40 years of The Brigitte Trust
In 2024, we’re celebrated our 40th birthday! Take a look back through our history to find out about some of the key milestones on our journey.
Our history.
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1984After several years of planning and long discussion, The Brigitte Trust, originally called Hospice Home Care, was created. Our first office was in the attic space of local cinema Dorking Halls!
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1985
Our first ever training course for volunteers was held at Juniper Hall, Mickleham in 1985.
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1986
Our first trained volunteers than began visiting clients at home in 1986, and we have been offering our home visiting service ever since!
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1992Our founder, Brigitte Watkin, retired from the charity.
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1994
We launched new branded literature and a new website as the charity was renamed as The Brigitte Trust, reflecting the name of the charity’s founder. This change was due to confusion over the type of service offered; non-medical, but practical and emotional support complementing the work of the medical teams.
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1995
In the spring of 1995, our office move to 316 High Street, Dorking.
Fundraising events were held at the Friends Provident Sports & Social Club, including the first of 13 annual Therapy Awareness days.
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1997
Roger Gaunt, Director of Training, passed away after a period of declining health. Roger and his wife Elisabeth were closely involved with Brigitte in the formation of the charity, using their annex at Apple Hill as the training hub in the early years.
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2002
Our founder Brigitte passed away in a nursing home in Dorking. Our volunteers visited and supported her while she was there.
Our first Patrons joined us- Nicholas Owen and Adrian White, who then introduced Corinna Hamilton.
The profile and service offered by the charity continued to grow throughout east and central Surrey.
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2005Some of our volunteers took part in a llama trekking fundraiser- a very interesting way to raise some money!
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2009
We received a fantastic grant of £2735 from Comic Relief, to cover one of our training courses. Comic Relief wanted to make a short film about our work to show on national TV during Sports Relief in the following Spring.
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2010
We won the Mentor’s Choice award for our podcast episode, after a training scheme run by Eagle Radio. Vanessa, our former promotions manager, interviewed clients and volunteers for feedback on the charity and our work.
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2011
Two of our volunteers, Susie and Tim, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for us. They started at 2000m and climbed up to 5895m- higher than anything found in Europe! The trip took them 8 days in total and they raised £1000. An amazing achievement for them both!
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2014
We withdrew from West Sussex and instead expanded our services and recruitment to West and Northeast Surrey. The Trust now covered each Surrey Borough.
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2015
We were awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service!
In June, we had a Royal visit from the Princess Alexandra, who met and spoke to many of our volunteers, trustees, and staff. The award was officially presented in November and many members of the Trust gathered at Denbies Wine Estate for the ceremony.
Deirdre Lay and Wendy Lane were presented with 30 Year Service Awards for volunteering.
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2018
One of our volunteers, Jan Dallison, walked the Camino de Santiago (almost 500 miles) to raise money for us. £1772 was raised in total!
“My plan was to walk with my friend 12 /14 miles each day. With rest days, we aimed to reach the end of the Camino on September 17th,” she said.
After encounters with fog, lightning, blisters, and cows on the road, Jan walked into Santiago de Compostela on September 16th.
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2019
2019 was a busy year for us! We started working with PAT dogs (Pets As Therapy), our Neurological Support Groups started in October, and the ‘End of Life’ Service at East Surrey Hospital started.
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2020
We all went into lockdown due to COVID 19. This meant our volunteers had to work from home, supporting clients over the phone and online.
Some of our staff and volunteers took part in the 2.6 challenge- volunteer Lynda completed 26 Pilate rollovers in her living room, Charity Manager Lucy challenged herself to do 26 consecutive splits in her garden, and Promotions Manager Vanessa shared 2.6 minutes of “interesting moves” from her garden.
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2021
A rebrand took place this year, including a new logo and website!
We started holding Bereavement Support groups in August, as well as our first round of Death Cafés.
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2022
We started our Surrey Coffin Club this year, during which people had an opportunity to hear from funeral directors, end-of-life doulas and everything in between. We now run these every Autumn.
We also held our first ever ‘End-of-Life Matters’ Marketplace. Both this and the Coffin Club were a real success!
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2023Our office moved from Dorking High Street to Abinger House.
A few of our staff and volunteers took part in the 5K inflatable race, raising an amazing £2030!
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2024
2024 marked our 40th anniversary!
We had some fantastic new services added this year, and hosted a number of events such as our webinar with Dr Kathryn Mannix!
We’d like to say a HUGE thank you to all of our clients, volunteers, supporters, and anyone else who has helped us throughout the years- we are grateful for each and every one of you!
Get involved!