Twenty years after her death, Marjorie Lewis-Manning's extraordinary legacy lives on, helping tens of thousands of cancer sufferers.

A formidable woman, she fought to raise £3m to provide life-saving scanners at Poole Hospital and when she died, left her magnificent home at Evening Hill to become a hospice.

Founding trustee Rachel Lapworth recalls the business-woman she knew.

"Marjorie Lewis-Manning was one of those formidable women who would put the fear of God in most people who tried to stand in her way.

"She took on the establishment and won, she marshalled all her contacts into action and she pounded the streets shaking a tin until people gave her money.

"When she died she gave almost the entirety of her estate to create a hospice.

"She was the strongest woman I have ever met but beneath that tough shell was a woman whose capacity for kindness and compassion were beyond measure.

"She followed her instincts with unwavering fortitude because she knew that her vision for the future of cancer care was right.

"She knew that in the future medical science would advance so far that instead of dying of' cancer, most patients would live with' it."

Her legacy includes 20,000 people a year scanned in the CT and MRI scanners at Poole Hospital.

There will have been more than 45,000 atten-dances at the day hospice in Crichel Mount Road since it opened in 1992, 6,000 people received treatment in the specialist lymphoedema clinic and 1,500 people received therapy at the specialist breathing clinic.

"She put back into the community far more than she ever took out because she cared about people and knew that whatever you do, no matter how small, it is better than doing nothing," said Rachel.

Every year Lewis-Manning Hospice honours her memory by dedicating a light to her on the hospice's Tree of Lights.

Her name inscribed in the Book of Remembrance ensures she will not be forgotten by the many who benefit from the services the hospice provides.