A GALA concert has been arranged as the culmination of Pendleside Hospice's popular Light Up A Life yuletide campaign.

Supporters of the Reedley-based organisation, which covers Burnley, Pendle and the Ribble Valley, have lined up opera starlet Grace O'Malley and the Basics Junior Theatre Group.

Before then, the Colne Road hospice is encouraging fundraisers to dedicate lights to lost loved ones outside the building, which will be switched on by Mayor of Burnley, Coun Andy Tatchell, on Sunday, December 21.

Hospice fundraising manager Kaye Bartle said: "Light up a Life is a special event for the hospice.

"As well as giving people the opportunity to remember those who won’t be with us this Christmas it also raises over £100,000 of much-needed funds each year. "

The campaign is sponsored by East Lancashire funeral directors, Alderson and Horan, based in Burnley and Rossendale, providing a Christmas tree for outside the main hospice reception which is also covered in lights.

Once the festive season is over, the names of everyone who has been commemorated by Light Up A Life is entered into a leather-bound Book of Remembrance, which is kept on display and available for viewing at the hospice throughout the year.

People wanting to dedicate a light can do so online at www.pendleside.org.uk or by calling the hospice's fundraising department on 01282 440120.

Leaflets explaining the process are also available at the hospice's shops in the area and from the hospice reception, with would-be donors advised that they don't necessarily have to know someone who has been cared for at Pendleside.

The suggested minimum donation is £5 and for the gift donors are given a card, lapel badge or a hanging Christmas tree decoration.