It has taken months of work and tens of thousands of pounds.

But now Huddersfield’s Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice has been able to re-open, more than three months after a disastrous fire.

It means children with serious conditions will be again admitted to the Brackenhall hospice.

The Hospice supports over 185 children and their families, across West Yorkshire, through its hospice at home service and state of the art hospice Russell House, and staff estimate there are more than 1,300 children and families in West Yorkshire who may need the care and support offered by the project.

Now, three and a half months after the fire which led to the Hospice closure,the charity have reopened their doors and returned to offering 24/7 hospice care to local children with life-shortening conditions.

It was on January 12 that the fire hit Russell House. It was believed to have been caused by an electrical fault. The resulting fire and smoke damage led to a major clean-up operation being needed.

Whilst closed Hospice staff were able to continue caring for children through their hospice at home service, whereby families are supported within their own homes.

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Sharon Burton, Director of Care, said: “The past three and a half months have been a great challenge for everyone associated with Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice including all of our care team; however it has been a challenge I am proud to say we have faced head on.

“Although unable to use the state of the art facilities at Russell House, we were still able to provide quality and compassionate care to children and their families within the comfort of their own homes.”

While some sections of the hospice were still under renovation, the charity was also still able to offer end of life support to a number of families through the use of their Snowflake Suite, a self-contained flat within Russell House where families can stay with their child after they have died, offering precious time together.

Peter Branson, Chief Executive, said: “We cannot deny that the fire has impacted our start to 2016 but we can take great pride from the resiliency and positive attitude everyone has shown during this difficult period.

“Of course none of this would have been possible without the tremendous support we have seen from so many of our supporters.

“We would like to say a great thank you to everyone who has supported us during this period. Thank you to Mamas & Papas who offered temporary accommodation to our team whilst the hospice was inaccessible, to Orchard FM for all of their hard work in repairing our systems, to everyone who supported our Fire Appeal helping to raise over £20,000 and to all who sent their well wishes, getting back up and running really has been a community effort.”

The reception area, hydrotherapy pool, care team office and a number of other rooms needed a full-scale renovation due to the damage caused whilst other areas of the hospice were affected by smoke damage and needed industrially cleaning.