St John's Hospice, which has provided free palliative care across London since 1984, held its annual gala at the V&A, with dinner in the Raphael Court, on Thursday 8 October 2026.
St John’s Hospice held its annual gala at V&A South Kensington on Thursday 8 October 2026, with dinner in the Raphael Court after the museum had closed to the public.
The hospice opened in St John’s Wood in 1984 with ten inpatient beds and added a day care unit in 1987. For more than 40 years it has provided palliative care across north and central London without charge to any patient.
In 2024 the day unit reopened as the St John’s Wellbeing Centre after a £3 million refurbishment. The hospice takes only a fraction of its costs from the health service, so evenings like this one pay for most of its work.
Guests took champagne under the Dome, and the Britain Galleries opened for them alone. Dinner was served beneath the seven surviving Raphael Cartoons, and the evening carried a raffle and both a silent and a live auction.
The gala was one of the charity dinners the V&A hosted after hours that autumn.