Outwell woman bequeaths thanks to King’s Lynn hospital

The Macmillan Cancer Care Centre and Shouldham ward at Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital have been given £1,300 by a couple from Outwell.

Daphne Ashby died at the age of 65 last month. As part of her birthday celebrations in January, she had parties in Outwell and Luton and guests were asked to make a donation to the Macmillan Centre in lieu of gifts.

A total of £600 was donated and Pebbles, the family cat, chipped in with £5 from her biscuit allowance!

When mourners attended Daphne’s funeral at St Clement Church in Outwell, and March Crematorium, a further £700 was raised.

Her husband Richard said: “We both wanted to publicly thank everyone for all they have done to help Daphne and I over the last few months.

“Losing Daphne has been incredibly difficult for all of us, but the care she received at the QEH made it slightly easier to deal with.

“Daphne would have wanted me to share the news about how kind everyone was and make sure they were thanked for donating so generously on both occasions.”

Daphne left this message: “I wanted to give something back to the QEH for the excellent care given to me by all members of staff.

“I could not have wished for a more caring team, we only wish we could do more. A bit thank you to everyone for being so generous and celebrating my birthday with me,”

Vicky Mitchell, Macmillan information and support manager, said: “We are so touched that Daphne asked for donations instead of presents for her ‘special’ birthday and that her family continued with the kindness at her funeral.”