Sisters buy 'lighthouses' to remember loved ones

A family have bought a chain of lighthouse models in memory of loved ones and to thank the hospice charity which cared for them.

Sisters Kim Hill and Nicola Oliver bought the models which were sold at auction at the end of St Luke's Hospice Plymouth's Guiding Lights trail.

The women said they were inspired to buy the lighthouses because of their personal experiences with the charity.

Their mother was cared for at the hospice specialist unit in 2024 and Hill's husband Brian was looked after by St Luke's nursing teams before he died in June this year.

Between them the sisters spent almost £14,000 on the lighthouses but Hill said the auction was an easy way to give the charity a "large sum on money" because it wouldn't have occurred to her to make a donation of that size.

"You hope you're never going to have to use the facility again but if you do it's there and it's worth supporting to make sure it remains there," she said.

The 42 lighthouses making up the trail were unveiled at an exhibition in July before being moved to locations around Plymouth.

Hill said she had hoped to complete the lighthouse trail with her husband but they did not have the chance.

"Sadly he passed away before the (lighthouse) trail started but he did know that at the end of it they were going to auction the lighthouses off and he knew I wanted to buy one," she said.

Forty-two big lighthouses were designed and decorated by artists, while a further 42 little lighthouses, designed by schools, were displayed at the Box Gallery and Museum, and another 10 sculptures toured venues across Devon.

Hill said she had an auction brochure and put stars against the ones she wanted to bid on.

"We did have a plan B of maybe we'll get one between us. But we didn't need plan B, our plan A worked."

In the end she bought three lighthouses at the auction - Light of Plymouth for £4,200, Mega Murals for £2,800 and Devon Delights for £2,600. A total of £9,600.

"I wanted ones that were connected to Plymouth," said Hill.

"My husband was Scottish, but he loved the city. He was in the Royal Navy and lived here since 1977 or 78. We were together 46 years. He would approve of me buying the lighthouses, I'm sure," she said.

The Light of Plymouth lighthouse lives in Hill's back garden but the others have found permanent homes with family members.

Mega Murals was bought for her daughter and Devon Delights went to her son and daughter in law who no longer live in Devon.

"It's their piece of Devon shipped to Worcester," she said.

Oliver said her son, who has a disability, loved the trail so much he visited each lighthouse several times, going on two or three expeditions a week over the summer and was very keen to have one to keep.

She placed winning bids on two lighthouses including Walkies! for £2,000, which is covered in dogs and now lives in her front garden, and Just Keep Swimming, for £2,200, which has a new home in her back garden by her swimming pool. A total of £4,200.

"The trail has been lovely," said Nicola. "As they appeared in Plymouth they were so magnificent."

She added she felt it was "enlightening" at the auction to hear about the costs the charity face.

"In the times that we've used them there's never been any emphasis from them on how much it costs," she said.

She said it was "a really nice feeling" to know other people would be helped because of the money they had spent on the lighthouses.

Hill added: "At the worst time in your life, you know, the care is there.

"It's a brilliant facility on our doorstep, you never hope you're going to have to go there but our mum went there twice and it was the best care," she said.

She added: "My husband didn't want to go to St Luke's, but the St Luke's ladies cared for him at home for the last three weeks of his life.

"Very cheery ladies doing a difficult job at a very difficult time, very supportive to myself and they were willing to show me how to help care for him."

Penny Hannah, St Luke's head of fundraising, said the project had been "absolutely magical".

She added: "The money raised at auction is enough to make a difference for more than 200 families in our community when they desperately need the expert care and support we provide."

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