A Yorkshire estate agency has shown continued support for Martin House Hospice during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic with a donation of £25,000.

Residential letting and sales specialists, Linley & Simpson, which has 20 branches across North, West and East Yorkshire and The Humber, made the donation despite the firm’s fundraising activities being curtailed by the virus.

This latest donation takes the total raised for the charity in the last five years to almost £100,000.

Based at Boston Spa, near Wetherby, Martin House supports families across West, North and East Yorkshire, providing support and palliative care for children and young people with life limiting conditions.

Martin House relies entirely on donations and fundraising to cover the £8m needed a year to provide the vital care that it offers. The hospice’s own fundraising activities were also affected and so the firm did not want them to miss out on the much-needed cash.

The estate agency had a calendar of activities planned to raise funds, including taking part in Martin House’s annual Dragon Boat Race, staff members undertaking the “Total Warrior” challenge, as well as hosting a company Easter bake-off. As their chosen charity, members of the Linley & Simpson team also usually carry out voluntary work throughout the year.

Hospice Nurse Cally Marritt said: “We are so grateful to Linley & Simpson for their very generous donation of £25,000. This support means we can continue to help families who need our help now, more than ever before.

“We’d like to thank the team at Linley & Simpson for their ongoing support.”

Emily Wilkinson, Linley & Simpson’s Wetherby Branch Manager, said: “It has been our pleasure to support Martin House as our chosen charity for the last five years. Despite being unable to carry out a host of fundraising activities due to COVID-19, we were determined to continue our support for this wonderful charity.

“We did not want the hospice to miss out on the funds that they need to keep on providing the high standard of palliative care to families across Yorkshire, so we are delighted to be able to given them £25,000 donation.

“One of the prime reasons for supporting Martin House is that it provides services to a geographical area covered by all our 20 branches, and it was a charity that everyone was keen to help raise funds for.”