TRIBUTES have been paid to a woman described as unique and as a champion of the NHS who died on Christmas Day. Joan Eileen Pounds was found collapsed at her Christchurch home by her son, Nicholas, when he stopped for a festive visit. The 92-year-old, in her capacity as chairman of the Christchurch Hospital League of Friends, helped raise funds for life-saving equipment, facilities and services for the wider community. Richard Renault, chief strategy and transformation officer for University Hospitals Dorset, said: Joan was a real champion of the NHS, and Christchurch in particular. As chairman of the Christchurch Hospital League of Friends for many, many years she helped to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds and organise hundreds of volunteers.
1/1 A POPULAR Big Issue seller who was found dead of a heroin overdose on Christmas Day had battled drug addiction throughout his adult life, an inquest has heard. Andrew Kieser, a father-of-one, had sold the magazine outside Topshop in Bournemouth town centre on and off for fourteen years. He was found deceased in a wooded area at Knyveton Road, Bournemouth, on Christmas Day last year. The 36-year-old had been reported missing at the time, as he was due to collect his little boy on December 23 but had not turned up. On Tuesday, December 15, 2020, at Dorset Coroner s Court, Bournemouth Town Hall, an inquest was held into Andrew s death.