TODAY a campaign is launched to raise much-needed funds for a vital cancer centre for people in the New Forest.

This week Oakhaven Hospice celebrates the tenth anniversary of its official opening - that's a decade of treating and caring for nearly 3,000 terminally-ill people and their families from across the New Forest.

despite reaching such a milestone, the Lymington hospice - which will care for around 458 people this year - faces a very uncertain future.

Seven months ago the trust reached crisis point when it had to make 15 redundancies and 20 per cent cuts of £362,000 a year.

Trustees were faced with the stark choice - make those cuts or face insolvency within a year and leave thousands of Forest folk without this valuable service. They would then have had to travel to Christchurch or West End.

The reason Oakhaven found itself in this dire situation, like many hospices across the country, is simple - it receives only a 19 per cent contribution to its funding from the NHS. The remainder must come from fundraising.

The trust, which serves a population of 90,000 in the Forest area, will still have to find £1.5m this year and £1.2m of that must come from the local community.

That is why Oakhaven is urging local people to commit to on-going donations through its Every Penny Counts Appeal - backed by the Southern Daily Echo and Daily Echo, Bournemouth - which is launched today.

For as little 50p a week you can sign up to a standing order and help this precious service survive for another ten years, and beyond. The aim of the appeal is to get at least 3,000 people signed up to the Every Penny Counts pact.

Oakhaven's chief executive, Kara Bishops, explained why the hospice trust has launched its appeal.

"Our costs for this coming year are just under £1.5m to run the eight-bed inpatient unit, the 12-place day hospice and the three-nurse home-care team and the counselling service.

"NHS funding across the UK to hospices has fallen from 35 per cent to 28 per cent since 1997. While the NHS has received significant investment to increase staff salaries, hospices had no similar investment. In fact, our investment has fallen - but we have to match those salaries to attract the quality clinical staff we need.

"We have got money in reserve but by 2008 we expect to find ourselves facing insolvency again.

"That is why we are launching our Every Penny Counts Appeal."

To find out more about the appeal, call 01590 677773 or go along to Oakhaven's open day on Tuesday, May 7 between 2 and 6pm.