PATIENTS should be in for a smoother ride when arriving at Bury Hospice after a 'Gardeners Question Time' event raised more than £1,000 for road repairs at the site.

Ambulances are forced to pick their way over an unadopted, potholed road when they arrive at the hospice, in Rochdale Old Road.

Pat Brooks and daughter Joanne Hopkinson, have already raised a substantial amount of money to have the road repaired and resurfaced in memory of Mrs Brooks' husband and Ms Hopkinson's dad, Jack Brooks—who was cared for at the hospice.

And the Gardeners' Question Time evening, held at Summerseat Garden Centre, in Railway Street, raised a further £1,200 towards the vital project.

More than 100 people, including the Mayor of Bury, Cllr Dorothy Gunter, were wined, dined and educated by the centre’s gardening experts during the evening.

Ms Hopkinson also gave a speech about how improvements to the road, which leads from Forth Avenue to the car park at the back of the hospice, are desperately needed.

She launched the campaign after 74-year-old Mr Brooks, who died in March, made his final journey there earlier this year.

At the time Ms Hopkinson praised the ambulance staff but slammed the stretch of road to the in-patient unit as 'terrible' and 'shocking'.

Following her father's death she vowed to make sure the road was repaired so others would be spared an uncomfortable journey in future.

She persuaded builders’ merchants Jewson, and DIY chain B&Q to donate materials to help with the resurfacing of the road.

And Ms Hopkinson also launched a Just Giving page in a bid to raise further funds towards the project.

Any money that is raised over and above what is required for the project will go to the hospice for it to buy new equipment.