The death of Princess Diana, ten years ago this week, saw an outpouring of grief followed by a determination to celebrate her life. In the first of a three-part series on Butterwick Children's Hospice in Stockton, built in the Princess's memory, Lindsay Jennings finds a place full of sunshine and life.

IN the corner of the day room at Butterwick Children's Hospice is a huge, round kitchen table which is covered in various baking paraphernalia. Phillip Stonehouse, 16, is busy grating carrot and his face lights up as nursery nurse Sally Johnson cracks an egg into a plastic bowl.

"We're making a carrot cake," she explains. "We quite often bake."

It is just a tiny part of this vibrant room. For the musically inclined there are drums and an electronic keyboard by the window and, for the more cyber-literate, two computers. The warm, yellow walls are adorned with colourful pictures of previous residents' artwork. There are sofas, a widescreen television and magazines for those wanting to relax. Here, the illnesses of the children who use the hospice fade into the background while they focus on having fun. It means that while their parents are away, perhaps having valuable respite from looking after a sick child, the youngsters who visit still feel as if they're at home.

"At the end of the day, I like to go home and think everybody has had a nice time," says Sally, who has worked at the children's hospice in Stockton for five years.

"It's about looking at the children we have in beforehand and learning what type of things they may want to do, so you really spend time getting to know them. But I'm quite happy to go along with the flow too."

The children who visit the hospice have a range of illnesses, some of which are life threatening. Many of them are wheelchair-bound, and their speech and movement can be extremely limited. But everyone can have fun here - and Sally usually manages to put a smile on all the visitors' faces.

"We do quite a lot with music, which can range from a child saying what sort of CD they want on and having a dance session, to using sound effects for stories," she says. "We have a teenage girl who comes in and she loves a disco and we party for hours in the multi-sensory room. We choreograph all the moves and she loves it, her face is a picture. Other times we can role play stories with the children.

"It's generally a maximum of four people so they have our undivided attention and you can pick up on the smallest of responses. You don't need big responses to make it special, just a response from that individual."

The children visit the hospice for around 12 nights per year, spreading their stays out as they wish, some of them overnight. The hospice tries to coordinate visits so children of similar ages and interests attend at the same time.

"We try and be an extended part of the family and an extended part of normal life so they're not coming here to be in a clinical environment," says Jackie Leighton, publicity and marketing manager at the hospice.

"Very rarely do we have a child with cancer, which would seem to be the norm for adult hospices. We tend to have children with progressive illnesses, often genetic, so they can end up coming to us for a long time.

"People associate hospices with dying and that's not the case, it's about living and about living as well as you possibly can, experiencing as many things as possible in a short life."

As well as the activities on offer in the day room, the hospice has a multi-sensory room equipped with a wide range of specialist lighting to help stimulate and relax young patients.

Other facilities include the sensory garden and wheelchair swing, which is a favourite among many children as it holds the child's wheelchair securely in place while they experience the sensation of being on a swing - a feeling they many never have experienced before.

The hospice has two coaches which are used to take the children on trips of their choice. There is also a special hydrotherapy pool with a qualified physiotherapist on hand to advise nurses and parents how to help the children relax their muscles in the warm water.

"Parents and brothers and sisters are welcome here as well," says Jackie. "So mum and dad might want to get into the pool with their child. It's nice to help kids experience things that they wouldn't at home."

In the day room, Phillip has almost finished the preparation for the carrot cake. Sally rolls her sleeves up and heads off to help.

"Sally's very natural at playing with the children so when they're singing she's singing with them and their faces light up when she puts their names into songs," says Jackie.

"If we come down and watch Sally working with the children we see how much fun they're having and we want to stay. Children's hospices are not sad places, it's just normal life with extraordinary children."

To make a donation to the hospice log onto www.butterwick.org.uk or contact 01642-607748.