HOSPITAL services are set for a boost after midwives raised almost £1,500 in memory of a much-loved friend and colleague.

Midwives from the Worcestershire Acute Trust got their knees up for a charity barn dance and raffle in memory of Lorraine Bolton, who died suddenly in July last year aged just 48.

The event, organised by midwife supervisor Julie Menzies, was attended by 120 people and raised more than £1,400 to support the cardiac catheter suite at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

The suite is a specialist unit for heart attack patients and the money will help provide somewhere quiet and peaceful to wait while their loved one is treated.

Since Miss Bolton’s death the midwives’ main fund-raising efforts have centred around their new dragon boating team, the Bolton Dragons. The team was set up in Miss Bolton’s memory in October 2012 and has since flourished, winning its first race recently at a competition in Pershore.

The barn dance featured music by local band Vivo while friends and colleagues helped boost the total raised by donating raffle prizes including a sunshine week in a villa in Turkey. Mrs Menzies was delighted with the response.

“I organise a charity event every year,” she said. “This time I wanted to do something to support the efforts of the Bolton Dragons and to honour our friend Lorraine.”

Miss Bolton’s mother Anna Norris met the maternity team when she visited to say thank you.

She said: “I am very grateful to everybody. They have been a great support to me and I couldn’t have got through this without them.”