AN EASTLEIGH dance group have pirouetted their way to raising £3,000 for Southampton General Hospital.

Parkewood School of Dance raised enough funds from their variety performance at Thornden Hall for the Piam Brown unit, the children's oncology and haematology department, in memory of former pupil Olivia Brooker.

Olivia, who lived at Charnewood Crescent in Chandler's Ford with her mother, Helen Priest, and two younger siblings, died in June after initially contracting a form of bone cancer in her leg.

Olivia, who was just 14 when she died, had been campaigning to renovate the teenage reception room at the hospital to try and make it more child-friendly. The money raised will be used to buy a dvd player, dvds, a playstation, an x-box, sofas, beanbags and a television.

Dance school principal, Lynne Wiltshire, said: “Our pupils, teachers and parents always rise to the challenge and this time was no exception, especially when they heard of courageous Olivia's wishes”.