MORE than £2,000 was raised for Lewis Manning Hospice at this year's 'Time to Remember' walk at Poole Park.

The event, organised by the hospice and backed by the Dolphin Shopping Centre, took place earlier this autumn.

Participants took walked around the park's boating lake before lighting a floating candle.

Funds from the event will go towards providing support to Lewis-Manning Hospice, a charity providing day care and end of life care to around 900 people each year living with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses.

Hospice communications manger Angela Morrow said: "Thank you to everyone who came along - despite the rain, the event was a great success.

"We're thrilled at the amount of money raised, and this will help us to continue providing exceptional hospice care to the local community."

The Dolphin Shopping Centre nominated Lewis-Manning Hospice as its charity of the year in January, in addition to supporting Chestnut Nursery, the centre’s other nominated charity for 2017.

Shopping centre manager John Grinnell said: "It was a real pleasure to support Lewis-Manning by donating the floating candles for this walk. The event had a lovely feel to it, and it was amazing to see the boating lake lit up in memory of loved ones."

Earlier this year the Echo reported how, after the opening of a new End of Life unit at Lewis-Manning in 2016, the Poole hospice needed to significantly increase its incoming funds

At that time Lewis-Manning head of fundraising and communications Andy Gould said: "We need to raise extra money - approximately one third more than last year, on top of NHS funding, to fund the new unit."

Lewis-Manning receives less than one third of its funding from the NHS.