HO! Ho! Ho! Santa Claus brought a bit of very early Christmas cheer to Pendleside Hospice in Reedley when he popped in to help launch the new range of Christmas cards.

And now they have the man in red's seal of approval, the cards have been distributed to hospice shops all over Burnley and Pendle.

Mark Sandamas, hospice appeals and marketing manager, said: "The sale of Christmas cards raised more than £5,000 net profit for us last year to help fund the care of our patients, but we hope to go even better this time. We feel we have a very nice range of cards to suit most tastes and would encourage people to visit our shops or contact the hospice or our fund-raising groups to buy some. We sold out of cards early last year and so urge people to buy early."

This year the hospice hoped to sell more than 50,000 cards, which will be a record for the charity.

The hospice needs to raise more than £750,000 a year to cover the cost of caring for local people suffering from cancer and other serious progressive illnesses.