THE Friends of Pershore Cottage Hospital are preparing to go on a shopping spree after exceeding all their fund-raising expectations.

The League set itself a target of £400,000 to buy vital equipment for the town's planned replacement hospital, which is being built by Wychavon at its Civic Centre site.

However, following a successful year of fund-raising - including last Saturday's jazz evening at the Star that raised more than £2,000 - the friends have almost £500,000 in their coffers.

Chairman of the Friends Tricia Freeman said they had been thinking carefully about how to spend the money.

"A lot of the equipment we have been buying over the past few years will be moved to the new hospital but we really want to get some state-of-the-art equipment, which costs a lot of money.

"We have had people going round looking at equipment and we are now getting very close to deciding what we are going to buy."

The League of Friends recently won an assurance from the South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust that the hospital project was still on track.

Speaking at a meeting of the trust this month, chief executive Mike Ridley said it should be completed next year as planned. "We expect tenders to go out soon and the time scale to be achieved."

The new hospital, which will have 26 beds - seven more than the existing facility - is being built with council funds and will be leased to the trust when completed.

Joining the League of Friends costs £10 per year. "We always need new members," said vice-chairman Michael Amies.