CHARITY begins at home it is said, and for those living in Buckland Monachorum, doing their bit for charity is a way of life.

This year will again see the people of this small village pulling together to raise funds for a hospice for sick children.

Over the last decade, the people of Buckland Monachorum and the surrounding area have raised £66,000 for the Children's Hospice South West.

The driving force behind this remarkable charitable effort is Linda Downing, who chairs the Buckland Monachorum Friends of Children's Hospice South West group.

Linda says she specialises in motivating people to participate and enjoys bringing out people's talents to help in the most appropriate way.

For example, one artistic man in the village designs charity Christmas cards every year featuring snowy scenes from Buckland Monachorum, Crapstone, Milton Combe and surrounding villages.

This Sunday, (August 26) David and Jenny Miles from Crapstone will be opening their garden to the public for the sixth year running.

Last year, the couple from 'Larkrise', Crapstone, raised £1,000 for the charity when they opened their impressive garden.

The hairdresser in the village gives over her salon to be used as a tearoom during the event. The village cricket club also do their bit, allowing their pitch be used as a car park for the day.

The whole community at Buckland Monachorum has become involved in the fund raising, and over the years, Linda has organised an amazing variety of charity events in aid of the Hospice.

Sponsored walks, cycles and horse rides, coffee mornings, flag days, stalls at Tavistock's Dickensian evening and several village shows —there are just too many to mention.

Linda is proud of everything that has been achieved in the village, 'It is incredible what we have done.

'Once the community was made aware of the terrific need they backed us every inch of the way,' she said.

Linda believes the secret of fund-raising is good communication, letting people know what the cause is all about.

She remains surprised at how successful the fund-raising efforts have been.

'I never thought we would raise a thousand pounds in the beginning. It has just gone from strength to strength.'

Linda would like to say a big thank you to all the people who have given their time, skill or money to help the Children's Hospice South West over the last ten years.

The Children's Hospice South West appeal was launched in 1991 to provide a specialist hospice for terminally ill children in the West Country.

Before the appeal was launched, the nearest children's hospice was Helen House in Oxford, the first specialist children's hospice in the world.

The appeal was started by Jill Farwell, a mother who had two terminally ill children.

She decided that what was needed was a centre based in the South West, which would provide facilities and support for sick children and their families.

However, building an inspiring and welcoming hospice was always going to be expensive. It took a great effort from all concerned to raise the £1 1/4 million needed.

The hospice, called Little Bridge House, was eventually built at Fremington, North Devon.

However, the story did not stop there, because once the hospice was built it still faced massive running costs. Little Bridge House presently costs £1.7-million a year to run.

And without any government or lottery funding, this money has to come from charitable sources.

So the voluntary fund-raising of Linda and the people of Buckland Monachorum and other Friends of the Hospice groups has continued and shows no sign of slowing down.

There are around 900 terminally ill children in the South West.

Many of them will benefit from the respite care given at the hospice and Linda is full of admiration for the staff who provide that special care at Little Bridge House.

The open garden event was originally due to be held back in June, but was postponed because of the foot and mouth crisis.

The garden, opposite the village hairdressers, will be open from 11am-5pm this Sunday.

There will be plants for sale and teas served.

Admission is £1.25 for adults and 50p for children. Organisers say that unfortunately dogs are not allowed.