Staff, clients and visitors at a business centre in Hull are dropping off donations to help bring some Christmas cheer to patients at Dove House Hospice.

Day patients at the Hospice in Chamberlain Road will hold their Christmas parties next week and will receive gifts including items which the team at The Deep Business Centre have been collecting since November.

More donations are being collected now and will be picked up by staff from the Hospice ready to give to patients in the bedded unit on Christmas Day. A call is also going out for people to give generously after Christmas and drop off unwanted gifts for us as raffle and tombola prizes during 2020.

The Deep Business Centre supports a variety of charities with fund-raising events throughout the year. Staff decided to make a special effort for Dove House after receptionist Sue Waterhouse lost her husband earlier this year.

Sue said: “My husband Pete was in Dove House for a few days before he died so I have direct experience of the wonderful work they do there. Having seen how they help people I wanted to do something to support them.

“We are going to raise money by raffling a hamper and we are asking people to bring us items such as toiletries, small boxes of chocolates, wine and non-alcoholic alternatives which will then be collected by the staff at the Hospice.

“After Christmas we will be asking for donations of any unwanted Christmas presents and we are thinking of more events for 2020, when Dove House will be our charity for the full year.”

Jethro Shearring, Regional Fund Raiser at Dove House Hospice, said: “We will collect gifts to give out at parties for our day patients during week commencing Monday 16 December and then we’ll collect more to give to patients in the bedded unit on Christmas Day.

“After Christmas we will collect the unwanted Christmas gifts for use as prizes in raffles and tombola at events during 2020. A lot of people in the community donate things like socks they don’t want and toiletries they don’t need which can be a big help with our fund-raising.”

Items can be dropped off at The Deep Business Centre between 8.30am and 5pm Monday to Friday and at The Deep aquarium between 10am and 4.30pm seven days a week.