A campaign to raise £714,000 to build an innovative centre for people with life-limiting illnesses in east Suffolk and south Norfolk has entered the final straight after receiving a £50,000 pledge.

Halesworth Community Nursing Care Fund (HCNCF) has been awarded the generous grant towards its information and support centre (ISC) appeal from the Garfield Weston Foundation. The money takes the total raised so far to £636,410 – the equivalent of more than 89% of the target.

Fundraisers are now hoping a final push will bring in the remaining money so that building work can start – and have appealed to anyone who may be able to help to get in touch.

The Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded, grant-making trust which has been supporting charities across the UK for more than 50 years. Around 1,500 organisations each year benefit, covering areas such as health, the arts, welfare and education.

The money given to HCNCF will be put towards the ISC, which aims to bring a full range of holistic services closer to home for patients with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, their families and carers. This includes benefits advice, wig-fitting, children and family support, complementary therapies, help understanding a diagnosis, counselling and bereavement support.

The centre will be built on land adjacent to Cutlers Hill Surgery in Halesworth, and will serve people living in a 15-mile radius of the town.

Ted Edwards, ISC chairman, said: “We are incredibly grateful for this latest pledge, which has taken us one step closer to our target and into the final straight with our fundraising.

“We will now concentrate all of our efforts into raising the remaining money and starting work on this valuable facility as quickly as possible so that local people no longer have to travel as far for help and support.”

For more information about the ISC project, or to make a donation, visit www.halesworthhealth.org/information-and-support-centre