Modest lady with a passion for charity

Kate Turner has been the driving force behind the Shooting Star Trust for the past nine years and her dream of opening a children's hospice in Hampton will be realised this summer.

Despite the magnitude of her work, I find Kate surprisingly down to earth and genuinely modest about the achievements she will leave behind when she hands over the reins on her 65th birthday.

"Anyone could do it, it is just having an idea and being able to follow it through. I suspect I really became involved in fundraising because I am a bossy old what-sit who likes to organise things and I think most of my staff would confirm that," she says.

Kate first became involved in charity work (a phrase she professes to hate), after she had her first of three children, Karen, in 1965. "I wasn't a stay at home, have coffee mornings housewife. In those days you didn't go out to work if you had a young family, so that's when I started doing charity work. The good thing was I could take the children with me," she said. "It is good training for children to realise that however bad you think your life is, you're well off compared to lots of other people."

She helped raise the funds to build the community centre in Whitton, and ran the Whitton carnival for seven years before launching the Hounslow Carnival. She also bought a hall down the road from her parents' house which was being misused by youths, where she ran whist drives and bingo.

And her actions are driven by a simple philosophy: "Life is so short, I think you have to get as much out of it as you can and give all of yourself. If you give something back to life, then you have earned your passage through."

The Shooting Star Trust was born after Kate became aware of Sister Frances Dominica, who started the first children's hospice. She was caring for her aunt at the time and worked out that she could afford to be out of work for 18 months. She explained: "I thought I would research the need for a children's hospice in the area and within three weeks the need was obvious. I got together a group of friends and asked them if they would become trustees and by July 1995 we had achieved charitable status. It started from my bedroom."

The need to help was clear to Kate. She said: "I had never conceived that families would be left in such an appalling state of loneliness after their child is diagnosed with a terminal illness. I assumed the NHS and the state would look after them, but it is not like that. Once the child is diagnosed, the parents are given help with learning how to care for them, but after that, in most instances, they are sent home and that's that.

"They are left caring for a child 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no break. It ruins relationships and places a huge strain on siblings. I just thought if we could provide a haven, even if just for a week a year, it would be something people could look forward to."

The vision for the Shooting Star Hospice is for it to be a home from home' based on other children's hospices. Kate explains that these differ from a common perception that hospices are places where people go to die - children's hospices aim to provide respite care to give parents a break. She said: "We will allow for parents to stay if they wish to. What we can also do is have a lounge where parents can counsel one another informally. It is very rare that there would be another child in the street or even their town with the same condition, so they can feel very isolated. Here they can talk to one another, which is a very good form of counselling.

"It is not a five star hotel, but a home from home. We don't want the sort of garden where children can't kick a ball or have to keep off the grass. All the families will dine together with the nurses and other staff, there will be a communal lounge and gardens. The will be a multi sensory garden, where children without sight can be stimulated, a hydro-therapy suite, which can be very relaxing for sick children."

What helped Kate believe that her project could actually be realised? "My degree helped, a degree of any kind helps to focus the mind when you need to. And my other experiences in life helped me know which paths to go to. I don't really know what I did think at the beginning, I just know when I get an idea I make damn sure it happens," she says.

Her aim when it started was simply to get the hospice built. "I wanted my health to be with me until we got it built and now we are only six months away, God willing."

Kate is well rooted in the area where the project is taking shape. She was born in The Grove, Isleworth, and was educated at Bishop Perrin Primary School and Twickenham County School. And she says that as far back as her grandmother, all of her family have been christened, confirmed, married and buried at St Phillip's and St James' church in Whitton.

The trust has relied on the generosity of the community to get the hospice built, and will need a further £2m a year to keep it running. "When the building is finished it is not a full stop, it is just the beginning," she says.

Kate believed that people would want to help. She said: "I knew there would be the support in the community and now I suspect there are not very many people who haven't heard of the Shooting Star Trust. Lots of people want to help their community and this is a tangible charity, you can see the results, where the money is being used. And people are so generous."

The group has 104 volunteers who help to run their four shops and they have 40 supporters' groups with 500 volunteers. The supporters' groups are an important part of the fundraising. The trust goes to an area and invites people to come and hear about the charity, they then elect a co-ordinator who will approach the pubs, clubs, churches. "It works because people living in the area will know it best. The response is brilliant. At the relaunch of the Hampton group on Saturday, 120 people turned up."

Kate says the Hampton Fuel Allotments Charity have been a particular help by giving an interest free loan, which allowed them to buy the land and the property in Hampton Hill where their offices are now based. "The fact that we own these offices saves us £20,000 in what it would cost to rent. We don't buy if we can beg or borrow. We haven't stolen yet," she says.

So what has surprised her most in the last nine years? "When we asked the staff this time last year whether they fancied doing a panto to raise funds, we didn't expect them to say yes but they all did. We had to write more parts to include everyone and it raised £11,000. They showed a lot of commitment."

Buying the land was another stand-out moment in the project. "It was a huge feeling that we had actually done it and were getting there. And when we started building. That was totally surreal, I couldn't believe it."

But dancing with the England rugby captain was a personal highlight for this rugby loving granny. She says: "It was at a ball we organised at the Dorchester. The number eight shirt will never look the same again."

Kate's modesty shines through when she describes receiving the Paul Harris Fellowship, an award from the Rotary Club for people who make an outstanding contribution to society. "I was highly embarrassed. I went to a dinner with Edward Bentall, no-one had told me I was to be given an award. I couldn't believe someone would think to give me something like that. I am not looking to be Lady Wantalot from Whitton."

Kate says she has nothing but admiration' for the parents of murdered Hampton teenager Marsha McDonnell, who have raised £35,000 for the trust. A music room at the hospice is to be dedicated to her memory. "As the mother of daughters I couldn't even begin to comprehend the grief the family must have gone through. I have great admiration for Phil and Uta and Marsha's uncle, Shaun, that they could make something so wonderful happen out of something so evil. And I hope that they will feel able to come to the hospice and sit in the gardens and feel welcome," Kate says.

There are two big events in store for Kate this year, on August 21 when she retires, then a huge ceremony at the hospice when it opens on August 24: "I am like the Queen this year, am having two birthdays."

The trust will be in the safe hands of Dalton Leong, who has been involved since its inception, when Kate steps down. She says: "I wanted to build a team here who can take the whole trust upwards, and I have."

So what is next for Kate, is there any chance of her slowing down and taking to the golf course? No. "I would like to think there is someone out there who I could help to build an adolescent centre," she says.

Kate is taking part in the Flora light marathon next month. To sponsor her, see www.justgiving.com/shootingstarflorafund or call the Shooting Star Trust on 8481 8180.