Our Hospice Appeal today smashed through £500,000 - almost two weeks before the deadline we'd set ourselves.

From left: Anne Hollindale, Rachel Nightingale and Helen Woodward of Queen Margaret School, Escrick, whose fundraising efforts pushed the Hospice 2000 Appeal through the £500,000 barrier, celebrate with Trevor Copley, St Leonard's Hospice chairman

It means that after just six months of fund-raising, we're already a quarter of the way to our £2m target

It's a massive psychological boost, and provides a great platform from which to launch the next phase of our fund-raising drive when the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, unveils detailed plans of the new-look hospice on May 10.

Hospice fund-raisers say once the architect's plans are completed, they will be able to start applying to charitable trusts and other organisations, including businesses, for grants that could push us even nearer our final target.

We reached £500,000 with the help of £239 raised by staff and students of Queen Margaret's School during a charity concert St John's College Chapel on Sunday evening.

Anne Hollindale, who had the idea for the concert, said: "I read about the appeal in the Evening Press. It is a very, very worthwhile cause.

"We thought we would just raise a few hundred pounds, so it's wonderful that we've actually helped take the appeal through £500,000."

Delighted St Leonard's Hospice chairman Trevor Copley today heaped praise on Evening Press readers who have helped us to reach the £1/2 million staging post so quickly.

He said: "We are thrilled that the campaign has taken off so well. We have been tremendously impressed by the response by readers of the Evening Press and by the many fundraising ideas that people have come up with, right across all age groups.

"We have reached our first £1/2 million. It means that the £2 million target is achievable by the end of 2000 if the momentum is maintained.

"The architects' plans for the redevelopment of the hospice are due to be unveiled on May 10 by our president, the Archbishop of York, and we are absolutely delighted that we have reached this target in advance. Well done everybody."

We launched the appeal with St Leonard's back in October because we realised the 15-year-old hospice was in desperate need of being expanded and modernised.

Since 1984, the hospice has provided desperately-needed care for seriously ill people from York and the area around.

But, as the numbers of people using it has continued to grow, it has become increasingly cramped.

The £2 million the Evening Press and the hospice hope to raise with your help should change all that.

We want to increase the number of beds from 16 to 20.

The day care centre will also be improved, there will be new physiotherapy and occupational therapy facilities, an increased range of complementary therapies, better accommodation for visiting families and their children, and a new outpatients' clinic and education and training centre.

But we continue to need your help to make that dream come true.

Karen Russell, finance and fundraising manager for the hospice, said today: "This is a significant landmark at this stage of our campaign.

"With the completion of the architects' plans for the redevelopment, the fundraising team at the hospice is busy applying to charitable trusts and other sources of corporate funding to help us reach our target.

"There's lots to do and much more fundraising, but with everyone's help we are confident we will get there."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.