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It was our summer Country Fayre at Trinity this afternoon. We were nervous as the weather had suggested rain for much of the day but fortunately the weather held and we had just on 800 visitors. We had lots of stalls, eateries and Pimms (which seemed to go down well!).  It was good to see our prospective CEO, Dallas Pounds pay a visit and chat to staff and volunteers. 

Three years ago I was struck down with rheumatoid arthritis. I couldn't dress myself, it was painful to walk and I wondered, even after a week in hospital, whether I would ever recover. Slowly my body adjusted to the drug regime and though it was still painful to walk I was more or less adjusted to the changes to my body. In January, I started working out to a regime put together by Christianne Wolff which included dieting, vitamin supplements and exercise. At the first session I was so

Last night, I was at The Sun in Old Clapham meeting Trinity's wonderful Ambassadors for an update.

Last Wednesday, I attended our Finance sub committee meeting at Trinity. It as the first time for a year or so. I cannot go to every meeting.... as it is I am at the hospice for 60 days a year.....but this was quite stimulating and I felt we were making progress.....

I was having a shower last Monday morning (as you do) and I noticed an enlargement of my scrotum (for those wanting to know the result look away now). I called my GP and through our new system at the Victoria Medical Centre she called me back and fixed to see me that afternoon. I had a urine test there and then and a blood test the next day. On Thursday, the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital ultrasound centre called and fixed for me to come in this morning. I was there slightly early - by a

I had a fruitful lunch with Mark Gallagher and his team at Pagefield at Antidote yesterday. I am a senior adviser to the agency.

See: http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/job/4594805/chief-executive/

I spent this morning at Trinity meeting Anne Hooper, CEO, Sue Boreham, HR and Hester Finch, who is my part-time executive secretary. She also doubles as an artist. 

On Friday I popped into Trinity - our visitor Chuka Umanna MP, Shadown Minister for BIS, had moved his appointment back to this afternoon so I had to miss him. I did though have a catch up with Ginny Tate who was a Trustee and a volunteer at the Hospice for over 6 years.

I moved to Pimlico in late October into a lovely 2 bed flat. This week we finished all the decoration and bookcases which has made the place lighter and enabled me unpack - finally - all my 2000+ books. It is such a pity I have another 500 in storage. I shall give them away.

We have appointed Russam's to act as our search company for our new CEO at Trinity and for most of the morning they were busy meeting staff and volunteers. At a working lunch, we met Dr Lidstone, who has a palliative care expertise with teenagers. We are going to explore whether this is an area we should consider at Trinity.

I had my annual NHS check up yesterday ..... Resting pulse 53 Blood Pressure 130/80 Weight: lost 6 kilos (yea) but need to lose more...... 

I was at Trinity yesterday morning seeing Anne Hooper and Sally Bateson to talk through our fund-raising for 2013 and then I met more of our staff to help them explain how we will find a new CEO.

Following the announcement earlier in the week that Anne Hooper, our CEO, was stepping down at the end of August I held a couple of Q&A sessions with our Executive Board and our staff and volunteers. At lunch Stephen Hammond MP for Wimbledon and Jane Ellis MP for Battersea came in for a briefing which given the weather was very kind of them both.  My donations to Trinity in 2012 enabled the hospice to claim back £38.36 in Gift Aid whilst my two tickets for a...

I went into Trinity yesterday morning to talk to Anne Hooper and Sarah Smith about one of our services. We talked through the issues for an hour.  

I have driven a Volvo C70 for five years; it was an emotional buy and I am hoping I won't need to visit the show room ever again. It was my first Volvo and my first experience of the Volvo arrogance which is de rigeur when you need a repair or an MOT or a service or all three. Plus of course there's their over pricing on every nut and bolt by 500%. So it was with some relief I was recommended to try Car Engines in Southall and I cannot speak highly enough about them. Kind,...

ICT specialists, chairmen and women and CEOs of London's Hospices met at the Apple Store in Covent Garden on Thursday to look at how the iPad might help our work both in and out of our respective hospices.

I bid for a voucher at a Dinner to have a suit fitted for me at A Suit That Fits in Glasshouse Street, W1. I bid £200 and the voucher was worth £450......the suit was actually measured in London but made in Nepal......whereas Dress2Kill my favourite tailors have their suits made in Huddersfield. Anyway, I went to collect it on Thursday.

Eleven London Hospice chairs (and one soon-to-be) met in CR2 in the House of Lords at 1130 today to spend a hour talking and exchanging views with Michael Howard who has been chair of Help the Hospices for the past two years. He is due to see Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Health, next week.

