in memory of those lost in the first world war.
There were refreshments galore from a variety of cooks and bakers, a fundraising raffle, and a programme of community singing. Kit blew out the candle on a celebration birthday cake.
The building was bought from the NHS, and its future safeguarded for the benefit of the town in 2023. It is now a health hub for St Ives and surrounding areas.
This achievement has come about thanks to the former hospital’s League of Friends, formed in the 1960s to raise funds for the hospital. When the NHS announced in late 2021 that it intended to sell the building, the Friends were determined to prevent its legacy from being lost to commercial development.
They set out to buy the building and create a new health and wellbeing centre for the St Ives community. With the help of St Ives Town Council, who mediated the initial stages of negotiations, the Friends entered into a process that took more than 18 months to complete.
During this time, they ran a vigorous campaign of fundraising events. With the wholehearted support of local businesses and the community, they have raised a staggering amount. Added to previously-raised funds and a number of generous personal donations, the shortfall for the agreed £1,000,020 purchase price was met by a mortgage of £400,000.
A new charity was set up to own and run the centre, all of whose trustee-directors have strong links to the town. Two trustees’ St Ives lineage goes back to the 1500s.
