A snack shop in Princess Margaret Hospital is to close its doors after 43 years service.

The League of Friends shop, in the main ward block, will sell its last drinks and snacks on November 1 after raising more than £800,000 for hospital funds.

The voluntary service is disbanding when the new Great Western Hospital opens at Commonhead.

The new hospital's shop will be operated by the Women's Royal Voluntary Service, whose bid beat off stiff competition from three private businesses.

A total of 240 volunteers are being sought by the WRVS to act as guides around the hospital in a mobile escort service for patients and visitors, while 400 more are being sought by Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust to perform a similar role.

Sisters Joan Howell, 70, and Pat Payne, 65, have notched up more than 50 years between them as volunteers in the hospital shop.

Pat, from Rotten Row in Wanborough, says that apart from the increase in customers over the years, the only change is that the shop no longer sells tobacco.

She said: "I became involved after a group from my village started helping out at the hospital. I liked it so much I carried on for another 30 years."

Joan, from Nythe Road in Stratton, has been there for 20 years. She said: "It will be very sad to see the shop go. I have met some very interesting people since working here and the Friends have made a lot of money for the hospital."

Last night members of the Friends gathered at Steam Museum for a presentation of a mock cheque displaying the funds amassed throughout the four decades.

More than 200 volunteers have served at the hospital for 10 or more years and they were honoured with a commemorative certificate.

Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust's volunteer services manager, Su Maddocks, 55, has worked at the hospital for more than 25 years.

She said: "The volunteers have a pivotal role in the hospital. They enhance a patient's experience in that they have more time to sit and talk and generally put people at ease.

"I am searching for 400 volunteers to work at the new hospital. There will be a lot more space. We are moving on to better things."

Godfrey Fowler has been chairman of the League of Friends for five years and says the volunteers have been a triumph.

"By the time the hospital moves the Friends will have raised £1 million, mainly from takings at the shop but also from people leaving legacies to the fund," he said.

A second smaller shop in the maternity ward is due to close tomorrow.

Both shops, which sell toiletries as well as snacks, started as a trolley service in 1959 at Victoria Hospital in Okus Road.

Godfrey said: "The trolley service was such a success that the hospital board thought it would be a good idea to formalise the arrangement.

"In October 1960 the League of Friends held their first AGM and it went on from there."

The WRVS project manager, David Doherty, 44, said: "It has been a hard fight for the last three or so months. We made it by the skin of our teeth.

The Intensive Care unit is due to be the first to move to the new hospital site on December 2, followed on December 3 by Accident and Emergency.

If you would like to become a volunteer call Su on Swindon 437055 or David on Swindon 426236.