We had an excellent Board last night where we started to drill down on patient numbers, illnesses, treatments and costs.

I met Rajesh Krishnan of Brick Eagle (www.brickeagle.com) based in Mumbai at the Cork & Bottle on Friday last. Rajesh has started a commercial scheme which will build one and three bedroom houses (plus some elements of infrastructure - roads, schools, shops) at the edge of the city of Mumbai for between $350 and $500 each.

I popped into Trinity on Friday evening to spend an hour chatting with Dr Amy Kingston, one of our consultants. Later, I joined our Trinity Ambassadors - Neil, Trish & Tessa - with Lynne (Trustee) and Sally (Director of Fund Raising) for a Christmas drink and thank you. 

We held out bi-annual Trinity Hospice Ball on Saturday night; over 500 people were in attendance and we hope to have cleared £200k+ in tickets, auction prizes and raffles. It was a wonderful evening.

Yesterday, Mike Catt, part of the current England rugby coaching set up, spent a couple of hours at Trinity Hospice alongside Alastair Hazell from Clydesdale Bank. They met staff, nurses and walked the gardens and the hospice itself. In 1994, I said in the FT that Mike reminded me of Jean Gachassin, the French threequarter, who played fly half, centre, wing and full back. www.trinityhospice.org.uk

It is a curious part of British life but I always read the Births, Birthdays and Obit columns in our more serious newspapers. I used to appear in the Birthday column just because I was an MP which seems faintly absurd.... this morning I am back in The Guardian...pity they added my age!

I travelled to Manchester on Thursday with the intention of staying over night for the Help the Hospices annual conference. I enjoyed the opening day and the Palace Hotel but my first room had no heating, nor did my second or third. I was kept waiting two hours for a room and in the end called it a day and caught a late train home.  I couldn't recommend the hotel to anyone it belongs to the 1950s........

On Tuesday afternoon we held our annual Away Day for our Trustees which starts with a lunch and then for four hours we review where we are and where we need to be with a succession of papers and discussions.

I had supper with Elie Bitar who I have mentored over the past few years. He is off to Port Harcourt, Nigeria to join the family business.

I spent some of the morning yesterday at Trinity Hospice talking through whether there was a role for a private provider in palliative care or in property development post 2015 when the proposed funding changes are supposed to be implemented.

I had my monthly meeting with my CEO and Head of Fund Raising at Trinity yesterday. This was my 44th day or part day which I have given over to the hospice this year. 

I called Aspect Windows on Tuesday afternoon asking whether they could take out a window for me. A Polish workman arrived on time yesterday, took the window out, went off to do another job whilst my removal men arrived with my sofa and with a little bit of huffing and puffing we managed to land it safely into my front room. My man then came back at 7.30pm to put the window back in without breaking it. Trebles all round.  That's some service though......

I have spent this week moving from my house in Westminster to my flat in Pimlico. The move has gone surprisingly well except for one small problem.....we couldn't find a way for my sofa to make it......at some stage next week we'll take a window out and I'll be able to sit more comfortably!! 

I was back at Trinity Hospice this morning and bumped into fellow trustees James Thellusson and Lynne Ager. I had to sign a letter......as you do.

Twelve Chairs from eleven "London" hospices (one was in-waiting) met yesterday for a couple of hours to chew over the issues facing all of us as we wait for the changes in funding to be spelt out by the Government. We talked about Finance, Governance, Lobbying et al. It was a very helpful meeting.   

When I was interviewed for the post of Chairman of Trinity Hospice back in October, 2010 I was told it would take about 8-10 days a year........of my time.  In 2011, I put in 62 part days or days whilst this year I touched 40 days when I chaired our quarterly Board on Monday....... We received a presentation from PwC; we discussed what to do with our old building which used to house the Hospice before we built our state-of-the-art replacement and we looked at our forward comms...

I was at Trinity Hospice this morning for our monthly Fund Raising meeting.

I initiated a meeting with Paul Burstow MP, Hospice Minister, earlier in the year for the Chairs of London Hospices. The Minister suggested that Hospices would have their current PCT grants until April, 2015 (whereas we had expected them to be phased out for April, 2014). This week he confirmed the April, 2015 date (in a letter to me). 

First Jack arrived back from an internship in Cape Town on Tuesday and then yesterday, Daisy arrived back from her travels in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. It was good to see them looking so well.

I was at Trinity yesterday morning for an interview. We are so lucky that so many people make the Hospice tick not least our fund raising team.

I was at Trinity yesterday for our monthly fund raising update. I also touched base with Anne Hooper, our CEO.

