Over the years there have been a few weddings at the hospice and it is always a special time for everyone involved. But a wedding that took place in January of this year was extra special for one of our nurses; having trained as a registrar she was honoured to preside over the wedding of one of her patients.

“It’s such a lovely thing to be involved in people’s special days,” says Beverly Twine, who is a nurse on the St Wilfrid’s Inpatient Unit. “Having been a nurse for many years I’ve been involved in the worst days of people’s lives, so training to officiate weddings really excited me.”

“Since I became a registrar last April I had been thinking that if a wedding came up at the hospice I would like to do it. It’s really special, because a wedding at the end of someone’s life is really quite a sensitive subject, so I feel it’s nice if they know the person doing it.”

In early January Bev was approached by the relative of a patient who was receiving care on the Inpatient Unit; the patient wasn’t married to his long-term partner and wanted to be. Bev advised them to contact the local registry office, and she organised to be the registrar assigned to that wedding.

On the day of the wedding Bev worked at the hospice during the morning, caring for the patient and his family, and in the afternoon she became a registrar and married him and his partner. “It was such a privilege,” she says. “It was a small ceremony, just close family, held in the Retreat at the hospice, but it was intimate and special. Because I knew the family really well I knew what difficulties they might face, and how to help, and I think the patient got a lot out of having me there as the registrar.”

Bev sums it up by saying: “It was the first time I had been involved in the wedding of a patient, and it was a total honour and privilege. I would love to do it again someday.”