A HOSPICE has raised more than £2,000 thanks to a Christmas tree with a difference.

Instead of trinkets and lights, relatives hung paper baubles in memory of departed family members.

The baubles, which each carried someone's name, were hung on the Teesside Hospice Tree of Life.

It was the first year that the hospice had a tree in the Chapel of Remembrance at Teesside Crematorium, to go along with its main Tree of Life in Middlesbrough's Cleveland Shopping Centre, now called The Mall.

Councillor Javid Ismail, chairman of Middlesbrough Council, is presenting the hospice with a cheque for £2,136, on Thursday.

The hospice has to raise approximately £2,600 each day to keep its doors open and continue to run the services it provides.