Six CEOs and four chairs from a cross section of London Hospices met on Monday night to share intelligence; this was a first and we agreed to meet again. 

Daisy and Jack, my two grown up children, dropped by yesterday evening and we went to Pizza Express, on The Embankment, for supper. Jack had spotted a special offer - 3 courses for £12.99 - and so he downloaded the voucher on his mobile and off we went.   We talked through our Christmas plans to spend time in Vancouver and Montreal where they will see their cousins and my sister. We'll probably do some skiing both on Vancouver Island and Montreal. Daisy went off to a rave...

Trinity Hospice hosted the London Russian Ballet School last night where their dancers performed Act 2 from Swan Lake. We had a full house and luckily the weather held (we were outdoors in the garden). It was a lovely occasion and the dancers were great. We made a small presentation to Harriet Pickering, Director, LRBS.

Our brilliant fund raising team - I think at the last count we had eleven - broke all kinds of records in our last fnancial year and so on Thursday evening I invited them for drinks to say "Thank You" on behalf of our trustees.

The sun shone on our Summer Party yesterday evening as about 400 people enjoyed themsleves and helped us raise £50k+ for Trinity.

I attended the Trinity Hospice Volunteers Party early last evening and was pleased to see Lynne and Peter, two of our Trustees, also present and doing the rounds. We had a good turn-out and I thanked them for their great contribution.

We had our quarterly Board meeting last night where, amongst other things, we discussed the shadow pilot schemes just starting in seven English hospices.

New Treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferers: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/07/health-new-rheumatoid-arthritis-treatment_n_1577852.html

We had a large crowd visit our Hospice today which given the weather was fortuitous!! I had a glass of Pimm's or two, a head and neck massage, some chats with families who had lost their friends and relatives, I bought some rock cakes and won four tickets to the Eye in a raffle.

I was at Trinity this morning for my monthly meeting with the Fund Raising team. Yesterday, we had a golf day, this evening we have a quiz evening with Eaton House School, on Sunday we have an Open Garden day, on Tuesday Lizzie Ball will be playing her violin and offering musical therapy for our patients and in two weeks time our Wandsworth Friends have their annual garden party. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful and successful fund-raising team.

JP Morgan has lost at least US$3billion in some dodgy trades. How? How, after the worst banking crisis for 75 years can there be such incompetence?? Of course, no heads will roll.  Time for there to be an Arab Spring for those who sit on the boards of our western banks.

I spent a couple of hours at Trinity Hospice this morning discussing first our Ambassadors project and secondly our outward facing strategy post 2013. 

On Friday, I attended our monthly Fund Raising committee meeting. We have started the new financial year well which is always encouraging given we have to find £9million to remain open and free to the communities we serve north and south of the Thames.

I went to a first meeting of a north London hospices group yesterday at St. Luke's Hospice in Harrow.

I spent a couple of hours this morning with Anne Hooper, CEO at Trinity, trying to think through the implications of what Paul Burstow MP, Hospice Minister, said to us earlier in the week. Trinity has over 20 runners in the Marathon on Sunday.

I chaired the Trustees quarterly Board meeting last night at Trinity Hospice. It was really encouraging to report above prediction earnings from our shops and our fund raising team for our financial year which is about to close.

The chairs of the all the London Hospices met yesterday at Trinity. It was a very constructive meeting and it was good to hear other chairs having similar problems to your own!

Parkgate House School have been the most amazing supporters of Trinity Hospice and have raised nearly £50k for us since they started their quiz evenings back in 1999. Last night a sell out crowd (over 200) came to Wandsworth Town Hall to have some fun and raise us even more funds - bless their cotton socks. I judged the best table decoration and spoke for a couple of minutes on Trinity; our table did quite well in the quiz but alas not enough to take the top prize!

On Friday morning, I had a meeting at Trinity Hospice with our fund-raising team who have surpassed themselves this year (to be fair they seem to do this every year) having already reached their overall targets. Later, I had a catch up with Anne Hooper, our CEO.

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall's visit to our two Trinity Hospice shops in Kensington: Web only Press Association: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ ALeqM5jKD73KrGgfMVTyu6_-j2M2SG9jrg?docId=N0278451328125039289A    Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/world-events-1316137200-slideshow/ duchess-cornwall-visits-trinity-hospice-20120201-111629-649.html     Look to the Stars (celebrity giving):...

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, Royal Patron to Trinity Hospice, visited our two shops - books and clothing - in Kensington on Wednesday evening and met our full time staff and volunteers. Later, she also attended a private party in Kensington for Trinity supporters. See: www.trinityhospice.org.uk 

Denis Campbell, The Guardian's Health Correspondent, visited Trinity yesterday and met our senior staff.

