As an ambassador and fundraiser for the Butterwick Hospice, I have watched the events of the past few days unfold with considerable sadness.

On Friday, this newspaper revealed that staff had been shocked by the sudden departure after 21 years of chief executive Graham Leggatt-Chidgey.

When contacted, Mr Leggatt-Chidgey told the paper he had retired for health reasons but, despite repeated requests, there has still been no official statement: nothing to confirm the chief executive’s departure; to thank him for his long service; or to wish him well.

To staff, volunteers and a small army of supporters that looks very odd. I’ve had a number of calls asking me what’s going on but I simply don’t know.

By Saturday, more details had emerged with The Northern Echo revealing that staff had been asked to volunteer for redundancy amid serious financial problems. A leaked internal memo said urgent cost cuts were required to ensure the sustainability of the organisation.

It is clearly a serious situation. Speculation is rife and that is not being helped by a lack of any clarification from the hospice.

The Butterwick Hospice has an incredibly proud history. It goes back to the selflessness, courage and vision of a local mum called Mary Butterwick, who responded to the grief of losing her beloved husband John to cancer in 1979 by launching a hospice movement.

It has grown into a major North-East institution with care running through its core and with supporters across the region, helping in all kinds of ways.

It is with the Butterwick’s interests at heart that I respectfully ask for everyone connected with the hospice to be given clarity and reassurance about its future – because, quite frankly, the silence is deafening.

ON lighter matters, here's a quiz question for you: Which British sporting legend launched his winning career in a donkey derby at Redcar Racecourse?

The answer, as I discovered last week, is Bob Champion, pictured below, the man behind perhaps the greatest of all Grand National stories.

Bob, of course, was the jockey who recovered from cancer in time to win the 1981 Grand National on Aldaniti. It was a fairytale begging to be turned into a film and, sure enough, John Hurt was cast in the heroic leading role in Champions two years later.

The local connections are there in the history books – Bob, above, was born at Guisborough and Aldaniti came into the world on the outskirts of Darlington, at Burtree Lane Stables. The stables were owned by Florrie and Tommy Barron, parents of successful Thirsk racehorse trainer David Barron (no relation).

What I didn’t know, until I was lucky enough to have a chat with him last week, is that Bob’s first winner was in a donkey derby at Redcar 60 years ago when he was a boy of eight.

“I can remember it as if it was yesterday,” said Bob, who was paying a visit to Redcar Races on his way to an after-dinner speaking engagement.

He couldn’t remember what the donkey was called but the name of Aldaniti, born in a Darlington stable, will live on for generations.

The Northern Echo:

ANOTHER sporting legend crossed my path last week, albeit in a digital form.

It was during the course of playing the daily “Headline Challenge” which involves BBC Tees listeners trying to come up with a better headline than one chosen by The Northern Echo for a funny story in the paper.

The world’s coolest race, The North Pole Marathon, had taken place 49 kilometres from the top of the world.

The Echo’s headline was “Polar Radcliffe”, BBC Tees chose “Brrrrendan Froster”, and it was judged to be an honourable draw. The result was duly posted on Twitter and the great Paula Radcliffe herself – with nearly 200,000 followers – “liked” it.

In the context of social media, that’s the equivalent of getting a high-five from the fastest female marathon runner in history.

I was so excited, I went for a brisk run round our village.

TALKING of our village – Hurworth, near Darlington – it’s been a pleasure over the past few weeks to have been working with pupils from the local secondary school to produce their first newspaper.

As well as writing and designing the first edition of Hurworth Heat, the pupils from Hurworth School were also given experience of selling advertising.

They even managed to sell me an advert on Page 19 for £25. I tried to negotiate the price down to £20 but they refused to budge.

“It’s great value – you can take it or leave it,” said editor Lucy Moohan.

I’ve had a word with the boss here at the Echo to get her signed up.