ALRESFORD Rotary Club has donated £5,000 to the Murray Parish Trust.

The donation comprised the proceeds of the club’s 10k Road Race, held on June 18, topped-up with money raised at its tombola bottle stall during the annual Alresford Watercress Festival held on May 21.

Rotarian Mark Porter, chairman of Alresford Rotary’s community service committee, is pictured presenting the club’s cheque to the husband and wife team of Sarah Parish and James Murray in the garden of their home near Alresford.

The Murray Parish Trust (www.themurrayparishtrust.com), of which actors Sarah and James are the founding trustees, is committed to raising £4m to fund a brand new paediatric emergency and trauma department (A&E) based in Southampton to cover the entire South of England and The Channel Islands. The challenge is in memory of their first daughter, Ella Jayne, who they lost to a congenital heart defect in 2009.

Jon McKenzie, president of Rotary, said: “The Rotary Club of Alresford is delighted to make such a significant contribution to the Murray Parish Trust, which aims to make life so much better for very sick children. It is gratifying to know that the club’s donation of £5,000 will be doubled to £10,000 in real terms, thanks to Government funding”.