A charity hoping to open a new multi-million pound hospice in Norfolk in 2013 has been given a festive boost by a construction company and students.

Staff from Morgan Sindall's Norwich office donated 80 sacks full of clothes, books, DVDs and toys to the Norfolk Hospice's shop in King's Lynn on Thursday.

Students from the National Construction College, in Bircham Newton, near King's Lynn, also joined in the generous gesture by adding their own contributions to the donation.

Gavin Napper, area director at Morgan Sindall, said: 'We always try to help out the local communities where we work and felt the Norfolk Hospice was very a deserving cause.'

He later added: 'We hope the donations we made can be put to good use by the charity.'

The Norfolk Hospice supports more than 280 people every month at its current hospice in Snettisham and has the support of 250 volunteers as well as paid staff.

The charity is hoping to move to a new �4m full-service hospice, which will provide 12 in-patient beds, within two years. Work at the site near King's Lynn started in August.

Richard Shaw, chief executive at the charity, said: 'We are very grateful to Morgan Sindall for all the donations.

'They have given our King's Lynn shop a real boost and the money raised will go into supporting our patients and carers across West Norfolk, North Norfolk and the Fens.'

When built, the new hospice at Hillington will fill the 'black hole' in the area and will be an 'important' centre for the future of end-of-life care, the charity has said.

The charity's yearly running costs currently stand at �1.4m, but these will rise to �3.4m once the new hospice is operational in 2013.

In a bid to help raise funds, the charity opened another shop earlier this week. The shop in Hunstanton, officially open by town mayor Carole Bower, is the seventh the charity has opened. Other shops includes ones in King's Lynn, Wisbech and Downham.