SFLG announces the sad news of the death of its
former President, Gwen Sankey
former President, Gwen Sankey
6 December 2023, London, UK: St Francis Leprosy Guild announces the sad news of the death of its former President, Gwen Sankey. Gwendoline Winifred Sankey, died on 23 November 2023 after a long illness. Her daughter, Caroline Jarrett said:
She loved her many years as Guild President and the friendships that resulted from it."
Gwen Sankey, SFLG's President from 1994 to 2015, first saw the ravages caused by leprosy when her husband John was the British High Commissioner in Tanzania in the 1980’s. Later, when Gwen and John retired from the Diplomatic Service, she was invited to take over as President of the Guild by its Board. Gwen handed over the baton in May 2015, after 20 inspiring years as President. In that time, the annual grants given by the Guild totalled more than £8.8 million.
Gwen would be the first to point out that these grants were made possible through the generosity of the Guild’s donors and benefactors: in her own words, "the Guild is a post office which serves to deliver money from the donors to the leprosy centres according to their need." But that is to bely her enormous personal contribution, bolstered by her strong and abiding Catholic faith.
Gwen built up an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Guild's centres and their administrators. She trusted them and steadfastly maintained the Guild’s policy that the centres know how best to spend the Guild’s maintenance grants. But she was equally concerned to ensure that the projects we supported, whether in building homes, sourcing the appropriate vehicle, providing seed-corn finance for income generation or supporting dependent children’s education, met the recipients’ needs and was good value for money. Gwen oversaw the Guild's entry into the computer age, and the introduction of email which supported her unceasing quest to keep administration costs down.
Gwen would be the first to point out that these grants were made possible through the generosity of the Guild’s donors and benefactors: in her own words, "the Guild is a post office which serves to deliver money from the donors to the leprosy centres according to their need." But that is to bely her enormous personal contribution, bolstered by her strong and abiding Catholic faith.
Gwen built up an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Guild's centres and their administrators. She trusted them and steadfastly maintained the Guild’s policy that the centres know how best to spend the Guild’s maintenance grants. But she was equally concerned to ensure that the projects we supported, whether in building homes, sourcing the appropriate vehicle, providing seed-corn finance for income generation or supporting dependent children’s education, met the recipients’ needs and was good value for money. Gwen oversaw the Guild's entry into the computer age, and the introduction of email which supported her unceasing quest to keep administration costs down.
On her retirement, Gwen was the worthy recipient of the Benemerenti papal award. Bishop Alan Williams OM, Bishop of Brentwood presented Gwen with the medal in recognition of over 20 years of service to the Guild. The presentation took place after the Guild’s Annual Mass at Farm Street.
By Mmmurf, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17897774