To commemorate the fifth anniversary of The Butterwick, the North-East's only children's hospice, Chris Webber spoke to the woman who made it all happen.

SITTING in the hospice that she sold her own home to create, Mary Butterwick remembers the first time she received national recognition.

A friend had written a story about Mary which had won a national prize and the excited friends went to London to receive a £3,000 reward.

"I remember we both kept thinking - £3,000, £3,000.

"It was a lot of a money back in the early 80s and we thought we could do so much with it. Anyway, this Government minister, John Gummer was his name, was talking away and giving out the prizes and we were hardly taking it in. Then he started talking about this widow who sold her home after her husband died to set up a hospice and it dawned on me, 'That's me'. Suddenly, I realised I was crying."

For Mary, who is approaching her 80th birthday, everything goes back to God, including any recognition of her work.

She said: "I see it all as a kind of encouragement.

"It was God who built this hospice as far as I'm concerned and if he sends along a little encouragement that helps His work, that's fine."

The story of how a quiet, unassuming Stockton mother-of-four, in her 50s, who worked in a Tetley tea factory, went on to dedicate her life to hospice care, is quite remarkable.

It began when her husband, John, died of cancer in 1979. Mary thought the doctors and nurses had only treated the disease, not the person or their families

Determined that more human contact should be provided for patients with terminal illnesses, she went on to become a bereavement counsellor and, in 1984, sold her own home to buy a rundown house on Hardwick Lane, in Stockton, which she turned into a drop-in centre.

Later, she helped build an adult hospice, opened in 1995, and then the children's hospice, both next to Stockton's University Hospital of North Tees.

This year, she received the OBE from Prince Charles.

Less well known is how her absolute commitment to the hospice cause has affected the woman herself.

Remarkably, despite the long and often arduous journey it has involved, she is strikingly young for her age - almost as if she was still that widow in her 50s - and she is full of life.

What's more, Mary acknowledges that she discovered qualities she didn't know she had.

"I was always a very shy person when John was alive," she said. "You could describe me as timid really and, deep down, I still feel very shy.

"But I've got this drive now - where it came from I don't know, but I think it was God."

As she speaks, a continuous stream of people from the adult and children's hospices - for Mary, each is of equal importance - smile and say hello.

It's an every day recognition and the very least this warm and inspiring woman deserves.

* Butterwick Hospice cannot exist without the support of the North-East people. Call David or Kirsten to help on (01642) 624231.