AN appeal is to be launched to raise £300,000 to keep East Lancashire's new hospice running.

Patients and staff of the East Lancashire Hospice are just weeks away from moving into their new state-of-the-art building in Blackburn, thanks to generous local people who raised £1.3 million to build it.

The new building in Park Lee Road has more than doubled the size of the hospice and will make it one of the best facilities in the north west.

It will be handed over to management in a few weeks' time, but it has been decided to put off moving patients in until after the Christmas and New Year period.

It took just under two years to raise the money for the project, raised entirely through public donations and fundraising.

Although there will be celebrations all round for organisers and supporters, staff next have another hurdle to overcome. They need to raise £300,000 for its running costs.

They will be launching an appeal to raise the money during an open day for local people to have a look around the new facilities.

Fund-raiser Stuart Andrew said: "This new building is going to make the hospice one of the most modern hospices in the north west.

"But as it was the public who gave up their money to get us this new building, so we thought we would give them an opportunity to look around it."

The hospice, which deals with adult patients, will still have ten in-patient beds, but will have improved accommodation for relatives and expanded day care facilities which will be able to care for more than 100 patients a week, compared with around 25 at the moment.

"This new building will absolutely make a huge difference to the services we can offer. It is somewhere that is bright and cheerful, which I think is an important part of a building that offers this kind of service." The open day will be on January 26, 2002. Anyone who would like to make a donation to the hospice should contact the appeals office on 01254 660900.