The Shooting Star Trust celebrated an important milestone on Monday when it passed its £2 million appeal target.

The achievement is partly due to the generosity of the now defunct Friends of Richmond Hospital, who donated £100,000 to the trust to enable it to move a step closer to its goal of building a hospice for terminally ill children.

Actor Richard E Grant, who is a patron of the charity, was presented with the cheque at a ceremony in Richmond.

The trust hopes to start building the hospice early next year at a site it has purchased in Hampton.