A SOUTHEND hospice has today launched its official campaign to raise the last funds needed to build a brand new home.

Havens Hospices need to raise a final £2.5million towards the £15.4million Fair Havens for Life project, which will see a new hospice created overlooking Priory Park in Prittlewell.

It will replace the Chalkwell Avenue site, which is no longer fit for purpose.

The new hospice will include 16 in-patient bedrooms, increased day hospice services, additional family support and landscaped gardens - allowing the charity to care for twice as many patients facing an incurable illness.

Community fundraiser Sally Bridger said: “We want to bring together our communities through ‘Fair Havens for Life’ because it’s so important that people realise that we’re building a hospice that could potentially be used by anyone in this area at some point. Every penny that is given to us will go towards securing the future of hospice care for residents of Southend, Castle Point and Rochford.”

The campaign is based around the brown envelope, in a nod to the first hospice in the early eighties, when one of the founders Daphne Hall discovered an envelope on her doormat containing £5, with the note “for the hospice” written on the front.

Years later, Daphne discovered that Joan Mead, who passed away at Fair Havens in 2015 aged 86, was behind that first donation.

This time around, Havens Hospices are posting their own brown envelopes through the doors of Southend homes, with more information about the hospice.

Havens Hospices hope to break new ground on the site in September, after receiving final planning approval.

To find out more information about support Fair Havens for Life, visit www.fairhavensforlife.co.uk, or call 01702 220350.