MORE THAN £20,000 has been raised by Southmead Hospital Charity during its Christmas appeal in December.

Among the activities that ran across the campaign were the annual Christmas Buskathon, the John Lewis Christmas room display, and cake sales.

In total, an incredible £20,200 was raised since the campaign was launched in mid-November, with enough being raised to buy every patient in the hospital a Christmas present and supporting the departments across the festive period.

Supporters were also encouraged to donate Christmas socks and knit teddies for the appeal which were given to the babies in the hospital.

“We are absolutely delighted to announce the total raised over the festive period and want to give a big thanks to everyone who supported us,” said Liz Bond, the charity’s trusts and major donors manager.

“We had a hectic December but it was well worth it!

“Nobody would choose to be in hospital over Christmas so we just wanted to make it a little better for our patients and staff.

“Money raised went towards buying Christmas gifts for patients and boxes of Christmas cheer for all the wards here at Southmead Hospital. It also went towards supporting departments across the hospital.

“Thank you to everyone who donated money, who knitted teddies for our babies, and who donated Christmas socks to our patients.

“We’re also grateful to all of the performers who took part in our Buskathon in support of the Appeal, and to our partners John Lewis Cribbs Causeway who hosted a whole weekend of buskers for us. 

“We also want to thank staff here at North Bristol NHS Trust who hosted cake sales, and the team behind the Charity float which toured north Bristol and raised money for our Emergency Department.”

Work has now begun to plan fundraising events in 2017, with the charity appealing for anyone who would like to help to visit www.southmeadhosptialcharity.org.uk/fundraise or contact adrian.brown@southmeadhospitalcharity.org.uk for further information.