MARLBOROUGH will see a royal visitor come to the town next week when Duchess Camilla heads to Savernake Hospital to meet staff, patients and fundraisers.

The Duchess of Cornwall, who is president of Prospect Hospice, based in Wroughton, will be visiting the charity's Outreach Centre on Tuesday (9) which opened in the hospital last year.

The local community rallied together and raised the target of £260,000 in under four months. Of that amount, Gazette readers donated almost £160,000.

The Duchess will meet some of the fundraisers who supported the campaign as well as staff, patients, carers and families who are now using the new facilities. They include therapy and counselling rooms, and a shared space where patients and carers gather for shared activities, led by staff and volunteers from Prospect Hospice.

One of the people who will be meeting her is Janet Louth, from Marlborough, who is chairman of the Friends of Savernake Hospital and the Community. The group gave £20,000 to the appeal by match funding generous donations from members of the public.

“I am thrilled we will be getting such a high profile royal visitor,” Mrs Louth said.

“She is very supportive of charitable causes, particularly ones she part of to do with health care.

“And the friends are very pleased to have been able to offer such a lot of support, with the help of the community, who raised such a vast amount of money to open such a wonderful service close to home for patients and their families.”

The Duchess of Cornwall has been president of Prospect Hospice since 2013 and this will be Her Royal Highness' first visit to the new Outreach Centre.

Last year she officially opened charity Community First’s new offices in Devizes, went to the glove making factory Dents in Warminster and to Swindon to open a new canal landing stage near Waitrose in Wichelstowe.

On Tuesday the Duchess will also be opening a new primary school in Melksham.

Prospect Hospice, founded in 1980, supports a community of 300,000 people in Swindon, Marlborough, north Wiltshire and the villages of Lechlade and Fairford in Gloucestershire. Last year, it supported almost 6,400 patients, carers and family members, through a range of services developed to bring care, comfort and confidence at life’s most difficult time.