Historic hospice tower lit up in memory of much-loved Hucknall father

Nottinghamshire Hospice provided overnight care for John French in his Hucknall home before he passed away in April, aged 88, enabling his family to fulfil his wish of being at home at the end of his life.

John, a former mineworker who worked his way up from the coal face to industrial relations officer, lived in Spain for 32 years after he retired.

But after his wife died, family members noticed a decline in his health.

Terry, John’s daughter, said: “He’d lost about a stone-and-a-half in weight and it was hard to see him like that.

"I managed to persuade him to come back to the UK and got him home between lockdowns in 2020, when he came to live with me.”

When John returned to the UK, he was on medication for an enlarged prostate and diabetes.

He was also anaemic and suffered with leg pain and later developed a lump in his neck, after which he learnt he had prostate cancer, which had spread.

Terry said: “We had a hospital bed installed for him downstairs and carers coming twice a day.

“I kept a baby monitor by my bed so I could hear if he needed anything.

“It was hard towards the end and I wasn’t getting any sleep.

"That’s when I heard about Nottinghamshire Hospice, who sent someone to be with him all night.

"It was such a blessing, it meant I could get some rest in the knowledge that he was being well cared for.

“We had help from the hospice for five nights in the last couple of weeks of his life.

"The people who came were lovely and dad said the same and he got on well with them.

“Dad used to be a compere at Hucknall Miners Welfare.

"He loved to talk and was full of stories and, even though he had deteriorated, he still came out with his stories when the people from the hospice were there.

A hospice nurse was present the night John died.

Terry said: “The night he died, the nurse came at 10.30pm and I went to bed.

"She called me at 1.25am and said you need to come down now.

"I was with him when he took his last breaths.

“It was important to Dad and to us that he could die at home – he said he didn’t want to go into hospital.”

John was a keen sportsman who travelled all over the world.

He was also a magistrate, and well known and respected in his local area.

At his funeral, Terry and her sister Jacqui asked for donations to Nottinghamshire Hospice.

They have sponsored a leaf on the hospice’s Tree of Life in his memory, for what would have been his 89th birthday, they lit the hospice tower blue in celebration of his life.

Terry said: “It’s a lovely thing to do and a nice way of remembering dad, especially as Christmas is approaching.”

Nottinghamshire Hospice is offering supporters the opportunity to light up their historic tower in a colour of their choice in memory someone special as part of the charity’s Light up a Life appeal.

For details, click here.