Tributes to 'inspirational' woman and Chesterfield Royal Hospital's longest-serving volunteer after death aged 91

Hospital bosses say Jean Raynor will be ‘forever in our hearts’ after announcing she had sadly passed away.

Jean gave her own precious time to volunteer at the Royal since she retired from work in 1988 – and only stopped helping out two years ago.

She spent more than 30 years supporting staff and patients in endoscopy and has been described as an ‘inspiration’.

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A spokesperson for the Royal said: “She was an example to all other volunteers, a superb ambassador for the service, a friend, colleague and will be very sadly missed.

"She was an inspiration, supporting and chatting to patients, making them cups of tea, giving them biscuits and fetching notes and patient details for colleagues, epitomising the care and compassion that makes our team of volunteers so important to the hospital.

“Jean was a fantastic ambassador for our volunteers who give up their time willingly to help our patients and staff.

"It takes a special kind of person to do that and Jean showed such commitment to this hospital and compassion towards our patients and colleagues that we were so lucky to have her here for so long.”

At the time of her leaving party in 2019, Jean said: “I was a supervisor at Robinsons when I retired but I wasn’t ready to just sit at home and twiddle my thumbs, I still wanted to stay active.

"I only lived about half an hour away from the hospital so thought it would be a nice thing to do.

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"They put me in endoscopy where, other than a couple of days where they needed support in other parts of the hospital, I stayed for the full 30 years.

“I’ve enjoyed it here and made some good friends, you don’t stay somewhere for that long without enjoying it and I’m glad to have made a difference.”

On Jean’s retirement as a volunteer, Richard Ball, the hospital trust’s voluntary services manager, said her dedication had been ‘fantastic’.

The Royal spokesperson added: “Thank you Jean for everything you did for us and our patients – you are forever in our hearts.”

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