HOSPITAL visitors are invited to ensure memories of lost loved ones shine on for this year’s Tree of Lights.

Organised by the Boscombe and Southbourne Rotary Club, the annual tree is based at Royal Bournemouth Hospital over the Christmas period.

Each sponsored light will raise vital funds for charity.

Visitors can sponsor a light for a minimum of £5 in memory of a loved one, with their name recorded in a book of remembrance that will be displayed in the hospital chapel.

The lights will be switched on by the Mayor of Bournemouth, Cllr Eddie Coope, during a ceremony on Monday, December 19 at 6.30pm followed by a carol service led by the Boscombe Salvation Army Musicians and All Saints' Church, Southbourne and Muscliffe Community Choir.

Philip Johanson of the Boscombe and Southbourne Rotary Club said: "The Tree of Lights is an ideal opportunity both to especially remember a loved one at this time of the year, and at the same time support local projects."

All proceeds will be split between the Bournemouth Hospital Charity and a selection of other local projects chosen by the Boscombe and Southbourne Rotary Club.

Money raised for Bournemouth Hospital Charity will go towards new cancer-treating equipment for the hospital’s urology team.

Lights can be bought from the charity office in the hospital entrance.

Rotarians will be on hand next to the charity office in the afternoons of Wednesday, December 14 and Friday, December 16.

For more information about the charity or the event, call Bournemouth Hospital Charity on 01202 704060 or email charity@rbch.nhs.uk