MORE than £4,000 has been raised in just one week in the Lancashire Telegraph’s East Lancashire Hospice roof campaign.

The hospice, in Park Lee Road, Blackburn, desperately needs a new roof after the current structure fell into disrepair.

Staff are using buckets to collect water coming through the leaky structure, and damp patches are starting to form on the ceiling.

Last week the Telegraph launched a £125,000 fundraising campaign for the essential repairs. It already needs to raise approximately £2.8 million each year to continue supporting people in Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley who have terminal and life-threatening diseases.

So far £4,262 has been donated.

Sharon Crymble, fundraising manager at East Lancashire Hospice, said: “The response so far has been fantastic but we need to keep it going.

“I would like to thank everyone who has donated and hopefully the money will keep coming in.”

Hospice founder Dr Merton Seigleman said he hoped that supporters of the campaign would embrace the same competitive nature that led to nearly £700,000 being raised by the people of East Lancashire in the early 1980s.

He said: “When we founded the hospice the Lancashire Telegraph was marvellous. They gave us a lot of publicity, and without that we never would have got started.

“It was infectious, there were public meetings everywhere, meetings in Darwen, Clitheroe and Hyndburn, they were all jostling for position to see who could raise the most, because the hospice belonged to the whole community.

“I would love to see that again.”

How to donate

  • By text - Send ROOF to 70700. Texts cost £5 plus network charge. East Lancashire Hospice receives at least £4.45. Obtain bill payers permission. Customer care 08448479800.

    Charity No 1075653.

  • Online - At eastlancshospice.org.uk/roof-appeal. Remember to add the word ‘roof’ in the comments section so it is clear the donation is for this appeal.
  • At a bank - Make a payment at any Yorkshire Bank, Account No 22741541, Sort Code 05-02-52. Locally there are branches in Accrington, Barnoldswick, Blackburn, Burnley, Chorley, Clitheroe, Colne, Nelson and Todmorden.
  • By post - Send a cheque to Roof Appeal, East Lancashire Hospice, Park Lee Road, Blackburn, BB2 3NY.
  • By phone - Pay by debit or credit card by ringing 01254 733410.

If surplus funds are raised they will be used for the general purposes of the charity.

Click on the link below for more information on the Raise The Roof campaign.