THERE were pennies from heaven at the Alexandra Hospital after a generous donation left it just hundreds of pounds away from its multi-faith centre building target.

Fund-raising efforts received a major boost in the form of a £5,000 gift from former members of the Bromsgrove General Hospital staff social club, Chapter Two.

The donation took the amount raised to about £107,000 and put chaplain The Rev Barry Jones within £300 of the total needed to open the new centre which is near the main reception at the hospital.

Joining him in the centre to hand over a cheque were several members of Chapter Two, including Maureen Bristow, who with her husband and the late Paul Byrne helped to run the club for many years.

The club was wound up after acute services from Bromsgrove General (now the Princess of Wales Hospital) were transferred to Redditch's Alexandra Hospital.

Mrs Bristow said: "We had some money left which we wanted to put to a good use and several people suggested we should help Barry Jones' fantastic efforts with the multi-faith centre."

After receiving the money Mr Jones said: "Their wonderful generosity has put us very close to raising all the money we need to open the centre and I'd like to thank everyone who has helped raise the money."

It is hoped to hold a Chapter Two reunion in the near future.

For more details, call Graham Bristow on 837365.