Help Us Buy Back Our Hospital Building!

UPDATE: We're closing the fundraising gap! Thanks to some very generous private donors, we've just been able to substantially lower our target for this campaign.

The nuts and bolts of the purchase contract are still being negotiated by our lawyers and NHS Property Services. We're now looking at early 2023 to complete, and will open the new Edward Hain Centre for Health & Wellbeing–so badly needed in an area where the crisis in rural health care is particularly dire– as soon as we can.

TO HELP WITH OUR FUND, please support us with a donation of any size. Thank you!

A big THANK YOU, too, to all who have supported us so far. Our mission to create this centre and provide health services for the St.Ives community will soon be realised. We couldn’t have got here without you.

For more our story, and the former hospital's history, see below.

COMMUNITY FUNDRAISING IN 2022

Spring to Summer: From the moment we decided to buy the hospital building, we began organizing fundraising events. From February to mid-June, they added over £40,000 to our funds. The outpouring from local businesses, groups and individuals who arranged and/or hosted events has been as heartwarming and enthusiastic as the community’s support. We are deeply grateful to everyone involved.

Other highlights: art exhibitions. . . online auction . . . tennis day . . . music events. . .

including a concert at the St. Ives Theatre which featured a host of local-grown talent as well as a guest appearance by Captain Edward’s great-nephew, musician Tim Hain. (See the concert on YouTube, Singing for the Hain)

EVENTS UPDATES: September 2022 onwards

• Tim Hain and St. Ives born-and-bred Colin Dunn host a whiskey auction in London

• St. Ives Festival gig. . .Cape Cornwall Singers. . .Fashion Show. . .Coffee Morning. . .

• 2nd online auction . . . 3 personal Go Fund Me events put on by others. . .

All of which (including a specially-made quilt, see below) raised well over £20,000!

Thank you to every one of our supporters, donors, sponsors, contributors, independent fund raisers, and event hosts and attendees for your amazing dedication to our cause.

The quilt was made by the Needles & Pins sewing group, and brought in over £800.

And this chocolate bar made by I Should Coco. . . Priceless.

For a list of all fundraising events so far, check our 'Thank You' page.

Remaining 2022 pre-Christmas fundraising events

RESTORING HEALTH SERVICES FOR THE COMMUNITY OF ST IVES

The Edward Hain Memorial Hospital served St. Ives for a century. People whose families have lived in the community for many generations remember the excellent care given to themselves and their loved ones. Their loyalty to the former hospital is still palpable today.

Part of that loyalty is also rooted in the story behind the hospital, and the family who turned their tragic loss into a much-needed resource for the town they loved.

SO WHO WAS CAPTAIN EDWARD HAIN?

Captain Edward “Teddy” Hain was the only son of Sir Edward Hain, six-times mayor of St. Ives, MP from 1900–1906, and generous benefactor of the town. Sir Edward’s company, the Edward Hain Steamship Company, was started as a small fishing fleet by Sir Edward’s grandfather. It provided work for generations of St Ives families.

Teddy, pictured above as an infant on his father's knee, was killed by shellfire at Gallipoli on November 11, 1915. To create a meaningful memorial to their only son which would also benefit the town, his parents decided to found a hospital. A building was bought, kitted out, and put in trust for the people of St. Ives. It opened in April, 1920.

Teddy’s father died before the opening after suffering a serious breakdown, some say caused by his son's death. This also ended his generations-old business, which Teddy was to inherit. With no male heir, the Hain Steamship company was sold.

Teddy’s mother, Lady Catherine, gave a generous endowment for the hospital’s running. It was managed by a trust, which included Teddy’s only surviving sister, Kate, until the NHS took it over in 1948.

PAGES OF THE SEA: Teddy’s story revisited, November 2018.

Teddy Hain lost his life three years to the day before Armistice Day, just hours before he was due to ship home. As part of the 2018 Armistice Centennial celebrations, an event called Pages of the Sea was staged on beaches all around England. Conceived of by film director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaires, The Beach, Yesterday), it honored a few chosen soldiers who lost their lives in WW1, with large-scale portraits of them being drawn in the sand of their local beaches. The ephemeral nature of life and death was symbolised by the seawater erasing each portrait as the tide came in.

Teddy was chosen to represent St. Ives. His image was depicted on Porthmeor Beach.

Two of his great-nephews and a great-niece attended the event. Each was involved in previous campaigns to save the hospital, and one is on the committee of the League of Friends. All three, as well as other Hain family members, support our current mission to create the Edward Hain Centre.

The Friends are committed to preserving this legacy, which is a beloved part of St. Ives’s history—and now, once again, a much-needed resource. Thank you for visiting our Go Fund Me page, and for any contribution you’re able to make.

PHOTO & VIDEO THANKS:

Hospital photos: Bill Fry, Morag Robertson • Event photos: Gavan Goulder • Aerial photos: Alban Roinard • Singing for the Hain and coffee morning videos: Tony ‘Cornishpastyman’ Mason • Hospital video: Senara ‘On the Beach’ Wilson-Hodges • Phone booth: Mark Campbell.