Princess Alice Hospice is a member of national charity Help the Hospices, and this year as a result of membership is delighted to be one of the causes benefiting from ITV’s major new charity appeal for Christmas, Text Santa.

Money raised by Text Santa will help hospices like Princess Alice Hospice to make a difference to the lives of their patients and their families during the festive period and beyond. Help the Hospices represents and supports more than 200 hospices across the UK, was selected as one of six causes to benefit from the appeal.

Text Santa will culminate in two entertainment spectaculars featuring major names from television, music and show business on ITV1 – the first kicks off on Sunday 11 December, with the finale taking place on Christmas Eve.  Ant and Dec, Phillip Schofield, Christine Bleakley and Holly Willoughby will host the fun-filled festive shows and will also be joined by other ITV household names.  The events will also feature some of the most loved names from television, music and show business and look set to deliver plenty of laughs and fun from some of the best faces on the box.

Nigel Seymour, Director of Fundraising and Communication at Princess Alice said:

 “We are thrilled to be involved in this exciting new charity initiative. Every day we need to raise £20,000 so that we can continue to provide hospice care and support to families from across Surrey, south west London and Middlesex.”

Maxine Trotter, Director of Fundraising at Help the Hospices said:

“Every year our member hospices collectively provide more than 26 million hours of care, the majority in people’s own homes, helping people and their families to live well until they die. We are hugely grateful to ITV and its partners and look forward to raising awareness and valuable funds for hospice care.”

Peter Fincham, ITV Director of Television added:

“This is a superb opportunity for us to throw the weight of the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster behind a brand new charity initiative and event. Text Santa will be a fantastic entertainment centrepiece to the ITV1 Christmas schedule, but more importantly it will raise awareness and funds for a range of causes which can make a real difference to people’s lives.”

The initiative is supported by major commercial and media partners, including Asda who are supporting Text Santa in stores nationwide and Global Radio via their award-winning Heart radio network. Viewers will be able to donate money throughout the campaign via text - as well as by landline, online or in any Santander branch.