Coombe Abbey Hotel is asking for your help as it tries to make a record breaking year for funding of Zoe's Place

The fundraising initiative comes as next year is the 25th anniversary of Coombe Abbey Hotel opening its doors for the first time as a hotel.

A spokesperson said Zoe's Place seemed like a fitting choice as a charity that helps local families in need.

Now the hotel needs the help of its guests and visitors to make sure that it can raise a huge amount of money for the good cause by the end of 2020.

A range of events and competitions will be held through the year to make sure the milestone does not go ahead unnoticed – and to provide the vital funding.

And for 12 months, guests and visitors will be asked to donate an optional 25p on their transactions - with the gifts being added to the fundraising pot.

Ron Terry, general manager of Coombe Abbey Hotel, said: “2020 is a very special year for Coombe Abbey and we want to make it a huge celebration.

“As part of that, we wanted to set up a fundraising initiative and Zoë's Place Baby Hospice seemed like the perfect choice as we have had very close links with the charity for a number of years.

“The main fundraising will be through adding an optional 25p to customer bills and transactions, and every penny of that will be put into a fundraising pot.

“Zoë's Place is such a wonderful charity and we hope that as many people as possible will get behind us.”

Zoë's Place is an independent registered Children's Charity providing palliative, respite and end of life care to babies and infants aged from birth to five years suffering from life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.

The charity wants to increase the fundraising pot by £200,000 each year, allowing the hospice to fund new services and open a much-needed fifth cot.

Muna Chauhan, head of fundraising at Zoë's Place Baby Hospice, added: “The hospice host their Annual Charity Ball at Coombe Abbey and we were delighted to be chosen as their charity during their special anniversary celebrations during 2020.

“Ron and the team are wonderful to work with and we want to help them celebrate.

“The support will make a difference as we strive to raise over £200,000 to open our fifth cot, we need to provide more hours of care, families are relying on our services. It will be an exciting year ahead.”