A PROJECT to capture precious memories of the man a Pembrokeshire hospice was named after has been hailed a success.

The Paul Sartori Hospice at Home charity has celebrated its Voices from the Community – Father Paul Sartori’s Journey from Priest to Hospice Care, a 19-month long oral history project which was the brainchild of the charity’s grant development officer Judith Williams.

Paul Sartori was a Haverfordwest-based parish priest who noticed a need for hospice care in Pembrokeshire but died of cancer at just 39 in April 1980 and before his dream could be realised. Parishioners and friends formed the Paul Sartori Foundation 40 years ago after being inspired by his vision.

The oral history project was celebrated with an event at Pembrokeshire Archives with a room packed with staff, trustees, volunteers, interviewees and supporters.

Simon Hancock, the charity’s history project officer, told the audience: “This has been an extraordinary journey of discovery over the past 19 months. It’s a matter of no small regret that we contemplate the end of the road. We were keen to identify people who had personal memories of Father Paul Sartori – this young, dynamic, charismatic Catholic priest who inspired the charity which bears his name today.

“We wanted to record those precious memories, and then record them as a permanent record for future generations. These memories were so varied. Some people might have known Father Sartori from a one chance conversation, others might have been associates of him – we spoke to them for a full 45 minutes.

“This was enabled thanks to the generous funding of the Heritage Lottery Fund. I want to publicly thank them for seeing the value and virtue of this project, and for being so supportive along the way.

“To date we’ve identified and interviewed 64 people who knew Father Sartori either as a family member, as a school friend, a parishioner, or somebody involved with one of the organisations in Haverfordwest – or in the field of social care in which Father Sartori was a compassionate and energetic activist.

“The work of the project was carried out largely by 16 gallant volunteers, including a small cohort of students at Pembrokeshire College.

“It was technically demanding, and I’d like to publicly thank Kiara Quimby, the project assistant, for carrying out a lot of this work herself and liaising with the volunteers involved in the tasks.”

Volunteers were involved in the interviews, transcriptions, proofreading and Welsh translation, with the aim of the project to be fully bilingual.

The recorded interviews and other materials including photographs and ephemera have been uploaded to the People’s Collection of Wales, which catalogues the rich history and heritage of Wales. Berian Elias of the People’s Collection of Wales provided vital training for volunteers and at the event, people were able to sample some of the interviews on the website.

The charity has also received a number of Father Sartori’s personal possessions including his Bible, photographs, study books, rosaries, trophies, membership badges and a bottle of holy water from a pilgrimage to Lourdes. These items will be on display at Haverfordwest Museum when it re-opens in 2025/26 and all the research and items provide an initial deposit into the new Paul Sartori Archive in Pembrokeshire Archive.