Hospice pays tribute to former Worcester Warriors owner
The chief executive of Acorns Children’s Hospice has paid tribute to former Worcester Warriors owner Cecil Duckworth CBE – the man whose generosity led to the opening of the charity’s children’s hospice in Worcester in 2005.
Duckworth, who passed away aged 83 on Sunday, became involved with Acorns in 1997 through a family friend whose child was using the charity’s Birmingham hospice.
The experience led him to help Acorns open a children’s hospice in the Worcester area.
He helped Acorns identify land in Worcester and donated the first £1m to an appeal to raise the funds needed to build it.
Acorns for the Three Counties, Acorns third hospice opened on the Bath Road, Worcester in 2005.
Toby Porter Acorns CEO, paid tribute to the businessman and philanthropist as one of the ‘great friends’ in the history of the charity.
He said: “We are extremely proud of our long association with this remarkable person, who despite his achievements was someone of immense humility and gentleness.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that Cecil has personally helped to support hundreds of local children and their families with children’s hospice care since Acorns in Worcester first opened its doors.”
Following his close personal connection with Acorns through the family friend, Duckworth saw first-hand the impact of the charity’s work and as the years passed, began conversations with Acorns then CEO John Overton, about how a hospice could be opened in or around Worcester.
Porter said: “Cecil understood on a deep and personal level the vital importance of services like Acorns and recognised immediately the growing need many families had in the local area.
“He always retained a keen interest in how Acorns was doing and like John Overton and David Strudley before me, I was fortunate as CEO to be able to count on his experience and advice.”
Duckworth, who became a patron of Acorns, helped establish the charity’s longstanding partnership with Worcester Warriors and along with his wife Beatrice became regular visitors to the hospice to keep in touch with the staff there.
Porter added: “I last spoke to Cecil in October, and he was delighted to know how Acorns had kept its doors open in Worcester for every day of the pandemic, and how we had brought on some new services to support local families, including the distribution of food and essentials led by our volunteers.
“We will always feel tremendous gratitude towards Cecil – a great friend of Acorns. On behalf of all of us at Acorns, our heartfelt condolences to his wife Beatrice and the whole of the Duckworth family.”
