THE Friends of Ross Hospital have been very busy fundraising over the past 12 months.

The group’s main expenditure was buying the field of vision machine- a replacement for a machine nicknamed Humphrey.

The Friends’ contribution towards this was £23,000. The fundraisers also provided medicine lockers for each bed, a water cooler, light weight scrub tops for the nurses and a wound room chair, totalling £6,000.

The Friends’ also supplied newspapers to the wards totalling around £280 per month and provided Christmas presents and stockings for the patients which was given out by Santa just prior to the festive period.

The Friends’ currently on order two special chairs for the physiotherapy department and an interactive device called a Mobii, which will be used to help dementia patients and those recovering from strokes.

And last week the Ross Choristers Community Choir, which has been raising money to support local charities since its inception almost 20 years ago, donated the Friends of Ross Hospital a sum of £1,385 as the proceeds from its Christmas Carol Concert.

Friends’ chairman Brian Cole said: “This is why we are especially grateful to the Ross Choristers for their most generous donation following their carol concert at St Mary’s Church.

“We will put this sum towards the purchase of this Mobii device. We continue to work hard to make the lives of patients and staff more comfortable and easier.”

Over the years the Ross Choristers Community Choir has raised in excess of £25,000. This mixed choir meets for its weekly practice on Monday nights at Ross Conservative Club.

Singing for pleasure unites the 40 members who derive considerable satisfaction in turning a wide variety of popular music, old and new, into concert programmes.

The group’s spring concert will be held at St Mary's Church on Saturday, April 12. For more details contact 01989 566781.