MyCornwall Magazine - Dec/Jan

Aerial shot by
Alban Roinard
To create a meaningful memorial to their
only son which would also benefit the
town, Teddy’s parents founded a hospital
converting Albany House and putting it in
trust for the people of St Ives. It opened
in April 1920, shortly after the death of
Teddy’s father (with no male heir, the Hain
Steamship company was sold). Capable
of taking 12 to 16 patients and geared
towards seamen and soldiers, the hospital
was initially managed by a trust including
Teddy’s sister, Kate, until 1948 when it was
taken over by the newly-formed National
Health Service.
Kate’s granddaughter, Kit Hain Grindstaff
(once half of the Marshall Hain duo,
whose 1978 song Dancing in the City
was an international hit), is now based in
the USA but visits regularly and takes an
active role in the campaign. In 2017, she
and her brother Tim wrote a song, Hands
Across the Harbour, to promote an event
which saw 600 people gather in their
dressing gowns, representing patients
who had been denied care since the
hospital closure.
A year later, on November 11, 2018 – the
centenary of the end of the First World
War – they were present to see Captain
Hain’s portrait drawn in the sand on
Porthmeor Beach as part of Pages of the
Sea, an event conceived by film director
Danny Boyle to commemorate the Great
War heroes.
“Captain Edward Hain would have been my
great-uncle,” says Kit. “My grandmother
adored him, and he was a mythical figure in
our family. When the hospital was closed,
Having learned of the loyalty of the people
of St Ives to the Hain name, how could I
not respond? The hospital was part of the
town’s lifeblood.”
The idea of the hospital being disposed
of by the NHS was so inconceivable that
a clause was never added to ensure it
should come back to the town in such
circumstances. “The deeds were handed
over, and what happened is entirely legal,
if not as moral as we would like,” says
Kit. “However, when buildings like this
are given up, they have to be offered first
to a local government body, and St Ives
Town Council stepped in on our behalf
to mediate.”
For the business side of things, the Friends
turned to Simon Ryan, whose specialist
field - creating community organisations
and raising funding to buy obsolete
buildings for repurposing as community
facilities – mostly deals with housing, but
fitted the Edward Hain to a tee.
Simon helped with “the dull but vital
stuff”: the legal registration of the new
charity; communications and negotiations
between the Town Council, NHS Property
Services and the Friends; setting up
the detail of the contracts, including
loan finance and staffing structure; and
talking to funders, planners, lawyers and
accountants “who each speak their own
specific language”.
One area that posed no problem was
raising community funding to match grants
and loans. “I've been in this line of work
for many years, and I've never, ever seen
this level of community support - it's jawdroppingly
amazing,” says Simon.
There are limitations to the services Edward
Hain will be able to provide in future. “It’s
not cost-effective to run as a hospital
today,” says Lynne, adding that any nursing
care would need to be under the auspices
of the NHS. “We have to be realistic -
medicine has changed enormously, and
there are things you can be treated for now
that you couldn’t before.”
So Edward Hain will be a health and
wellbeing hub, home to organisations
like Age Concern. “There’s a huge need
for services that support people who live
here permanently, exacerbated by Covid
and now the cost-of-living crisis, but there
is more to medicine and good health
than simply having an operation or taking
tablets,” Lynne continues. “For example,
there has been an increase in mental health
issues, and anything that helps to alleviate
that – including preventative medicine and
social prescribing - is really valuable.”
Kit Hain is understandably thrilled to be
close to completion of purchase, and
grateful to everyone who worked and
donated to make this happen. “I imagine
that my great-grandparents would have
something to say about us having had to
buy back the hospital they provided for the
benefit of the town they loved,” she says.
“But I also imagine that they would be
blown away by the community’s dedication
to the facility, and amazed that Teddy’s
story is remembered with such love and
respect over 100 years later.” l
To make a contribution to the campaign,
visit www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-buyback-our-hospital-building
For details of how to send cheques
or wire transfers, please contact
edwardhaincentre@gmail.com
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