The £25,000 fundraising effort for the Forget-Me-Not Dementia Campaign has been given a nudge towards its final total thanks to dedicated members of the Mildenhall Lions Club.

Their Santa Sleigh, which went on a 110-mile tour of the town and the neighbouring villages over nine-nights, has raised £3,700.

It’s one of the biggest collections of its kind for the annual run and members said they were “delighted” with the response of people on the route.

The demential campaign is being run by the West Suffolk Hospital in conjunction with The EADT and its sister paper The Mercury to raise money to enhance facilities for dementia patients while they are on the hospital’s acute wards.

Lions club member Gerald Taylor-Balls said: “We were very pleased with the response and very lucky with the weather. It was one of the biggest collections we have made but we could not have done it without the support of many other people including the hospital and the Sainsbury’s store. We try to pick a charity which strikes a chord with people and this one certainly did.”

As part of the tour, members took the sleigh to the town’s Christmas lights switch-on, held on December 4.

To donate to the Forget-Me-Not campaign visit www.justgiving.com/forget-me-not campaign or take your donation to the Mercury and EADT offices. Cheques should be made payable to Archant, marked on the back “Forget-Me-Not Appeal” and sent to the East Anglian Daily Times, 11 Woolhall Street, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 1LA.

To find out more or to offer your help phone 01284 712952 or email dave.gooderham@wsh.nhs.uk