PLANS for a new North-East children's hospice received a cash boost yesterday.

More than £900 towards the proposed Grace Hospice, in Sunderland, was presented by the organisers of the Easington Village Millennium Club.

Senior retired police officers who turned their hands to cooking to provide regular meals for members of the club raised the money at a charity Italian evening.

And yesterday, Durham's former assistant chief constable Alan Miller took time out from preparing a bread and butter pudding at Easington's Seaton Holme to hand over a cheque for £952 to television presenter Kathy Secker, who is spearheading the fundraising for the hospice.

The campaign to build the children's hospice is being led by Debra Jones whose four-year-old daughter, Grace, suffers from a mystery illness that medical experts are unable to diagnose.