A NORTHFLEET hospice hosted a special open evening to mark this year's Dying Matters Awareness Week.

Staff were on hand at EllenorLions Hospice to answer questions and provide guided tours of the facility, in Coldharbour Road on May 13.

Director of patient care Claire Cardy said: "We wanted to reach out to the local community and it was very encouraging to see our visitors really interested and engaged with our work.

"Our staff put together some fantastic displays and were all on hand to talk to visitors and answer questions. It was a very positive event."

Dying Matters Awareness Week 2013 ran until Sunday (MAY 19) and encouraged people to talk openly about dying, death and bereavement.

Visitor Rosemary Davis of Ainstree Close, Gravesend, said she found the experience informative and worthwhile.

She said: "Everyone was so friendly and only too willing to engage in conversation and answer questions."