We're nearly there!

FUNDRAISERS cam-paigning for a new palliative care centre are creeping ever closer to the total amount they need to start building the �1.5m centre in the grounds of James Paget University Hospital.

The pot for the Palliative Care East appeal has reached �974,000 and the appeal's co-ordinator Jenny Westgate is hopeful the first bricks will start being laid early next year.

She said: “We are currently working through a review of the project and that should end in March so we hope to be able to start building early next year.”

Donations are continuing to flow in for the centre, which will provide support for patients and families who are affected by incurable diseases.

The Fibromyalgia Sjogrens Thyroid Society, based in Bradwell, has donated �250 to the appeal in memory of Gorleston woman Mary Norman, who died in June aged 80. She was a member of the society, which provides support for sufferers of auto-immune diseases, and money from her funeral was donated to the society.

However, Linda Clemmit, the society's chairman, said her charity was not a money-making organisation so �80 was spent on a new white board with a plaque in Mary's memory and the rest was donated to the appeal.

She said: “The money would have gone into a pot and spent on silly things like tea and coffee. We bought the white board in memory of Mary and had a plaque put on it. What was left from the money from her funeral was donated to the appeal.”

Further fundraising events are planned for the appeal, including:

On December 12 there will be a Christmas choir concert at Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton, with 70 singers performing Christmas carols. Tea and coffee with mince pies and Christmas cake will be available.

On December 17 there will be a Christmas ladies' luncheon at the Cliff Hotel in Gorleston.

On December 19 there will be a snowflake ball at Somerleyton Hall

On March 20 there will be dinner and dancing to 60s music from the band Ashes to Ashes at the Ocean Room in Gorleston.