A collection at the Evening Post Recruitment Awards raised £336.81 for St Peter's Hospice in Bristol.

The hospice, in Charlton Road, Brentry, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

St Peter's Hospice helps 1,700 patients a year at Brentry and Knowle and provides care for people in their own familiar surroundings through its hospice-at-home service

The principle of the hospice remains the same as it did in 1978 – providing care for people with a terminal illness.

But the scale and methods have developed to meet the changing needs of patients and to make use of advances in technology.

One of the hospice's founders died in September, making the anniversary a poignant one.

Joan Bourns, who was 89, was at the forefront of efforts to raise the money needed to provide support for people with cancer and other illnesses in Bristol more than 30 years ago.

Mrs Bourns became involved in St Peter's Hospice after hearing her husband, Bristol surgeon Herbert Bourns, talk of the way cancer patients spent their last days.

They set about canvassing support from the medical profession and community to create a hospice service in the city, with the help of solicitor Andrew Urquhart.

Despite suffering from cancer herself, Mrs Bourns continued to do all she could to support St Peter's and returned to the Knowle hospice in June to celebrate the organisation's 30th anniversary.

She told the Evening Post she could never have anticipated how much St Peter's would mean to Bristol after growing from its small beginnings in 1978.