AN ANTIQUES dealer whose partner died suddenly following a brief battle with cancer is raising funds for the hospice that made her final moments bearable.

Former Witney mayor Chrissie Curry died in May 2015 after a visit to hospital over backache led to a cancer diagnosis.

Her partner, David Harvey, who owns WR Harvey Antiques in Corn Street, has published a book marking 65 years of the shop, using the money from sales to donate to Sobell House.

The 65-year-old said: “It seemed it would be nice to show my gratitude to Sobell House for looking after my partner during the last weeks of her life.

“The love and compassion they showed during that period made the most difficult time in both of our lives bearable.

“I decided I would like to pay them back for everything they did.”

Ms Curry went into hospital at the end of March, 2015, with backache.

A scan revealed she had cancer and two days later she was told she had just days left to live.

She was taken to Sobell House Hospice at the Churchill Hospital in Headington, where she spent her final days, before dying at the age of 67.

Mr Harvey, who is also a former mayor and still sits on Witney Town Council and West Oxfordshire District Council, said: “She went to the hospice where, because of their care, they looked after her for a further three weeks.

"The care and compassion was unbelievable.

“It was so fast that we just didn’t have time, but they gave us that breathing space.

"They gave her time to accept she was going to die.

“Never a day goes by without my thinking of her. She is remembered as someone with the most incredibly positive outlook.

“She was a doer and a go-getter. People used to come to her with problems and leave with solutions.

"Nothing was too much.”

Now, two years on, Mr Harvey has produced a book, ’65 Knot Out’, celebrating 65 years of the antiques shop his father opened in 1951.

The book tells the story of the company’s history and offers an insight into some of the individual pieces that have passed through the store.

Selling at £5 per copy, Mr Harvey recently presented the hospice charity with £500 raised by sales of the book, a figure that continues to rise.

He said: “What’s so nice is that people from all over the world have been sending donations – a lot of friends and clients who now live abroad and were moved by the story."

To order a copy of Mr Harvey’s book and contribute to Sobell House, simply call into the shop or visit wrharvey.com

The Oxford Mail is campaigning to raise £40,000 to pay for 100 days of care at the hospice.

To donate visit justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/shhc/oxmailsobellappeal