By LOUISE HOUSTON

WOMEN and children from the Al-Meezan Islamic Centre in Pollokshields have risen to the baking challenge and cooked up a storm in aid of the Prince and Princess of Wales hospice.

They held a bring-and-buy food sale, including a cake bake, and invited hospice chaplain Rev Leslie Edge to collect the donation.

Rev Leslie Edge said: “I am delighted to accept the cheque from Al-Meezan Islamic Centre. This is a fantastic donation that reinforces the strong links that already exist between the hospice and the community.

“A bring-and-buy food sale was a wonderful opportunity for people to get together and share food with their families, while raising money for a much-loved local charity.”

Al-Meezan Islamic Centre chairwoman Salma Shaikh said women who go along to weekend classes at the Rowan Road base raised the money.

She said: “Relatives of some of the people who come to the centre have received care and support at the hospice and we really appreciate the work that is done there.

“It is a brilliant facility that benefits the whole community.”

Al-Meezan is the word used to describe the work done at Rowan Road, and explains the balance of life with Islamic education. Regardless of faith and belief, Salma said a priority for the centre is the welfare of people in the local area.

Set up in 1998, it was based in temporary classrooms and halls before moving to its current home in 2005 and now works with more than 600 women, children and teenagers from Glasgow, and as far afield as Livingston and Kilmarnock.

Meanwhile, the hospice is edging closer to achieving the £21million target of the Brick by Brick Appeal to build a new facility on a green site in the city’s Bellahouston Park.

The foundations go down in June and patients will move there in 2018.

In day care and on the wards, more than 1200 patients and families are cared for every year.

A hospice spokeswoman said they had outgrown their hospice building and are fundraising to build the brand new, purpose-built hospice on land lifted by Glasgow City Council.

The new building will have 16 en-suite bedrooms, allowing privacy and comfort for patients and families. Rooms will have space for loved ones to stay overnight and eat together, enjoying the comforts of a home from home.

The hospice depends on the generosity of supporters and the community to raise the £3 million in voluntary donations that is required to maintain our invaluable services, offered free, to the people of Glasgow.