Trinity Hospice features in: DECEMBER_PRINT_EDITION__KENSINGTON_AND_CHELSEA_TODAY.pdf  

This was my first Light Up A Life service at Trinity Hospice and I found the whole evening very moving. We started at the Hospice with hot chocolate sponsored by our good friends from Starbucks and then we all lit our candles. Someone looking rather like me then welcomed everyone (there were about 400 of us) to the event which celebrates family and friends who have passed away this year. Maddie and Gracie turned on the lights to our enormous Christmas tree and then the...

We shall be celebrating the lives of those who passed away this year at our Light Up a Life service this evening at Trinity.

I chaired our quarterly Board meeting last night at Trinity Hospice (go check out our new web site: www.trinityhospice.org.uk).  We heard from our Bereavement team, saw some plans as to what we could do with our various buildings and discussed future funding. The good news was our Shops are ahead of target and our fund raising team have again excelled themselves.  

On Tuesday afternoon and evening, the Trinity Hospice Trustees held their annual "Away Day". It was very well attended by senior staff and trustees as we had a lot to discuss including: Patient Services GP practices The acute sector 2020 vision Fund raising Finance Communications I chaired the day.

Seven Hospice chairs from St Christopher's; Princess Alice, Esher; St Francis, Berkhamstead; North London; Greenwich & Bexley; St Luke's, Harrow & Brent and , of course, Trinity attended yesterday very constructive meeting. We discussed: The Hughes Hallett Report The Dilnot Commission on Care Help the Hospice's forthcoming Commission and much else besides. Trinity will host the next meeting in March.

I am just off to my first meeting of all of the London Hospices (Chairpersons anyway) at St Christopher's Hospice just at the back of Crystal Palace.

Earl of Wessex visits Trinity Hospice gardens   Patients and staff at Trinity Hospice in Clapham were delighted to receive a royal visit today (Thursday) when Prince Edward arrived on a London Gardens Society tour.   The Earl of Wessex, patron of the gardens society, was welcomed by Trinity’s Chairman, Derek Wyatt, hospice gardener Michael Halman and the Mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Christiana Valcarcel.   During a tour of the award-winning...

It looks as if the next steps will be to identify the five pilots suggested in the report.

When I took the job as chairman of Trinity Hospice (www.trinityhospice.org.uk) I was told it was six to eight meetings a year and a lot of fun. Ho hum. This week as an indication of how busy the senior management team and trustees are we have had a full agenda: Monday: Party to say thank you to our staff for having to put up with builders for the past four months, followed by a 2 hour Board meeting and a supper for Trustees Tuesday: Wandsworth Friends of TH held their annual fund...

Yesterday was my Hospice day and I spent most of the morning there talking to  Anne Hooper, our CEO & Caroline Clark, our wonderful chaplain, who will soon be retiring. In the afternoon, I met our new Trustee, Geraldine Walters, Director of Nursing at King's College Hospital. She also chairs the London Network for Nurses and Midwives, is Visiting Professor at Buckinghamshire New University and a member of the National Clinical Audit Advisory...

Trinity Hospice in Clapham, south west London, held its second Open Garden Day and welcomed over a thousand local families; they enjoyed the beautiful gardens whilst their children had their faces painted and bounced on castles or had books read to them. Patients also enjoyed their company.  

It's been a busy month - of sorts - I've been in Siena for a two week break, my first holiday for two years (I was too ill last year) and then I've just come back from five days in Qatar where I spoke at the Doha Forum. So, I've missed three Fridays at Trinity Hospice in Clapham where I am the relatively new chairman of the Trustees. Last Friday (6th), I popped in to chat to Anne Hooper, our chief executive, and yesterday, we met Nicholas Woolf, the Chairman of the Princess Alice...

I sat mostly in the beautiful gardens at Trinity Hospice today chatting to various groups of our wonderful staff who together make Trinity tick. First up was our laundry and catering group without which we couldn't function (i wonder how many times I will use that phrase over the next year?). Then it was a session with our porters and hardworking gardener followed by a meeting with our head of transport. I'm learning fast. Then, I met our Shops team and Volunteers and we

I was at Trinity Hospice this morning for a very well attended Business breakfast (supplied by Starbucks).

As per usual on Friday I was out and about as Chairman of Trinity Hospice. I started at Marie Curie with Thomas Hughes-Hallett, CEO and we discussed where the Government's current thinking is on Hospice care per se. I moved on to our two Kensington shops to meet Richard Walker-Arnott, Deputy Lieutenant of Kensington & Chelsea. Stefan, our overall Shops Manager, showed him round and then we had a coffee. I was back at the Hospice after lunch to meet Charlie Skinner, one of...

