St Peter’s Church in Devizes, which will welcome Julia's House into the parish when it opens, is already supporting the children's hospice by raising money with a flower festival.

Devizes Mayor Jane Burton opened the festival which boasted floral arrangements by the St Peter’s Ladies which showed the close links with the nearby Kennet and Avon Canal as well as the history behind the church.

John Girvan, of Avon Road, said: “The festival was raising money for Julia’s House as the new site in Devizes will be in St Peter’s parish. We are still totalling up how much we are going to be donating but I can say it is going to have been very worthwhile. Julia’s House is very popular and a very good cause.”

Mr Girvan, whose wife Anne was one of the two women who organised the festival, which ran from Wednesday (June 29) until Saturday (July 2), is a local historian and helped with the factual side of the festival.

“Anne and Ann Reeves did a lot of the organising for the festival and I helped with the history of the church. Creating the past of the church was a nice twist to put on the festival. The crowds came through on all four days, it went very well,” added Mr Girvan.

Members of St Peter’s Church were very impressed with how the church looked over the four-day festival as well as the reception it received from the public.

David Purchass, 69, churchwarden, said: “I went in on Wednesday with my wife and the first impression was how fantastic it looked. The church looked absolutely fantastic. We have had quite a good reception from it also, people have been wandering in to look at the flowers but have also been finding out a lot of history behind the church.”

The team at Julia's House have shared their gratitude for the hard work that has been put in to support the charity and the development of the new site.

Ian Wadley, Wiltshire Fundraising Manager for Julia’s House, said: “We would like to thank everybody at St Peter’s Church for kindly choosing to support Julia’s House at their recent flower festival.

“With just five per cent of our total annual funding coming from government, Julia’s House is very much a service for the local community, funded by the local community, so we are very grateful for this generous support.”