A CHARITY for seriously-ill patients is celebrating after raising £3.75m to fund a new multi-million pound hospice in Worcester.

St Richard's Hospice, in Rose Hill, near the city centre, launched its "Building Beds Together Campaign" in June, in a bid to raise £5.25m for the new state-of-the-art facility.

Donations and support flooded in from across Worcestershire, and the appeal is proving a real success, with the charity now hoping building will start next year.

"I'm delighted," said appeal chairman Andrew Grant.

"We've had tremendous support and can go into the New Year confident that, with the continued generous backing of the community, we will be able to start building the new hospice next year and be ready to care for patients there in 2006.

"We still urgently need to raise the remaining £1.5m so we can help our patients and their families as soon as we can.

"Every day, our nurses see patients with cancer and other life-threatening illness coping at home when what many of them need is to be in a hospice bed receiving individual, specialist care."

Individuals, groups, and businesses have backed the appeal, including the county's Rotary clubs, which have raised more than £50,000.

Evesham Technology, Webbs of Wychbold, and numerous other companies also pledged their cash.

Residents were inspired to stage their own fund-raising events, including discos, village shows and quiz nights.

And the fund-raising is set to continue, with a packed programme of events for 2005 including a pyjama day, ladies day at Worcester Race Course, and a 1940s nostalgia night.

The new hospice, to be built in Wildwood Drive, in Spetchley, Worcester, will house the charity's current services provided at Rose Hill, plus 15 specialist beds - the first of their kind in South Worcestershire.

To make a donation or to find out how to organise a fund-raising event, call the charity's fund-raising department on 01905 763963.