CHARITY officials are celebrating after being awarded the money to open a full-time care unit at St Teresa's Hospice, in Darlington.

Yesterday, Darlington Primary Care Trust agreed to give £100,000 a year for at least two years to the hospice.

With match-funding from Marie Curie Cancer Care, this means the hospice has raised enough money to open the six-bed care unit in Woodlands Road.

A campaign called Giving For Life, supported by The Northern Echo, was launched last year to raise £250,000 to open the centre and money for its running costs.

The unit will allow people in the Darlington area to receive 24-hour hospice care for the first time.

Trevor Birnie, the hospice's medical director, said: "This is a real partnership that will mean the hospice can offer a great new service.

"The money will be ring-fenced for a few years and after that it will go into the main pot, but we are confident we will continue to get the funding.

"Although we have had a lot of support from the public and businesses to help raise the hospice's contribution to this new unit, the fundraising has to continue.

"The running costs will have to be paid each year and money is still needed to keep the day care centre open."

Among those who welcomed the news was Meg Niven, widow of Darlington architect Rob, who gave his support to the Giving For Life campaign days before he died of liver cancer.

Mr Niven received day care treatment at the hospice and his family were shocked to discover that if he had not had their support, he would have had to go into hospital to die rather than stay at home.

Speaking yesterday, Mrs Niven said: "I am thrilled to bits that the money has been raised. So many people have given so much time over so many years to make this happen, it was something that started long before Rob joined the campaign.

"This unit will make such a great difference to the community and it is good to know that if I developed the same condition as Rob I would have somewhere comfy to go.

"This is a great legacy to Rob, but neither he nor I would want to take the credit for all the hard work so many people have done."

The hospice hopes to open the unit after Easter.