PROSPECT Hospice has thanked three teenager who gave up on the chance of birthday presents to raise hundreds of pounds for charity.

Stratton St. Margaret girls Sheryl Gawthorn, Lucy O'Keeffe, and Stephanie Coleman raised £650 for the Prospect Hospice and a baby unit by the simple idea of giving up presents at their joint 18th birthday party.

Instead of gifts, they asked friends and family attending a party last weekend at Club 2000 to make a donation to the hospice or the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at Princess Margaret Hospital.

That idea raised £400, and an anonymous local company then agreed to add another £250 to their total, provided its identity was kept secret.

Lucy, of Highworth Road, said she wanted to raise cash for the hospice after it helped her mother, Lesley, die in peace from cancer six years ago.

"It helped a lot because it was quite hard for her to live at home," Lucy said.

"They had fantastic staff looking after her in there, and I want to do what I can to raise a bit more money."

Sheryl, of Delamere Drive, said her mum Janet had been Lesley's mum's best friend and so both girls' thoughts had turned naturally to helping out the Prospect Hospice.

"They are both close to our hearts, so it seemed the right thing to do," cheryl said.

"We still had an absolutely great time at our party. We invited about 200 people and pretty much all of them came, plus some other people. It was great."

Lucy, and Sheryl will be giving their share of the money raised to the hospice.

Stephanie, who lives at Watermead, will be giving her third share to SCBU after it cared for two seriously ill baby boys born to friends of her family.

Michelle Duma, corporate fundraiser at the Prospect Hospice, said the future vitality of the hospice would depend on young people like Sheryl, Lucy, and Stephanie getting involved with it.

"It's absolutely wonderful that the girls have done this," she said.

"A lot of 18-year-olds wouldn't think twice about accepting presents because they are still quite exciting at that age.

"It just goes to show people can fundraise from a young age you don't have to be married with kids or whatever.

"The more people we can get of a younger generation supporting us, the further we will go into the future."

This year, the hospice needs to raise £1.7 million to maintain its services, and Miss Duma said people such as Cheryl, Lucy and Stephanie were also vital in creating new source of support for the hospice.

"If they fundraise once for us and 10 of their friends give a donation, it will stick with them," she said.

"That's why it's so important that young people help us fundraise."