St John's Hospice, which opened in St John's Wood in 1984, held its 2025 gala at the Wallace Collection and raised almost £200,000 to take its care into patients' homes.
St John’s Hospice held its autumn gala at the Wallace Collection in Marylebone on Thursday 9 October 2025. Guests dined after hours in Hertford House, the Manchester Square mansion that holds one of London’s national museums.
The hospice opened in St John’s Wood in May 1984 with ten inpatient beds, and a month later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother toured the new building. A day care unit and a community palliative care team followed in 1987.
In 1994 it launched Hospice@Home, which brings end-of-life care into patients’ homes. It is one of only two hospices in the country to provide one-to-one care in the home around the clock. It now cares for more than 4,000 people a year.
The 2025 gala paid for Hospice@Home to reach the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, where specialist care of that kind had not been available. Dr Najia Shah, the lead palliative care consultant, told the room what the service would mean there. The night raised almost £200,000.
Champagne was served in the Drawing Room Suite before dinner in the courtyard below. Marcus Brigstocke provided the comedy, and Tom Best of The Auction Collective led the auctions, pledges and raffle.