An international company has donated a mammoth £20,000 to Keech Cottage Children's Hospice, near Luton. NYK Group Europe has given the dosh as part of its European Corporate Social Responsibility Awards scheme, which invests in society and local communities, after the hospice was nominated by an employee at the firm.

Terry Newman, operations manager at NYK Logistics in Milton Keynes, put the charity forward for the cash because of the invaluable support the hospice is providing to his colleague Steve Stewart and, more importantly, Steve's three-year old daughter Presley.

Presley suffered extensive brain damage after contracting Group B Strep Meningitis at just three weeks old, resulting in blindness, epilepsy and cerebral palsy. With severe disability and a limited life expectancy, the tot requires 24-hour care.

The hospice provides palliative and terminal care for children living in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes, who are not expected to survive to their adult years.

The award from NYK will be used to fund overnight stays at the hospice for local children and to pay for the hospice's community nurses to visit children in their own homes.