Queenscourt Hospice founder Dr Karen Groves MBE paid tribute to the “work, drive, vision and graft” that makes Southport Flower Show possible as she officially opened the 2022 event.
Dr Groves was chosen to officially open this year’s floral spectacular at Victoria Park in Southport as a local ‘community champion’ due to her immense work during over 40 years of working in palliative care and through being the driving force behind the creation of Queenscourt Hospice.
The hospice was officially opened by Princess Diana 30 years ago, on 11th June 1992, and cares for around 2,000 local families across West Lancashire, Southport and Formby every year, both in the hospice and at home.
Southport Flower Show has traditionally been opened by well-known celebrities, but this year the organisers asked members of the public to nominate someone they felt deserved to have the honour due to their devotion to the town.
In her opening speech at the event, Dr Groves said that Southport Flower Show is “something for Southport to be really proud of”.
She said: “As a non-Sandgrounder, I am not sure I should be here! But as someone who has adopted Southport for the last forty plus years of my working life I am absolutely delighted to have been nominated to be standing here today so thank you.
“In two years’ time this Southport Flower Show will be 100 years old.
“That is a huge milestone for something that has spent half of that time as the largest independent charitably-run flower show in the country. That is something for Southport to be really proud of.
“These four days of the Show are the culmination of a large amount of work, drive, vision and a lot of graft.
“Organising the event, maintaining these amazing grounds, growing produce, designing gardens, running competitions, and all the other stuff that has to go on.
“On your behalf I would like to thank all those who have a small or a large part in doing that because they are totally committed to it and it is amazing that we have got it and it makes it possible for us to enjoy it every year, but especially this year. This is a very special year.”
Dr Groves is retiring this year, after making a huge contribution to improving palliative care in this region.
After qualifying as a medical doctor from Liverpool University in 1979, she first identified the need for better end of life care after experiencing two particularly traumatic deaths in young women.
Dr Karen Groves MBE at Southport Flower Show 2022. Photo by Andrew Brown Media
She went on to work as a GP in the Southport area for over 12 years and it was during this time that she and her sister Sarah, a nurse, sought advice from Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the hospice movement in London.
On their return they inspired a small group of people to begin fundraising and after much hard work, planning permission for Queenscourt Hospice was granted in December 1988.
Mayor Cllr Maureen Fearn cut the first turf on March 14th, 1990 and planted a copper beech tree which still grows to the left of the entrance to what is now the Terence Burgess Education Centre.
The hospice building was handed over on March 1st, 1991 and the next two months were spent fitting it out ready for occupation.
Queenscourt opened its Day Therapy and five inpatient beds on June 1st 1991 and later that year increased to a 10-bed ward.
In 1992, Diana Princess of Wales officially opened Queenscourt. Dr Groves had been a volunteer doctor at the hospice for five years, while still working full time as a GP, until she was appointed as Medical Officer in 1995.
In 1996, she became the first local consultant in Palliative Medicine; in 2012, Dr Groves was awarded an honorary degree from Edge Hill University and in 2014 received an MBE for Services to Palliative Care.
Would you like to support the work of Queenscourt Hospice? Please visit the Queenscourt Hospice website here.
For £1 a week you can sign up to the weekly Queenscourt Lottery here, with the chance to win prizes of up to £1,500 each week. You must be 18 or over to play. Please be Gamble Aware.
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