THIS is the poignant display made by day centre patients at Countess Mountbatten House, showing all the things that are good in their lives.

The unusual mosaic, unveiled two months ago, shows an artist's palette, cups of tea, animals and flowers - and twice it features the hospice's little blue minibus, winding over the hills as it takes the cancer sufferers out on day trips.

But last week the special bus was reduced to a twisted wreck of metal in an accident which claimed the lives of two Mountbatten patients.

Winifred Lock and Mortimer O'Sullivan, both 84 and both day care patients at the West End centre, were killed on Tuesday last week when the minibus was in an accident with a lorry on the A36 at Wellow.

The accident sparked a Daily Echo campaign, backed by MP Sandra Gidley, urging highways chiefs to improve safety on the road.

The patients were returning from a day trip with 12 other people - four volunteers and eight other cancer sufferers - when the crash happened.

Now the day trips have stopped and, a week on from the shocking accident, patients and staff at the hospice are still subdued by the tragedy.

Dr David Butler, lead consultant at Countess Mountbatten House, said: "Everybody has obviously been pretty shocked and upset by it all.

"All we can do is support the patients and their families who have been affected.

"Volunteers, staff and other patients are very sad and shocked by it all.

"This is a group of people who have obviously been under our care for some time.

"Many of them are very well known to staff in all sorts of different ways."

However, amid the sadness, he said there was a desire to find a replacement minibus and get the day trips, which have been going on for the past 20 years, up and running once more.

"We go on day trips pretty much every week, but obviously we haven't got the minibus to do that now," said Dr Butler.

"The day trips were a very important thing for the patients.

"They all have cancer and they're all relatively unwell - but this provided them with a chance to get out with people in the same situation and really live as normal a life as possible.

"People think this is a group of people who are unwell and we're caring for them.

"But this is a group of people who are trying to live a normal life really. The hope is that the day trips will continue."

Three groups of 12 people attend Countess Mountbatten House's day centre every week.

An army of volunteers goes out to the patients' homes to pick them up in the morning and a team of three employed staff watch over the sufferers during the day.

Speaking about the mosaic, produced entirely by day care patients, Dr Butler said: "It was intended to represent the things they did and what day care meant to them."

To support the campaign, fill in our petition and send it to the office of Romsey MP Sandra Gidley. She has promised to bring the road's dangers before the country's top transport chiefs when she presents the case - and the Daily Echo petition - in Parliament.