ACTRESS Susan Hampshire has opened the first part of a Hampshire hospice’s £1m extension.

The Forsyte Saga star, who lost her parents George and June to cancer in their early 60s, was in Lymington to see how Oakhaven Hospice has been extended to include complementary therapy suites, physiotherapy rooms, bereavement counselling quarters, new staff accommodation and an education centre.

Her visit was a double celebration for hospice trustees, 80 full and part-time staff, 300 volunteers and numerous fundraisers as it also marked the start of the second phase of the redevelopment which will create a link between its two buildings.

That will house another four in-patient units, a garden room, facilities for friends and relatives of patients to spend some quiet time and a circular multi-faith chapel.

Two-thirds of the money has been raised through the hospice’s shops in Highcliffe, Lymington, New Milton and Hythe, other fundraising events and legacies. The remaining £396,000 has come from the Department of Health.