A DINNER to raise funds for patients with serious long-term illnesses will celebrate the work of a charity trustee next week.

Trustee Karen Tighe will mark her last year at St Luke’s Hospice by organising a multicultural dinner dance in Harrow.

St Luke’s looks after people with cancer and other serious progressive illnesses, such as motor neurone disease and heart, lung and kidney failure. Primary schoolteacher Mrs Tighe was appointed as a St Luke’s trustee in 2005.

It was originally her mother Pam Mote who became a volunteer after her husband attended the hospice’s day care unit.

After his death in 1995, her mother continued to volunteer.

In 2003, Mrs Tighe’s mother was also diagnosed with terminal cancer and was moved to St Luke’s inpatient unit for just more than two weeks before she died.

Mrs Tighe said: “The hospice cared for my whole family and in fact, I slept in the same room as mum for several nights before she died.

“My mother’s experience prompted me to become a volunteer and I started doing PR in the fundraising department and working in the Harrow Shop.”

Mrs Tighe decided to give up her career in marketing and later went on to retrain as a teacher and become a trustee at St Luke’s.

She said: “I like giving something back to the hospice as it has given so much to my family and me.”

Ms Tighe is organising the event with fellow trustee Ashok Parmar which takes place on Saturday, March 26, at the Premier Banqueting, in Canning Road, Harrow, at 7.30pm.

Tickets are £35 and includes a three-course dinner with a choice of food from different countries, soft drinks and a mocktail on arrival.

There will be a mixture of Indian and English music and fundraising games and activities.

For more information, or to book your place, contact Jemini on 020 8382 8018, or go to www.stlukes-hospice.org/multiculturaldinnerdance