LOOE-BASED charity Ellie's Haven is set to score another fundraising boost after Crystal Palace Football Club agreed to donate its gate receipts from an upcoming friendly.

The gesture came when the Championship club's manager, Neil Warnock, who has a house in Looe, contacted the charity – which is aiming to build a holiday haven for terminally-ill children in the town.

He and Palace offered to donate the gate receipts collected from a friendly with Truro City at Treyew Road tonight.

Neil said he had been keeping up with the Ellie's Haven story as he has the Cornish Times delivered to his house in London every week.

'I thought it would be a nice gesture,' said Neil, who spent two years as manager of Plymouth Argyle in the late-1990s.

'It is a special appeal and this will give the campaign some extra publicity.'

Nigel and Julie Libby, who founded the charity last year naming it after their own terminally-ill daughter Ellie, were delighted with the news. Nigel said: 'We are really appreciative and pleased for what he and Crystal Palace are doing for us as it is really important that we are well known all over Cornwall.'