Hartlepool’s TJ Hughes and Yorkshire Bank show their purple hearts for Alice House Hospice

Alice House Hospice’s annual Purple Week saw great support from individuals, groups and businesses throughout the town, including TJ Hughes in Middleton Grange shopping centre and Yorkshire Bank.

Staff and customers at TJ Hughes raised £863 for the hospice through activities including a coffee morning, tombola, name the rabbit competition and guess the number of sweets in the jar.

And throughout the week, the store was decorated in purple, which is a colour closely associated with Alice House.

Matt Phillpott, manager at TJ Hughes said: “As a business we want to support local charities and when talking with my team in store the charity they all wanted to help was Alice House Hospice.

“Some of the team have had first-hand experience of what they do and were excited to be able to help fundraise.”

The store is already planning for their next fundraising event.

Janice Forbes, community fundraiser at the hospice said: “It’s great to have the support of one of the town’s busiest shops.

“The staff were so dedicated in their fundraising efforts and I would like to congratulate them on their brilliant success.”

Meanwhile, Yorkshire Bank, in York Road, pulled out the stops during the week.

Their money making activities included a cake sale which raised about £500 which was matched by bank bosses to bring the total to over £1,000.

Branch manager Heather Dalgarno said: “We are as always delighted to support such an important charity at the heart of our community; our staff and customers have been immensely generous this year generating much needed funds for the hospice.”

Greg Hildreth, corporate fundraiser at Alice House, said the bank’s support was brilliant adding: “This kind of support is vital in helping to sustain our work, which helps hundreds of families every year.

“We are delighted with the success of this year’s Purple Week and look forward to announcing the total raised, as soon as we know.”