A WOMAN, who grew up with an opportunity nursery playing a huge role in her life, has got into the spirit of fundraising for the Devizes cause.

Bex Cox, whose mum Betty Newman was manager of Devizes Opportunity Centre for 25 years, held a psychic night and raised £2,000.

She was at the centre in Belle Vue Road, Devizes on Tuesday to hand over the money to bursar Morag Peltonen.

Ms Cox, 35, said: "The opportunity centre was a huge part of my life for so many years that I wanted to fundraise for it. I think I had my tenth birthday on the Sunday and my mum started work there on the Monday.

"I held a psychic evening a couple of years ago when the Gazette was running its appeal for the opportunity centre and I pledged to do something every two years.

"I wanted to carry on even though mum is now retired. She was there such a long time that I knew all of the staff really well and always felt part of it."

The first evening getting in touch with spirits was such a success that she decided to repeat it again and recruited psychic Mitch Garlington. She said: "He was very good and instead of charging for his services only took £1 from each ticket price. It is not something I am particularly into but a lot of my friends were interested and thought it would be fun."

She was also delighted with the response she got from traders in Devizes when she approached them for raffle prizes for the evening at The Wyvern Club, Devizes. She said: "Everyone I contacted was really kind and was keen to donate.

"The opportunity centre is well thought of by so many people in town and my mum, when she was manager, was known to so many people."

The opportunity centre helps children aged up to five with a variety of special needs, medical problems and learning difficulties. Only part of its funding comes Wiltshire Council grants and it needs to raise money through fundraising and donation.

A spokesman said: "This year it will cost a minimum of £150,000 to run the centre. We will receive £74,110 from Wiltshire Council and some additional funds through the Government's Free Entitlement Scheme but this by no means covers our costs.

"As we approach the new financial year we face the huge task of raising approximately £50,000 to redress the shortfall in our budget. This is a truly daunting task for a small independent voluntary organisation."