BBC TV newsreader, Nicholas Owen, has become a patron of St Catherine's Hospice, in the charity's 30th anniversary year.

The role will see him show his official support at events and functions as well as helping to promote the work of St Catherine's, which provides expert end of life care and support for over 1,600 people a year across Mid Sussex and East Surrey.

Nicholas said: "I first heard of St Catherine's in the area where I live, because quite a few people stopped me in the street to ask 'have you heard the great work that's going on down there?' I was delighted to get involved, and if my being a patron can achieve anything at all, I hope it can raise the profile so people think 'if he supports St Catherine's Hospice then I will as well.'

"Hospice care is terrifically important because we go through life all of us thinking 'it's going to go on forever', it's just the way we are as human beings. But the end of life is something that's got be faced by all of us and to have some real professionals who really know what they're doing, who can help you through, well that's just so important.

"I had a beloved uncle, he had worked all of his life on the railways, and I love railways so we always had a lot to talk about. In his later years he became ill, he had cancer sadly and he spent his last few weeks in a hospice and I was amazingly impressed by the care he had there. He was a lovely man and he ended his life in frankly in the nicest and loveliest way that I could imagine.

"For me, it's hard to think of a local cause that is more important than a hospice. To know that you can help locally with providing the sort of specialist care, the fantastic care, that St Catherine's offers, both in the hospice and in people's homes; that is such an important cause.

"It's the 30th anniversary of St Catherine's this year and I'm celebrating my own 30th too as it's my wedding anniversary. I've still got to work out what my wife and I are going to do about it!"

You can find out more about the hospice in its 30th year on its special website www.stch.org.uk/thirty.