THE fundraising efforts of the Editor of The Northern Echo, Peter Barron, are being celebrated by the North-East's leading children's hospice.

The Teesside-based Butterwick Hospice is putting on a lunch in his honour today to mark a £10,000 milestone in the donations Mr Barron has made from public speaking fees in the past four years.

His Dad At Large column in The Northern Echo has been turned into three books and £1 from every copy sold also goes to the hospice - a further £8,000.

Mr Barron said: "My column and the books are all about children, so I wanted a children's charity to benefit. Given our relationship with the Butterwick Hospice, it seemed the natural thing to do."

Ray Laidler, fundraising manager of the hospice, said: "This is a magnificent achievement and contribution to the work of the children's hospice.

"This has not been a one-off because Peter has been making these donations since June 2001.

"In his own time, he has also extended his talks to places as far away as Leeds, and this is just another example of his commitment when you take into account the travel to and from venues."

Newsquest (North-East) MD David Kelly said: "Peter is a compelling speaker who has a way with audiences, not least because of his ability to touch people's hearts and to entertain them. His commitment to front-of-house work is possibly unmatched by any other editor of a daily newspaper title.

"The North-East's main children's hospice is very important to The Northern Echo - which helped to raise £500,000 to get it started - and Peter's commitment to it has never flagged."