WHEN Sheila Tonge's husband died from motor neurone disease after being ill for three-and-a-half years she discovered first-hand the gaps in Bolton's healthcare for the terminally ill.

And those experiences prompted her to get involved with the campaign to build a hospice for the town.

Now, she is retiring as hospice chairman as it prepares to celebrate its 15th anniversary in 2007 after actively helping guide its finances and future since it opened its doors.

Mrs Tonge, now aged 61, was married to her Danish businessman husband and they had two daughters, who were aged nine and seven when he was diagnosed with the crippling disease.

A magistrate and involved in musical and theatrical groups, she was able to fight for the facilities and equipment, like a specialised wheelchair, that her ailing husband urgently needed.

At the same time, she had to run her husband's photographic waste business.

"Because the illness took his voice, I had to literally speak for him," she recalled. This journey proved an emotional one for the family, and a sad learning experience.

"You realise that somewhere central is needed even to get the most basic of daily care services for people who are so ill. Bolton urgently needed a hospice," Mrs Tonge said.

The financial expertise she had to acquire to run the family business was now extended to this local campaign, joining the stalwart group which master-minded the fundraising and the actual plans for the building off Chorley New Road.

"Yes, it was a wonderful day when it opened," she admitted.

Since then, Mrs Tonge has been an active driving force in the finances, and in 1999, she became chairman.

Her work has not only played a major part in the way the hospice has moved forward - in its in-patient unit, day therapy unit and the Hospice at Home service - but she has represented the North-west on national bodies.

"And I discovered that Bolton's hospice is also one of the best," she said.

She is understandably proud of its services, of its 65 staff, and 700 volunteers - in the hospice and in the charity's shops around the borough - and of the fact that it is keeping up with modern trends.

Mrs Tonge is one of a group of supporters selling some donated items on eBay to help towards the hospice's annual £2.2 million running costs.

Although she is now standing down to make way for new chairman Graham Yardley, she is not relinquishing her links with the hospice.

She is looking at hospice funding around the country on the Bolton organisation's behalf, and is still happy to help out on the wards when she can.

Hospice chief executive Margaret Evans is quick to praise Mrs Tonge's contribution. "Sheila has been a wonderful chairman and such an ambassador for the hospice. She has been a really effective part of our team," she said.

As for Sheila Tonge: "The hospice has been a very important part of my life, and I'm grateful for that."