Being Friday, I spent most of my day at Trinity Hospice in Clapham. I went out with one of our Home Nurses (we do 2000 home visits a year - all free) for a second consecutive Friday...... We visited a Jewish Care Home in south London, a family where the patient had died early this morning and finally to a lovely art deco block of flats to see a former art teacher and painter. You couldn't have had three more different visits in any one day. Of course, the visit to the family where...

Margot Richardson worked for me for four years from 1984-88 when I was a publisher at Allen & Unwin and then William Heinemann. Most days she was a saint - anyone who'd worked for me for that long must have been......so I was saddened this morning to learn from Matthew Engel that she had died from cancer on Wednesday morning.  It seems only yesterday when we were having such fun together. 

I was at Trinity Hospice on Monday evening for the PSC Committee meeting and then back yesterday to meet Lynne Ager and then Tuvi Orbach.

Yesterday was my Trinity Hospice day. I spent it with one of our home visit nurses. We offer a free service to support people in their own homes who have cancer or an end of life illness. Trinity offers all its services for free. Just to stand still we need to raise £8 million a year.

Yesterday afternoon I was given a briefing on our Volunteering programme. We are so fortunate at Trinity to be so well supported in our community. We have over 500 volunteers either at the Hospice or helping in our Shops.

Yesterday was my Trinity Hospice Day - it has been a busy week for us at Trinity - and I went with Floyd and Stefan to visit some of our wonderful shops which contribute over £1m to our bottom line each year. We started out at Brooke Green, moved onto to Queensway, did both our book and clothes shop in Kensington, took in Fulham before checking out Putney and our soon-to-be-opened furniture shop also in Putney and finally our current furniture shop in Wandsworth which is terrific. We have

As Patron of the Trinity Hospice, HRH Duchess of Cornwall hosted a private supper last night. Earlier in the day, I spent 40 minutes with her at Clarence House.

If it's Friday then it's my Trinity Hospice day......and I spent yesterday meeting four Trustees to talk through our work for the year; I also attended a fund raising presentation (we had a very good month in January). We are all concerned at the sudden changes to the NHS and what this will do to our funding. www.trinityhospice.org.uk 

I popped into Trinity Hospice this morning (as I missed last Friday as I was in Mumbai); I spent time with various members of staff playing my usual catch up.

Being Friday, I spent the morning with Anne Hooper, our CEO. We went through the admin for the next Board meeting (my first), how the PCT map will be withdrawn in south London and how this will effect us and a TED video on a Dad who was terminally ill but who had the sense to appoint 6 "Dads" to care for his children once he was gone.

Help donate: http://www.trinityhospice.org.uk/film  ITV Local London News Launch of 120th Anniversary http://www.itv.com/london/hospice-anniversary34180/   

On Friday, I spend another full day at Trinity Hospice. We were launching our 120th Anniversary with Huw Edwards (BBC News), one of our Patrons and Jack Dee, the actor and comedian, one of our supporters. This was my first outing as the new Chairman of the Hospice and I had to introduce (and thank) both Huw and Jack. About Jack I said that he was depressed this morning because he felt he was the only person in London who hadn't had his phone hacked. Both of them spent time...

Friday was my "Trinity Hospice" day and it started with a meeting with a would-be trustee before going on site to spend time with the HR department and Anne Hooper, our CEO. I then sat in on a management meeting for our 22 shops. It is our 120th anniversary and we will be launching lots of initiatives next week.

Trinity Hospice Though I am not quite in situ (1st February 2011), as the new chairman of the Trustees, I have dedicated Fridays to give my time to the Hospice. I started with Paul Molloy, Managing Director, Compton Fundraising Consultants Ltd., and then moved onto meet Sophie Harwood, who runs one of our 22 Trinity Hospice shops at 85 Wilton Street, Victoria and some of the volunteers. For my first six months, I shall try and meet as many of the people as possible who make Trinity...

Trinity Hospice www.trinityhospice.org.uk I spent 90 minutes at the Hospice with Anne Hooper, CEO on Wednesday.

Trinity Hospice, Clapham www.trinityhospice.org.uk At the end of January, 2011, I will become the new chairman of the Trustees at Trinity Hospice in Clapham. My grandfather, father and brother (leaving three young sons) all died of various types of cancer. When I was an MP I donated £1000 from my fees from media and polling to Demelza House hospice in my constituency which helped young (sometimes very young) with cancer. I was also a very strong supporter of its work and...