New Year honour for St Nicholas Hospice chief Barbara Gale

Barbara Gale, chief executive of St Nicholas Hospice Care, has been made an MBE in the New Year’s Honours in recognition of her contribution to hospice care and the West Suffolk community.

Involved in hospice care for more than 30 years, with 11 years at the helm of the Bury St Edmunds-based hospice, she said she was ‘astounded’ when she got the news.

“I feel privileged and humbled to think that I am worthy of this award and I thank the people that took the time to nominate me,” she said.

“I couldn’t have received this award without having such an amazing team of more than 180 staff and 650 volunteers. They work so hard to make the experiences of people in the community better and help people as they face death, dying and grief. I also get great support from my group of visionary trustees whose work can sometimes go unrecognised.”

During her 11 years at St Nicolas Hospice Care, Barbara has seen two hospice volunteer schemes, Hospice Neighbours and Nicky’s Way win the Queen’s Award.

“It has been an amazing few years but we know that there are still people out there that are not having great experiences and are facing death and grief without much support. Our ambition is to continue offering specialist care and to help more people feel prepared and equipped,” she said.