Passionate parents have helped Colchester Hospital budge one step closer towards securing a new incubator for seriously ill babies.

The neonatal unit received a cheque for £15,008 from members of the Colchester Twin and Triplet Club after they organised a charity ball at Stoke-by-Nayland Resort in March.

The donation has brought the hospital half-way towards raising enough money to buy a new incubator for the department.

Emma Blowers, who spent time with her first daughter Isla, four, on the neonatal unit and saw three-year-old triplets Amelie, Martha and Rosie taken there immediately after their birth at Colchester Hospital, led the planning.

She was helped along the way by Lucy Brown, whose twins, Alexander and Henry, four, also spent time on the unit, as well as Sarah Shelton, Frances Brown, Anna Miller and paediatric physiotherapist Anna Walklett.

Colchester Hospital neonatal practice development nurse Lindsey Harding-Payne said: “The unit so often leaves a life-long impression and we are still visited by parents whose babies spent time here and are now in their teens.

“We are extremely grateful for this donation and the money will go towards a brand-new top-of-the-range incubator which is really important for intensive care babies.

“One incubator costs between £30,000 and £35,000, so we are halfway towards raising enough money to buy one, while other groups are fundraising for the unit too.”

Ms Blowers, from Great Bentley, said: “We never expected to raise the amount we did from one charity event but it is for a really important cause close to our hearts.

“The care we had there was just amazing.”