CHILDREN'S hospice charity Julia's House has a new team to rally support for its plans to build a centre in Wiltshire.

The Dorset and Wiltshire children’s hospice charity has appointed a three-strong fundraising team who will be based in Amesbury.

Ian Wadley, Ged Montgomery and Liz Froud will work alongside the community and local businesses to support fundraising and spread the word about the charity.

Helping them in this mammoth task will be four new Wiltshire Ambassadors: Paola Campari-Moss, whose daughter Chiara was the first child in the county to be cared for by Julia’s House; Rosemary Macdonald and William Wyldbore-Smith of the Wiltshire Community Foundation and Dr Rowena Staples, consultant paediatrician for palliative care and oncology at Salisbury Hospital.

Dr Staples said: “The respite care that Julia’s House has brought to Wiltshire meets a need that could never be met through our hospital community nursing service.

"The support for families is just incredible - it goes way beyond the medical, it is emotional, too.”

Thanks to fundraising by Julia’s House patron, film director Guy Ritchie and Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr, the charity already has £2 million towards the £3.5 million it needs.

Now a public appeal has been launched to raise the remainder.

The new children’s hospice is likely to be in or around Devizes, centrally placed to make it accessible to as many families as possible. It is hoped it will open within two or three years.

Ian Wadley, who runs the Wiltshire fundraising team, said: “There is currently no equivalent service for Wiltshire's life-limited children and their families, so it is our mission to help them as much as we can, as soon as we can.

“Our fantastic nurses and carers are already making a huge difference to families under great stress by providing home-based care in Wiltshire, and building a small, dedicated hospice to complement this is integral to our vision.

“What we really need now is the Wiltshire community to take Julia’s House to their hearts and support it by donating, fundraising and volunteering “

Anyone wishing to find out more or offer support can visit the charity’s website at juliashouse.org, contact Ian on 01980 677105 or email him at ian.wadley@juliashouse.org.