Walkers have reached for the stars with their fundraising efforts for Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice, raising a staggering £55,500 following last month’s Starlight Hike – A Night to Remember.

This could pay for 18 hospice nurses for a month, more than enough to pay for one nurse to provide a month of care in each of the inpatient hospice care beds in the county, which are all housed at the hospice.

Matt Reay, events fundraiser at Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice, said: “This is the largest amount of money our Starlight Hike event has ever raised.

“It will make a massive difference to those families we care for and support. As a charity we rely on fundraising to keep our care services going.

“Thanks to all those walkers who turned out to be with us on the night, and have been so busy fundraising before and since to raise this enormous amount of money. We are blown away by the response to the event.”

The annual 10k night time walk around Cheltenham takes walkers from St Edward’s Prep School in Charlton Kings to the hospice grounds where they can leave a message for a loved one on a wall of stars. This year Bishop’s Cleeve-based Capita were the sponsors.

Nikki Moss, customer service manager at Capita, said, “We were delighted to be this year’s main sponsor of Starlight Hike in aid of Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice.

“Working with representatives from the hospice in the build-up to this prestigious event was truly inspirational and an absolute pleasure – the professionalism, passion and commitment on show at all times was a credit to every member of staff and volunteer.

“Many of my colleagues took part in the hike itself, as the hospice holds special memories for a large number of our people here in the Cheltenham office, so for us as a business it was very important that we were giving something back to our people, as well as to the whole community in sponsoring the event.”

Next year’s Starlight Hike will take place at St Edwards Prep School on Saturday 20th October from 7pm.

For more information on Sue Ryder Leckhampton Court Hospice visit www.sueryder.org/leckhampton