There were smiles as well as sadness in the Hope Social today, as we shared happy memories of the wonderful Jim Finney, who we were absolutely gutted to lose at the weekend.
After first coming to Hope as a patient in 2008, Jim went on to become a Pulmonary Rehab Buddy, Hope Street Trust trustee, a Care Plus Group governor and of course the driving force behind all of our Hope Social activities, which he recognised were just as important as the exercise. He was always coming up with new ideas to keep everyone entertained and involved and spent countless hours preparing for the sessions.
He touched the lives of so many people over the years with his kindness, care, encouragement, empathy, humour and unfailing ability to tell us when something wasn't quite right and could be done better. In short, he was everything you could wish for in a Hope volunteer and friend.
As anyone who has ever attended the Hope Social or read the Hope Times will know, Jim was also our quiz master, so today in his honour we had a quiz about Famous Jim, James or Jimmies and it goes without saying that we all think number 12 is the most famous of them all.
Farewell Mr Finney. We send our love to Carole and the family and we're here for you if you need us.