Overgate Hospice is a hospice and charity in Elland, West Yorkshire, England. It provides palliative care for the people of Calderdale.
In the 1970s two Calderdale doctors, Drs Brian Quinn and Geoffrey Hyman created a charitable trust called the Calderdale Society for Continuing Care to establish a nursing home for palliative care.[3][4] Initially they planned to convert and old convent in Boothtown;[3] however this and other sites failed to materialised. Slyvia Graucob — the wife of Find Graucob, a Elland-based fire extinguisher manufacturer — had purchase their old Elland home, Overgate and the adjoining property Hazeldene after her husband's death and donated the property to the charitable trust as a location for the hospice.[3][5][6] Funds required to convert the property and for running costs for the first year was then raised by public donations, the local health authority, and a loan from Halifax League of Friends.[3][7] The hospice was opened in September 1981 with facility for eight beds.[3][8]
In 1994, a new purpose-built in-patient unit was added to the hospice, increasing the number of beds to 12.[3][9][10] The hospice opened a day hospice for 5 days a week in 1995, which was initially in the original Overgate building.[3]
The day hospice was moved to a purpose-built space in 2005, which was extended in 2011.[11]
In April 2024, the hospice launched its Big Build Appeal to raise fundings for a new hospice facility, extending its current capabilities. The hospice has generated £9,700,000 of the required total, including funding from the Wolfson Foundation and is hoping to raise a total of £12,500,000 with the appeal.[12][13][14]
Fund raising to maintain the hospice is provided by public donations,[3] fund-raising events,[3] through the hospice's own choir,[15] charitable foundation grants,[16] a weekly lottery[17] and 16 charity shops throughout Calderdale.[18]
The Overgate Hospice Choir was formed in 1991 initially to perform Joseph Haydn's choral work, The Creation as part of a National Voices for Hospices event.[15] The choir continues today, with 65 voices performing four concerts a year.[15]
The hospice maintains a network of 16 charity shops and a distribution centre throughout Calderdale to support its fund-raising efforts. The hospice's first charity shop was opened in Hebden Bridge in 1994.[19] The shops are located in Brighouse (four shops including a designer boutique, children's shop and furniture shop), Elland (two shops including a children's shop), Halifax, Hebden Bridge (furniture shop), Hipperholme, Illingworth, King Cross, Ovenden, Sowerby Bridge (two shops including a children's shop), Todmorden and West Vale.
In 1994 the hospice trustees appointed its first full-time administrator, Norman Witter.[19] The hospice is governed by a board of trustees, as of 2024 it is maintained by 12 trustees.[20][21]
In 1994 the hospice cost £325,000 to run.[19] In 2019, total expenditure was £4,250,000, with total income of £4,420,000.[21] In 2023 the income of the hospice was £6,800,000 with an expenditure of £5,920,000.[21]