Award-winning Shropshire-based caravan and motorhome dealership, Salop Leisure, has become the first company in the county to sign up to Severn Hospice’s Silver Members project.

The new fundraising venture aims to encourage companies across Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin to become corporate supporters of the hospice. By signing up as a silver member for £1,000 a year, companies will be specifically helping the hospice to expand the care it provides to patients in their own home.

Retired Shropshire businessman Brian Taylor, the hospice’s corporate ambassador, is spearheading the recruitment of companies and hopes to sign up 25 silver members.

Salop Leisure was the first of a dozen companies to join and Mr Taylor is busy arranging visits to other businesses across the Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin, where Severn Hospice has sites in Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury and Apley Castle, Telford.

“Severn Hospice is blessed with amazing support from the communities it serves,” said Mr Taylor. “The Silver Members project is building on this strong foundation so that the hospice can continue meeting the rising demand for the care it provides.

“All the money raised by our Silver Members will go towards funding the charity’s Hospice at Home service, which provides hands-on nursing care to local people in the comfort of their own home in the last few weeks of life.

“With more than three quarters of Severn Hospice’s patients receiving care while they are at home, the funding we receive from companies like Salop Leisure will be vital in maintaining and developing this important service in the future.”

He praised Salop Leisure’s chairman Tony Bywater for becoming the first businessman to sign up. “Salop Leisure does sponsor a lot of events and supports several charities in our area and we are delighted to have them as a silver member,” he said. “Tony recognises the advantages of the company being associated with such a fabulous organisation as the hospice.”

Mr Bywater said: “The company has supported Severn Hospice since it was first established because we think it provides vital services for the whole community. Many people within our company have had experience of the hospice and I would urge other businesses to get involved in supporting this fundraising campaign.”