Zoe's Place fundraiser hits 'astonishing' £7.5m

Zoe's Place hoped to raise £5m but the final total exceeded £7.5m

A baby hospice that looked set to close for good has managed to raise more than £7.5m towards its future.

Zoe's Place announced in October that it needed to raise £5m within 30 days if it was to be able to fund a new premises to replace the one it had to leave when the lease expired.

Now, two months on, it has raised over £2.5m more than its original target, and its future is secure.

Its head of care Michelle Wright said the support from the public had been "just incredible".

Stephanie Perry, with her son Josh and three-year-old Robyn who uses Zoe's Place twice a week

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Christmas Eve, Ms Wright said: "Phoning the the families and explaining we will have have to close the doors is one of the the hardest things I have ever had to do.

"And then the roller-coaster of four weeks and the whole city and beyond got involved... local celebrities... it was overwhelming.

"Actually reaching the target was was just incredible."

Ms Wright said on the day it was announced the fundraising target had been hit, she "tried to remain professional" but "started sobbing" when local independent MP Ian Byrne - who spearheaded the campaign - gave her a hug.

Stephanie Perry, whose three-year-old daughter Robyn attends the West Derby hospice twice a week, said she was left "devastated and panicking" when she got the call to say Zoe's Place would close.

She said: "A big thank you to the whole whole of Liverpool and beyond.

"I am just overwhelmed how much everyone came and helped."

'Astonishing'

The total raised included a £2.5m pledge from Liverpool based retail giant Home Bargains, as well as hundreds of thousands in donations from other businesses.

Separately the charity will receive £1m from the government's Community Ownership Fund.

Joan Stainsby, executive trustee at the charity, called the sum "astonishing".

Some of the money will be used to build a brand new state-of-the-art hospice on the site of an old bowling green in Hayman's Green.

The rest will be used to maintain the day-to-day running of the hospice, which caters to children under five with complex or life-limiting conditions.

Mr Byrne said securing the future of Zoe's Place was the "best Christmas present that I could have asked for".

"I am staggered by the generosity of people in our city and it is only because of them that we can look to a future to provide modern facilities for children who need them," he said.