YOUNGSTERS being cared for at a children’s hospice have 150,000 reasons to thank Hampshire couple Jennifer and Phil Nutburn.

That is the incredible amount of money they have raised for Naomi House after hosting a series of glamorous balls and gala dinners at their New Forest home in the past nine years.

The latest event alone added £10,000 to the pot.

Southampton-based cruise firm Princess Cruises donated a luxury Mediterranean cruise for two as the charity event’s star auction lot after being impressed by the care and support the hospice provides youngsters with life-limiting conditions and their families.

Competition was fierce, with so many guests vying for the holiday on Southampton-based super-ship Grand Princess, that the auctioneer’s hammer finally fell on a bid of £2,750.

The event, the ninth held by Jennifer and Phil in the grounds of their Brockenhurst home, was called ‘Dressed to the Nines’.

About 140 of Jennifer and Phil’s friends attended the formal, black-tie ball, held in a specially-built marquee.

Besides the auction, guests, who danced the night away until the early hours of the morning, also took part in a tombola with 150 prizes, “table lotto” and other fundraising activities.

Jennifer and Naomi House’s fundraising manager, Katie Hamilton, took time off from making final preparations for the ball to meet Captain Nick Nash, master of Crown Princess, at Southampton docks.

Captain Nash, said: “Naomi House carries out such excellent and valuable work in and around the area, which is our home base, so we are absolutely delighted to donate this cruise as the ball’s star prize.”

Naomi House, in Sutton Scotney near Winchester, provides palliative care, together with a wide range of support services, and since it first opened in 1987 the hospice has helped almost 600 families in the central south coast region.

Katie, said: “Naomi House is so grateful to Jennifer and Phil, for once again organising such a wonderful event at their home, and to Princess Cruises, whose incredible generosity did so much to add to the success of the ball.

“The money raised will go a long way in helping Naomi House continue to support many local children and their families.”