North Anston: One Direction fans raise thousands for hospice in honour of Louis Tomlinson’s birthday

One Direction fans across the world have collected more than $22,000 for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice.

They hit their target just days before the Doncaster-born star celebrated his birthday on Christmas eve.

Louis has become an ambassador of the hospice, which offers care and support to children with a shortened life expectancy, since his rise to stardom.

A statement on the fans’ fundraising page said: “We met our goal last night on the 22nd and the donations have continued to come in!”

“Thanks so much to everyone who supported the drive with donations, tweets and retweets, translating press releases, making t-shirt designs, and all the other things you guys did to make this a success.”

A series of t-shirts designed by fans were also for sale with the proceeds.

Fans continued to donate money after Louis’ birthday through http://www.justgiving.com/louisbirthday.

One fan wrote: “Happy birthday Louis! I wish you an amazing year, you deserve all the best.”

“Thank you for all you’ve done for Bluebell Wood and I hope you get to see how much we’ve raised in your honor.”

When the fundraising drive began, Claire Rintoul, chief executive at Bluebell Wood hospice, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have the incredible support of Louis and his dedicated fans from around the globe.”

“As a local charity worldwide support and awareness is something we are so grateful for and we’d like to thank Louis and every one of his fans for getting behind us and celebrating his birthday in this special way which will enable us to support more local children with a shortened life expectancy.”