THANK you so much! Ely Standard readers have come forward in their hundreds to support our Help Our Hospice campaign. We have raised a magnificent £2000 in the first week and hundreds of you have come forward to sign our petition calling on the Governmen

THANK you so much! Ely Standard readers have come forward in their hundreds to support our Help Our Hospice campaign.

We have raised a magnificent £2000 in the first week and hundreds of you have come forward to sign our petition calling on the Government to allocate more funding for children's hospices.

When we launched our campaign last week, we told readers about the appalling funding crisis facing children's hospices like the one at Milton. The East Anglia's Children's Hospice charity (EACH) that runs the Milton facility receives only eight per cent of its funding from the Government. The rest is provided by generous donations. We launched our campaign to raise money for the hospice but also to create awareness of the lack of statutory funding and put pressure on the Government to address the issue.

You can sign our petition at www.cambs24.co.uk or come into the Ely Standard at 38 Market Street and sign up.

As soon as last week's newspaper hit the streets, readers were going on-line to sign our email petition. We also received phone calls and letters from people offering to organise fund-raising events.

Gordon Blythe of Ely wrote to us (see Letters Page 7) and enclosed a cheque for £750.

The Ely-Hereward Rotary Club handed over a cheque for £500, so along with our initial donation of £750, the total stands at £2000 after just one week.

Mark Hurworth has offered to run the London Marathon and several bands have organised gigs to support us.

EACH's director of fund-raising, Colin Roberts, said: "We are delighted with the response and the wonderful generosity of the Ely Standard readers. It will make a real difference to the children and the families supported through the Milton Hospice. We would welcome any fund-raising enquiries and ideas.

n ELY-Hereward Rotary Club donated £500 to EACH last week when fund-raiser Tracey Tingey dropped in to give a talk about the charity's work.

The money was raised with a Christmas house-to-house collection and a street collection last Saturday that raised more than £275.

Ms Tingey told members that 350 families were supported over the last year by the charity entirely free of charge, and reiterated the central message of the Ely Standard's campaign - that Government support of children's hospices must be dramatically increased.

The Rotary Club have said they are happy to support our Help Our Hospice campaign.