THE East Lancashire Hospice Appeal received a double boost when organisers were presented with two cheques.

Members of St Stephen's Monday Club, Little Harwood, took to the stage to perform songs from the shows and raised £761.60.

And a raffle at Blackburn College's hair and beauty department's prize giving evening raised £170 towards the £1.3 million appeal for new day care facilities at the Blackburn hospice.

Fundraising committee chairman Geoff Braithwaite said the appeal had been slow to take off but had already reached £60,000 with many events planned for the summer months.

He said: "A lot of people are organising events independently at their local pubs and schools and then coming to us with cheques. It's great that so many people want to get involved but we would really like everyone to tell us what they are planning so we can help them organise publicity."

Anyone organising a fund-raising event can contact Geoff on 01200 441277. People wanting to get involved in Blackburn and Darwen can also call Richard Sutlieff on 01254 680140, while Ribble Valley people can call George and Edna Clarkson on 01254 826688.

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