A CHILDREN’S charity raised a record amount at an open day which was supported by a BBC sports presenter.

Naomi House Children’s Hospice flung open its doors to the public to offer interactive tours, games, displays as well as plenty of cakes and hot food from a sizzling barbecue at its annual open day.

The activities were officially launched by BBC South sports presenter Roger Johnson, before 1,500 people visited the hospice.

Naomi House in Sutton Scotney provides respite care and support for children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families. The care is provided in purpose-built facilities, and through a hospice-at-home service.

Previously, organisers have put on a three-day open event, and even though this year’s open day was reduced to one day, it raised £11,000, which is several thousand more than before.

Mark Smith, fundraising manager for the hospice, said: “It was a great success and extremely well supported. I want to say an enormous thank you from us to everyone who attended. We changed the format a little this year. Previously, the event has been much more geared towards an educational visit about the work that we do. This year we decided to refresh it to make it an open day as well as a family food and fun day. With the opening of Jacksplace earlier this year, we had larger grounds to do that and we re-organised the tour so that it was interactive mainly geared towards children.”

Activities included using some of the hospice’s special equipment so visitors could appreciate the daily difficulties faced by its users.

Entertainment was provided by a dog display team and birds of prey as well as live music by the Rupert Carnival Band.

Mr Smith added: “We are grateful to Roger for coming along to welcome everybody. He has been involved for quite a while now. Having celebrity support is very important because it attracts attention to the work that we do. We have increased our services quite a lot this year and we have to raise £5million every year to support the charity. We get less than 15 per cent from Government.”

He added that celebrity chef Raymond Blanc will be visiting the hospice later this year.

More information about the charity is at naomihouse.org.uk.