A CALM oasis which aims to make the end of life worth living - that's how organisers behind a £1.5m appeal to build a palliative care centre in Gorleston described their venture at a money-spinning corporate event.

A CALM oasis which aims to make the end of life worth living - that's how organisers behind a £1.5m appeal to build a palliative care centre in Gorleston described their venture at a money-spinning corporate event.

About 300 business people from Great Yarmouth and Waveney attended the event on Friday at the five-star Potters Leisure Resort.

And appeal leaders tempted businesses to part with their cash by launching sponsorship packages for the eight rooms that will make up the centre, as well as 100 butterflies, the official logo for the appeal.

Organisers are hoping to pull in thousands of pounds by offering lasting legacy sponsorship packages costing £30,000 for a room and £2,000 for logos.

And devoted support for the appeal was clear to see with four rooms and seven butterflies snapped up within an hour of the launch.

Potter Heigham woman Roberta Lovick has sponsored a room in memory of her daughter Louise Hamilton, who lost her life to breast cancer in 1998 at the age of 28. Mrs Lovick founded the Louise Hamilton Cancer Help Centre Trust, which has raised thousands of pounds to help people living with cancer.

Directors of Yarmouth offshore company Gardline sponsored a room in memory of company founder George Darling.

Devoted Gorleston fundraiser Julia Bolch has sponsored a room and one has also been allocated to the Paul Cole Cancer Fund, which has raised thousands of pounds for the appeal.

Companies and organisations sponsoring butterflies are Great Yarmouth Haven Rotary; Beevor Farms; K Holdings-Brock Builders-Knights Warner Construction; Bateman Groundworks; Midway Flats; Elm Contracts; and Birds Eye employees charity fund has purchased two butterflies.

Jenny Westgate, appeal co-ordinator, said she was delighted with the response from the event.

Patrons of the appeal Brian and Judy Potter hosted the event, which saw a combination of live entertainment from the Potters Theatre Company coupled with an emotional DVD portraying the serious message of why this area needs a palliative care centre. Patients suffering incurable illnesses were featured on the DVD telling of their difficult experiences with pain and money problems - issues which the centre would tackle.

The mood turned sombre when the audiences learned that three of the seven people featured on the DVD had passed away since it was made.

Ms Westgate said: “We are very grateful to the local people and their families who recounted their emotive stories with the DVD. This helped enormously to impress upon the needs of palliative care in our area.”

The event saw a further £84,000 raised for the appeal, including a raffle by Harrod UK, which raised more than £2,000. The fundraising total now stands at more than £500,000.