PRESENTS from family and friends are among the most exciting aspects of Christmas - and this year we at St Leonard's Hospice have received the most exciting gift - our new in-patient annexe.

Thanks in great part to Evening Press readers, and their friends and families, our £2 million Millennium Appeal achieved its target in July and our wonderful new building is now in use.

Thousands of you have raised money for the appeal and continue to support us in so many ways. We offer you our grateful thanks.

We are supported in every department of the hospice by local volunteers, several hundred in total, all of whom make St Leonard's a very special place and help us to ensure the care we offer our patients and their families is second to none.

We should also like to take this opportunity of acknowledging their unstinting efforts by saying a big thank you.

On behalf of everyone at St Leonard's Hospice we wish all Press readers a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Steven Harker,

Chief Executive,

St Leonard's Hospice,

Tadcaster Road,

York.

Updated: 10:21 Friday, December 21, 2001