“[Colin] wanted to make a difference, had a big heart and St Christopher’s became very important to him.”
Colin Russell’s legacy
Colin Russell’s legacy to St Christopher’s is a wide and varied one. One that began nearly 25 years ago at our annual dinner held at Goldsmith’s Hall. And one that continues to have an impact now.
Nigel Hartley, former Director of Supportive Care for St Christopher’s, explains,
“I think it was about 2001, and it was Colin’s first Goldsmith dinner, and it coincided with him sitting next to me. We established that we had a friend in common who was head teacher at St John the Baptist school, and we talked about establishing a formal and constructive way to engage kids with the hospice. Someone Colin knew had died under St Christopher’s care years earlier and he wanted to help.”
Colin built a successful career as a solicitor specialising in wills and trusts, all the while involving himself deeply in community life in his native South East London and then Eastbourne where he moved in later life.
Colin also held a position as trustee for the Alfred and Peggy Harvey Trust and the Daisy Foundation.
It was through this he was able to facilitate a number of projects that Nigel and colleagues developed – including a thriving school engagement programme that’s been emulated in hospices across the UK and now internationally.
As well as a young adults’ transition project, a domiciliary care service, and the Garden Cafe (formerly, Anniversary Centre) at St Christopher’s.
Nigel says it’s hard to overstate Colin’s contribution to St Christopher’s, what it meant to him and how fateful that first meeting was.
“It was so serendipitous sitting next to him at that dinner. I sat down and worked it out and figured that over the years Colin gave us access to about £2.5m. It made him feel good. He wanted to make a difference, had a big heart and St Christopher’s became very important to him.”
“[Colin is] an important part of the St Christopher’s story and enabled an enormous amount of creativity.”
Nigel Hartley, former Director of Supportive Care for St Christopher’s
“Colin held St Christopher’s in the highest regard, and we believe the gift reflects the deep appreciation he had for the care and support you provide.”
Neil Walker, Colin’s friend
Colin’s support for St Christopher’s helped build cross generational links between young people and the hospice and create a space where people continue to meet, enjoy music and reflect.
When Colin died at the age of 77, his close friends, Alan Reeves and Neil Walker, were appointed to carry out the wishes he had made in his Will.
Alan and Neil said they weren’t surprised by the contents of the Will, given Colin’s deep affection and respect for the hospice.
Alan remembers the school programme giving Colin a real sense of purpose. “It was a project Colin was very proud of, and rightly so,” he adds.
While Alan visited his mother when she spent the last couple of weeks of her life in the hospice, Neil had never been inside St Christopher’s until recently when they hung a leaf on the remembrance tree.
“It was excellent to finally go and see the place after everything I’d heard,” Neil says.
“It’s really not what I expected at all. It felt very fresh and welcoming, and everyone was very friendly. We even met someone who knew Colin which was nice.”
Colin’s greatest asset, his friends maintain, was a real gift for networking.
This, combined with the time afforded him as a lifelong bachelor, although he also indulged a passion for collecting – thousands of books, dozens of 18th-century Toby jugs, maps, cars and even historic guns.
Behind all the bravado he wasn’t one to boast about it and never made a fuss.
“We can also confirm that Colin left a significant amount to St Christopher’s in his Will – one of only two charities he did that for.”
Colin Russell’s legacy lives on thanks to the very generous gift he left in his will and donations made by mourners at his funeral but, even more, in the work that St Christopher’s continues to do today.
Your legacy, like Colin’s, could help make moments that matter for years to come
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