A CHARITY that has welcomed everyone from Royalty to movie stars is facing an uncertain future after its longstanding chief executive unexpectedly stood down at short notice.

Graham Leggatt-Chidgey was at the helm of Butterwick Hospice for more than two decades and oversaw it grow from humble foundations into one of the region's most recognised and respected charities.

The shock announcement was made less than two years after the death of Mary Butterwick, the founder of the Butterwick Hospice movement in the North-East, who died in 2015, aged 91.

The Northern Echo has been an ardent campaigner for the hospice and fully supported many of its fundraising efforts, including helping to raise cash to fund the building and extensions of all three of the charity's hospices.

In 2013, its £500,000 Family Support and Complementary Therapy Centre at the Stockton hospice was opened for business after a five year funding campaign successfully raised the cash to build the centre which complements the charity’s existing services.

Whilst in January this year, the Princess Royal was the latest in a long line of distinguished visitors to one of the charity's bases when she enjoyed a tour of the Stockton site.

And the Countess of Wessex officially opened Butterwick House, which offers respite care to older teenagers and young adults, when she called in for a visit in November 2014.

On Christmas Eve in 2013, staff and patients were left speechless when film star Tom Hardy and his fiancee, the actress Charlotte Riley, spent more than an hour meeting and chatting with them when they called in at the Children's Hospice, in Stockton.

Mrs Butterwick, a mother-of-four, founded both the Stockton and Bishop Auckland Butterwick Adult Hospices as well as the Butterwick Children’s Hospice.

She was already aged 60 when she sold her own house to establish a day care centre for very ill people in 1984 in memory of her beloved husband, John, an ICI-worker who died in 1979.

Now her legacy could be in jeopardy until a suitable successor to Mr Leggatt-Chidgey is found and the charity is able to move forward and establish itself on a much sounder financial footing.

Announcing his departure, Mr Leggatt-Chidgey cited 'health reasons' for his decision to stand down after being off work for around a month.

The former chief executive, who wrote a column for The Northern Echo, became a well-known figure across the North-East thanks to his longstanding association with the charity.