A campaign to build a centre for people with life-limiting illnesses has taken a huge step forward thanks to a £60,000 grant.

Halesworth Community Nursing Care Fund (HCNCF) was awarded the money from the Wolfson Foundation, an independent charity, taking them to more than 75pc of the £714,000 needed for the project.

HCNCF hopes to set up an Information and Support Centre (ISC) to provide holistic services for patients with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, their families and carers.

It would include benefits advice, wig fitting, children and family support, complementary therapies, counselling and bereavement support.

The centre will be built on land next to Cutlers Hill Surgery in Halesworth to serve people living within a 15-mile radius of the town.

ISC chairman Ted Edwards said: “This is an absolutely fantastic late Christmas present for the charity and a wonderful start to the New Year. We are incredibly grateful to the Wolfson Foundation for their generosity which has brought this valuable project one step closer.

“The foundation’s donation takes the total raised so far to more than 75pc of our target, which means we can start to draw up tender documentation with a view to appointing a contractor to begin work on site.

“This is brilliant news for the people of east Suffolk and south Norfolk who currently have to travel much further afield to access the sort of help and support we will be providing at the ICS.”

For more information about the ISC project, or to make a donation, visit www.halesworthhealth.org/information-and-support-centre.

Are you raising money for a project in Halesworth? Email polly.grice@archant.co.uk